Smartphones, SMAC, Political Chaos and Hope

Capturing the physical world and
digitizing it.
Wael Ghonim, a former manager for Google in Egypt, and others used Facebook and Twitter to organize demonstrations throughout Cairo that ultimately forced a regime change.

While Twitter, Facebook and YouTube received most of the publicity for their roles in disseminating information during the Arab Spring, it was the smartphone connected to the Internet and SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) solutions that made it all possible. Smartphones enabled information to be collected, packaged and transmitted for mass distribution in near real-time.

Matt J. Duffy, a teacher of journalism and new media at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate writes, "During the January 25 protests in Egypt, for instance, protesters would carry their smartphones with them into the streets.  They could offer first-hand reports using their smartphones connected to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Often their information was verified with short video clips or photographs taken from their phones and effortlessly weaved into Facebook or Twitter updates."  Rick Sanchez, a former CNN correspondent, added his views that, "The smartphone is and was “The best piece of news equipment ever invented.”

Mobile technologies connected to the Internet have demonstrated their ability to influence and organize change, and to help people become free from autocrats, but has it actually made things better?  Change, as we know, does not always equal better.

Author Thomas L. Friedman wrote a series of articles in the New York Times this month titled Order vs. Disorder.  In this week's article he quoted his teacher and author Dov Seidman, “Protecting and enabling freedoms,” says Seidman, “requires the kind of laws, rules, norms, mutual trust and institutions that can only be built upon shared values and by people who believe they are on a journey of progress and prosperity together.”

Many people, at no fault of their own, are born in lands with limited opportunities and freedoms.  The components identified above, that are necessary for long-term freedoms simply don't exist.  What chance have these people to realize their dreams of freedom? Where is hope to be found?  In many regions leadership change is frequent, but the results seem to remain the same.  So the ability to influence change does not equal making things better.

It is necessary when thinking about complex and important issues to first define terms.  Friedman writes there are different ways of defining freedom.  He explains that over the past few years many peoples in search of freedoms have overthrown or replaced autocrats, systems and governments, and in doing so have become "free-from" them, but often they failed to achieve the notion of "free-to."  They have failed to become "free-to" vote in a democratic government, have a reasonable level of personal security, practice their religion in a safe environment, express themselves in art, express one's opinions in public without fear, establish the rule of law, gain an education for both sexes, create a trusted and stable economic system where one can engage in commerce and wealth generation, etc.  The concept of "free-to" rather than "free-from" is powerful.  How can mobile technologies promote and support an environment that is "free-to?"

Friedman goes on to write, "Values-based legal systems and institutions are just what so many societies have failed to build after overthrowing their autocrats." That’s why the world today can be divided into three kinds of spaces:
  1. Countries with “sustainable order,” or order based on shared values, stable institutions and consensual politics
  2. Countries with "imposed order," or order based on an iron-fisted, top-down leadership, or propped-up by oil money, or combinations of both, but no real shared values or institutions
  3. Regions of "disorder," where there is neither an iron fist from above nor shared values from below to hold states together.
Can mobile technologies not just support and influence "free-from" efforts, but also "free-to" efforts?" I believe the answer is yes.
  • I think of mobile payments supported by stable, trusted multinational organizations that adhere to internationally accepted norms and laws.  Multinational organizations beyond the control of regional "imposed order" or "disorder."  They provide trusted mobile apps and mobile payment systems with cross-border and multi-currency support.  They provide transparency and accountability.  They enable direct payments to mobile phone accounts that are beyond the reach of corrupt hands.
  • I think of mobile commerce.  The ability to buy and sell via online markets beyond the control of local thugs  
  • I think of online education available to anyone with Internet connectivity and a smartphone.
  • I think of the ability to share ideas, organize and to collaborate using mobile phones.
  • I think of idea exchanges and connections that enhance innovations
  • I think of micro-loans that enable start-ups and small businesses to grow 
  • I think of data collection and news reporting in near real-time via mobile devices
Can shared values, stable institutions and consensual politics, the building blocks of a "free-to" environment, also be developed and supported via mobile devices connected to the Internet?  If peoples suffering under "imposed order" or "disorder" cannot realize the "free-to" environment within their country's borders, can they find it beyond in a mobile and digital world?

In considering current immigration debates, it is apparent the country you are born into means a lot. At birth you are either a winner or loser of life's lottery based on which side of a border you find yourself. On one side there is an abundance of "free-tos" and opportunities, while on the other there is not. Is it possible that we can change this model? Can mobile technologies and the Internet help create a more flexible boundary - perhaps even a mobile boundary beyond the control of local despots.  A boundary that can be reshaped and expanded as a result of mobile and digital technologies?  Can the digital world with mobile boundaries provide many of the "free-tos" that man-made borders on a map often deny today?  Can there be a digital universe in parallel to the physical where "free-tos" exist in abundance and are but a smartphone connection to the Internet away?

In the long-term, will the digital world be able to influence and shape the physical world to make it a better place?  I think the answer lies in how we move forward into the digital future.  Will we be able to move beyond our digital minutia, selfies and cat videos into nobler pursuits?  For the good of all, will we create shared values, stable and trusted institutions and consensual politics in the digital realm where we have failed in the physical?  Can we become a digital community of people who not only believe they are on a journey of progress and prosperity together, beyond the reach of despots, or will the tribalism and violence of the physical world invade and corrupt the digital as well?

Thoughts?
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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst
Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Motorola Solution's Mark Kirsten

Enterprise mobility is evolving at an incredible rate and it is hard to keep up with all the changes.  Let me try to get us all up to speed on Motorola Solutions.  Motorola Solutions bought Symbol Technologies (the rugged handheld and barcode device manufacturer) in 2007.   Motorola Solutions purchased RhoMobile (enterprise mobile platform developer) in 2011.  Zebra Technologies is now acquiring Motorola Solutions (the non-government side of the business).  Zebra is also making a play at being a player in the Internet of Things space. Did you get all that?

In this Mobile Expert Interview segment, I have the pleasure of interviewing Motorola Solutions' Mark Kirsten about their evolving enterprise mobility platform strategies and developments.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/JfAVgm5HXz0?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile and Digital Transformation on the Mercy Ships

Most of the interviews and articles I publish here are on the relatively sterile topic of technologies, industry trends and business strategies. That is not to say they are uninteresting, just absent of a human interest perspective.  This article and interview is not one of those.  I had the privilege of hosting and interviewing Susan Parker, Executive Special Projects with the Mercy Ships (www.MercyShips.org) in Boise this weekend.  She has lived and worked on the Mercy Ship for over 27 years and has volumes of incredible stories to share.  The Mercy ship is a hospital ship with over 400 staff providing special surgical care, at NO cost to the patient, along the Western coast of Africa.

What follows are two videos.  The first is a brief overview of the work that the Mercy Ships accomplishes and the second is an interview with Susan that I recorded this week on the digital transformations she has witnessed in her 27 years on the ship, and how mobile technologies and digital transformation have changed the way they operate the ship, raise funds and care for more patients. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/qu73D_VCB1w



Video Link: http://youtu.be/LBF5SVkpJ5o?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Cognizant's Bibhakar Pandey

In the world of mobile security solutions there are cloud-based, on-premise, off-the-shelf apps and bespoke (custom for North Americans) solutions that can be tailored to an enterprise's unique requirements.  In this segment of our Mobile Expert Interview series I interview mobility expert Bibhakar Pandey on how his TruMobi venture at Cognizant approaches mobility.  Bibhakar proposes that mobility should be approached holistically and with the enterprise's mobile strategy in mind rather than by analyst created categories. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/8mBdEKTKbhw?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw



Watch more Mobile Expert Interviews here -  http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-videos.html.
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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile App Design Is Irrelevant - Latest Research

Your mobile app design is irrelevant if your back-end systems can't support the real-time requirements of the user. 

A recent report* by CIO Strategic Marketing Services states that most customer and employee mobility applications are integrated with back-end systems.  Although that is not necessarily a surprise, it is useful to see the average number of apps that are connected to different back-end systems.  Here are the numbers from the survey.

Question: How many of your company's mobile apps for both customers and employees integrate with the following back-end systems? (average number of apps)
  • 4.8 apps per survey participant connect to a CRM systems (including sales, customer service and marketing)
  • 4.8 apps per survey participant connect to an Ecommerce system
  • 4.6 apps per survey participant connect to an ERP (including project management system)
  • 4.4 apps per survey participant connect to a supply chain, logistics or operations system
  • 4.0 apps per survey participant connect to a document management system
  • 3.7 apps per survey participant connect to an accounting and/or financial system
  • 3.6 apps per survey participant connect to an HR (human resource) system
In my recent survey, Real-Time Mobile Infrastructure, eighty participants identified that back-end systems were causing real headaches for mobile app developers.  Here are a few of the questions and their results from the survey:

Question 1: Do you (or your clients') have IT systems that are too slow or incapable of supporting real-time mobile app requirements?  83.9% answered YES.

Question 2: Will your (or your clients') IT environment and back-end systems prevent you from delivering an optimized mobile application experience?  43.2% answered YES.

Question 3: Are your (or your clients') mobile strategies and plans inhibited or limited because of the current IT environment, infrastructure and/or design?  77.7% answered YES.

Question 4: Which components of an end-to-end mobile solution cause the most performance problems (involving mobile apps)?  Here are the top three answers in order of how problematic they are:
  1. Back-end systems 
  2. Internet connectivity
  3. APIs and integration design and performance
Question 5: How important will having optimized mobile applications and user experiences be to the future success of your business? 72% answered "very important" to "critical."

What is the bottom line?  Although it is often more fun and interesting to talk about innovative user experiences and app designs, the foundation for supporting real-time mobile applications must be in place first.  Without back-end system and IT infrastructures that can support a "real-time" environment, you are just putting lipstick on a pig, as we say in Boise, Idaho.

These are the kind of challenges and topics I cover during my Analyst Briefings and Mobile and Digital Strategy workshops.  If your company would benefit from a workshop contact me here to discuss.

*Survey of 414 executives at midsize and large enterprise organizations worldwide
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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Oracle Buys Toa Technologies Enhancing Mobile Solutions for Field Services

So that is why the Toa Technology team canceled my Google+ Hangout interview with them last week.  They were getting purchased!  

Toa Technologies is a very successful cloud based provider of field service management solutions that is heavily involved in mobile technologies.  They had been accumulating a stellar team and was regularly announcing sales deals with companies that had thousands of service technicians working in the field.  That is precisely why I wanted to interview them!

I am impressed with Oracle's aggressive launch into mobility in 2014.  They were late to the game, but are really stepping up.  A few months back I wrote an article (http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2014/05/oracle-mobility-emerges-prepared-for.html) about Oracles latest moves into enterprise mobility.

Here is the press release on the acquisition: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/2254950

Oracle today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire TOA Technologies (TOA), a leading provider of cloud-based field service solutions that manage and optimize the last mile of customer service for enterprises by coordinating activities between dispatchers, mobile employees and their customers.
TOA’s Field Service SaaS enables modern enterprises to continuously monitor real-time field service requests coming in from contact centers, to schedule the right field service representative to dispatch, and to use sophisticated business analytics to monitor and view current inventories, accurately predict service windows, and optimize field service operations. TOA’s customers have more efficient field service operations, lower costs of delivering field service, and deliver a superior customer experience.
TOA’s solutions manage over 120 million service events annually in more than 20 countries and include global brands across many industries including DISH Network, E.ON, Home Depot, Ricoh, Telefonica, Virgin Media and Vodafone.
Oracle Service Cloud, part of Oracle Customer Experience Cloud, is an industry-leading platform for online customer service, cross-channel contact center, knowledge management, and policy automation. Oracle ERP cloud solutions help accelerate productivity, allocate resources, and provide on-demand information access.
Oracle Service Cloud and Oracle ERP cloud solutions combined with TOA will empower innovative customer service organizations to drive operational efficiencies while bolstering customer satisfaction and exceeding service expectations through personalized service.
More information on this announcement can be found athttp://www.oracle.com/toatechnologies.
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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Military Revolutions, Code Halos and Enterprise Mobility

Revolution in Commercial Affairs
In the US Army they have a term called "Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA)."  It is often associated with the use of modern data collecting technologies, communications technologies, information analysis and the use of these technologies to improve strategies, doctrines and organizational structures.  The Army believes that in future warfare, the size of the opponent and their platforms [weapons], will be less reflective of military power than the quality of sensors [data collection] systems and mobile communication links and their ability to utilize information to their advantage.

I see a "Revolution in Commercial Affairs" happening today.  The same concepts and strategies learned  in the military have relevance for the enterprise.  Companies that can more effectively use "Code Halos" - the information that surrounds people, organizations, processes and products will be the winners.

What does this mean for your company strategy in 2014?  It means your enterprise must digitally transform and focus on improving its capabilities to:
  • Collect information faster
  • Communicate information faster
  • Analyze and filter information faster
  • Report the analysis faster to decision makers
  • Strive for the goals of being a "real-time" and "data-driven" enterprise
Mobile technologies play a critical role in this transformation.  However, it is very important we understand mobility is but an enabler of an overall "Code Halos" strategy.  The success of our enterprises over the next few years will largely be the result of how smart we are with the use of information.

There are at least three components required for digital transformation:
  1. Technological innovation
  2. Operation concepts and Strategies
  3. Organizational adaption
It doesn't help much if one person at the top has a good strategy and buys innovative technologies, but the rest of the organization does not understand the concepts behind it, or the role it plays in being more competitive.  Technological innovation needs to be a part of a strategy.  A strategy that changes the way the business operates in a manner that makes it more competitive in the market place.

Every organization needs to understand the seriousness of the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest. Every employee should be seeking ways to innovate and contribute to making their company as competitive as possible.


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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

The Real Challenge of Mobile Apps is Real-Time

Can you imagine a scenario where you ask Apple’s Siri a question, and she says, “Can I get back to you in 5 minutes?”  Wouldn't that be irritating?  Information and requests for information have a shelf life. The information is requested at a specific time for a reason.  If you send me the information in 5 minutes I have probably moved on to something else.

In a recent survey I conducted with 79 participants involved in mobile technologies and projects, 83.7% said they or their clients' have IT systems that are too slow or incapable of supporting real-time mobile application requirements. That is a problem.

Many organizations are facing a challenging time supporting the real-time data requirements of mobile applications.  They are recognizing that significant work needs to be done inside their complex IT environment to ensure that data queries and reports can be produced instantly for use on mobile applications.  In many organizations upgrading and enhancing their IT ecosystem for mobile applications represents a major investment.  This is driving increased interest in cloud based solutions that often use newer and faster processes, designs and architectures.

Speed of response is important to the mobile user experience.  The speed in which your IT environment can support mobile applications is a competitive differentiator.  As more applications incorporate location, predictive and context aware elements, the speed of supporting IT systems will become even more important to the end user.  No one wants a turn-by-turn navigation system giving driving instructions that are delayed by 30 seconds, “You should have turned back there,” is not an acceptable response for most of us.

Retailers are also increasingly interested in interacting with onsite shoppers via mobile devices.  They want to recognize you, your shopping habits, past purchases and preferences and today’s shopping needs all while you are browsing their aisles.  This requires the ability to collect appropriate data, query databases and share relevant information with both the shoppers and the staff in the store so the customer’s experience is enhanced and the sales optimized.

None of this happens by accident.

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Managing Mobility in the Workplace: Best Practices with 451 Research, HP and Kevin Benedict

Join me at 9 AM PDST, Thursday, July 24th for a lively discussion with 451 Research and HP on the topics of enterprise mobility, mobile printing, mobile strategies and trends.

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Solutions, the Internet of Things, Code Halos and Enterprise Strategies, Part 1

Tactics without strategy are dangerous. ~ Robert Leonhard

If you believe as the authors of the new book Code Halos do, that data is the new competitive arena for businesses, then you will want to develop a strategy in order to compete.  What might that strategy look like?  It may be as simple as, "We believe the better we understand the needs and preferences of our individual prospects and customers, the more convenient and personalized we can make their experiences which leads to happier and more loyal customers that promote our business and help us grow."

Streaming music stations provide us with a useful example of this kind of strategy.  They enable me to personalize my music stations so I conveniently hear what I want, and as a result I listen to it more often.  Amazon Prime knows my family intimately.  They use this knowledge to enhance our shopping experience daily.  Netflix knows our history and preferences and enhances our experience as a result.

Do you have a Code Halos strategy?  Does your competition?  Do the new digital start-ups in your industry?

Let's assume for today - you are convinced there is a need for a Code Halos strategy.  Now let's consider tactics.
  1. What data would help you offer your prospects and customers an enhanced user experience on their smartphones or tablets?
  2. How can the data be used to enable a more personalized user experience?
  3. What is the best way to collect it?
  4. How do you ensure the data is collected in an honest and transparent manner with opt-in?
  5. How do you find business meaning in the data?
  6. How can new and different business meanings be discovered by aggregating seemingly unrelated data sources together?
  7. How can data from machines (M2M or the Internet of Things) add value to your other data sources?
  8. How can public and private databases be aggregated with "patterns of life" analysis and demographic data to discover new consumer insights?
  9. How can I collect data in real-time, analyze it and respond quick enough to be useful in a mobile first world?
  10. How can discovered real-time business meaning impact my real-time business tactics when interacting with prospects, customers, partners and employees?
These are just a few discussion starters for your next internal strategy session.  By the way, we (Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work) lead these workshops all the time.  Contact me if your organization would benefit from this discussion.

As identified earlier, one of the first questions to ask yourself is, "What data is useful?"  What data, if you had it, would provide insight that would enable you to provide a better and more personalized user experience?  If knowing your prospect is a male or female enables you to provide a better user experience, then how can you collect that data in an open, transparent and appropriate manner? Sometimes insight can be derived, while other times it just needs to be asked.  If customer X shops only for fashionable clothes popular with young ladies, then there is a pretty good chance the buyer fits that description.

Did you know that mobile phone usage patterns differ between males and females?  With a high degree of accuracy usage patterns can identify the sex of the user.  Also, having preferences for particular kinds of music and artists closely correlates with particular political leanings.  These are examples of derived insight.

Different data collection tactics provide different kinds of insights. Insights can be derived from historic data, or real-time GPS tracking for example.  One is historic, the other is NOW!  LBS (Location based services) and geo-fenced apps can trigger real-time product and services notifications, alerts, advertisements, discounts, etc., relevant to your immediate location.

Historic and real-time analysis may involve different systems, or the data can be combined in real-time to provide even greater business insights.  For example, historic data might provide insight into a "pattern-of-life" that reflects a white collar business commuter, getting off of work at 5 PM every day, picking up the kids from daycare, collecting their dry cleaning, grocery shopping, filling up the Tahoe with gas every 10 days, and getting take-out Chinese food 5 days a week.  Add in real-time LBS data and you can start looking for ways to add convenience and enhance this person's life through personalized products and services at just the right time and place.

Once you have identified the data you need to collect in order to derive business meaning, the next thing to consider is how that data can be used to personalize your user's experience.  What does the collected data trigger that enhances the user's experience?

Stay tuned for Part 2.

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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Apps, Code Halos, the Sharing Economy and Trustonomics

I love receiving gifts in the form of new insights!  It doesn't matter if others received the same gift years ago and I am just getting it now.  If it is new to me, I get excited.  It is like waking up in the morning and discovering a new room in your house.  I read an article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times this weekend titled, "And Now for a Bit of Good News."  The subject of the article was the new "sharing economy," think Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, etc.  In the article, Friedman calls Airbnb a "Trust Platform."  To me, this weekend, this term was a gift.  He is so right.

I have used Airbnb many times when traveling with my family, and to date have been very pleased with our experiences.  Often the transactions are sizeable as I am reserving a home in a desirable location for a week.  I am engaging in a transaction of some size with a person I don't know, in a home I have never visited, most often in a foreign country using different currency, involving different laws and customs.  Why did I risk it?  I trusted the platform.

The travel and hospitality industry is experiencing an incredible amount of digital transformation already.  Hotels are competing for best mobile app experience, fastest broadband Internet connections, Apple device support in the rooms, and increasingly they are digitizing and mobilizing the check-in and check-out experiences to improve the user's overall experience and convenience.

Competition amongst business class hotels like Marriott, Hilton, Starwood etc., was traditionally focused around a certain quality of environment, convenience and a standardized experience for the business traveler.  Business travelers trusted the brands to provide them with their expected experience. In business and in travel there is enough inherent chaos.  The business traveler does not want additional chaos from their hotels.  They want a trusted experience.  I am speaking from personal experience.

Business class hotels have built their brands on trust.  They have invested heavily for decades in their "trust" level.  This "trustonomics" or the economic value of trust was substantial and represented a barrier to entry for start-ups.  I can imagine incumbents felt pretty secure in their position of trust and the trustonomics it represented.  Today, however, competing digital "trust" platforms are emerging.  The reputations that took incumbents decades and hundreds of millions to establish can be challenged by digital "trust" platforms seemingly overnight.

The trustonomics model in the travel and hospitality industry is changing all around us.  It will be interesting to watch how the incumbents respond.  Will they get defensive and attempt to minimize up-and-coming digital "trust platforms," or attempt to delay them through political lobbying and legal restrictions, or choose to respond with their own digital "trust platforms."

I wonder how much economic value "trust" really represents?  Although Airbnb is not targeting the hardcore business traveler today, the sharing economy and emerging digital "trust" platforms represents a major shift in the economic value of "trust" in this industry.  As both companies and consumers more effectively use data or "Code Halos" to build trust in each other, even more digital transformations will be expected.

Are there other industries where start-up "trust platforms" and effective "Code Halos" strategies will digitally transform the market and introduce a different trustonomics model?


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Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interviews: Mocana's John Aisien

Mobile security is a big deal.  The internet of things security is a big deal.  Internet security in general is a big deal.  In this interview we have the privilege of learning from mobility and security expert John Aisien, VP of Marketing and Corporate Development with Mocana.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/fJmzK5_bCRo?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw




************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Apple iOS and the Enterprise - Latest Developments

My friend and mobile expert Dave Akka shares his insights on the latest Apple strategies and developments to support the enterprise in this guest article.

Following the recent Apple WWDC developer conference, it’s worth looking at what they are doing to make their products more attractive to the enterprise?

iOS: The accidental leader?

As NetApp’s Mike Elgan noted recently, iOS became the leading operating system for enterprise mobility almost by accident, although it might be more accurate to say that it wasn't originally designed for the enterprise or expected to be such a hit.  The iPhone was released as a consumer device like the iPod into a world of feature phones with a small smartphone market dominated by Nokia’s Symbian, while the Blackberry was the fully-locked-down enterprise mobility device of choice.  No one expected that the consumers who bought the iPhone would consider it to be so much better than their work devices that they would break every policy imaginable to use them at work, and kickstart the BYOD or Bring Your Own Device phenomenon.

The iPhone became the dominant enterprise mobile platform for several reasons, including the ease of developing corporate apps, the iPhone’s popularity as a status symbol that made it the choice for senior managers who were able to insist on using it, and a few enterprise-friendly features that were added to iOS over time.  However the biggest reason is that it has a large, loyal customer base that love the device and feel it makes them more productive.

In the pre-BYOD world, it was assumed that consumers wanted usability, photo quality and a wide choice of applications (or the ability to do anything with the device), whereas enterprise users weren't important because it was all about management tools and easy integration into corporate systems. BYOD showed that enterprise users are also consumers, and want the same things from a work phone that they do from a personal one.

A good demonstration of this is that the first time I saw BYOD in action was at the end of a meeting when one participant took out his iPhone, took a photo of the whiteboard we had covered in notes, and sent it to everyone in the meeting.  The reaction around the table was “what a useful device; what else can we do with it?” That team had woken up to the potential of BYOD and enterprise mobility.

The iPad took off in a similar way: originally sold as a media consumption device, it has become the enterprise mobility device to take to business meetings with an array of apps that let you present, collaborate, take notes and network far more effectively than was previously possible, and you can even catch up with that latest TV series on the train on the way home.

Possibly as important as any enterprise functionality is the way that Apple sells and supports iOS devices for business in its retail stores.  I recently had a problem with my iPhone and while it was being repaired (which happened easily and seamlessly, by the way) the store staff were keen to discuss whether I used it for business, what apps and functionality I liked, what requirements it filled and so on. This showed a real commitment to making iOS devices easy for business users to get started with.  iOS devices in the enterprise also lead to Mac sales as you need to use a Mac in order to deploy enterprise apps and settings to iOS.

Apple Adding Enterprise Features

The recent preview of iOS8 shows that Apple is now very deliberately targeting the enterprise mobility market both by reinforcing the user experience that got it this far but also by providing features that make it a more attractive choice for IT.

The newly-announced Device Enrollment Program allows corporate-issued iOS devices to automatically configure and access corporate apps, reducing the time and support needed to get a new device working; and LDAP is a key component as it brings auditability to the iOS deployment with account control and authentication.

Meanwhile, the ability to passcode-protect corporate data on the device, by protecting access to the calendar, contacts, mail, third-party apps and more mean greater security for the enterprise while fingerprint unlocking means the user doesn’t have a headache accessing that data.  VIP messages allow users to keep track of important conversations more easily and even small things like automatic VPN connectivity could make a big difference to the user.

Overall, iOS8 brings advances with:

  • Simplified IT administration and security, between MDM tools; enterprise grade security including encryption, per app iCloud controls and certificate-based single sign-on; and managed book and PDFs to easily deliver content
  • Improved application development, with the TouchID API, document provider APIs, content filtering and extensibility, not to mention the new Swift language
  • Greater ease of use and productivity with improved mail, seamless working between iOS and Mac, improved calendar and peer-to-peer AirPlay

I don't want to go into too much technical detail here, but if you are interested you can find a more detailed breakdown here.

From the enterprise mobility perspective, features like Continuity, which allows users to pick up work where they left off across multiple Apple devices and the ability to create purpose-built keyboards for specific task-related apps could help increase productivity.

iOS is unlikely to completely own the enterprise mobility space in a BYOD world, but it is certainly set to continue its strong performance.

In addition, Apple and IBM announced a partnership yesterday, to aggressively go after the enterprise market.  Here is an excerpt from The New York Times, "In a deal that could deepen Apple’s sales to corporations and strengthen IBM’s position in business software, the two companies announced a wide-ranging partnership intended to spread advanced mobile and data analysis technology in the corporate world."

David Akka, MBA, M.Sc.
Managing Director, Magic Software Enterprises UK  Ltd.
dave_akka@magicsoftware.com

Thanks for sharing Dave!

************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: Feedhenry's Dr. Micheal O' Foghlu

In this segment of the Mobile Expert Interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Micheal O' Foghlu (pronounced Meehaul O Fowl Loo), but of course you already knew that.  His name actually has four accents above the letters of his name, but I don't know how to add those.  Sorry!  He is the CTO of the mobile platform company Feedhenry and has a lot of interesting insights to share.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/td--FUaeJtc?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw


It's time again for the annual State of Enterprise Mobility report.  A lot has changed in the enterprise mobility world in the past year.  Would you be willing to participate in the survey?  All participants will receive the final report for free.  Here is the survey link - http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e9hmymorhwv3wle0/start.

I will be compiling the results and writing the report in the month of August.

************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

IT Infrastructures and Architectures are Impacting Mobile Experiences - Early Survey Results

Have you taken this year's The State of Enterprise Mobility Report survey yet?  If not, please do as your insights are very important to us.  All participants will receive the final report free.  Here are some early results:

  • 73% of survey participants report their mobile strategies and plans are inhibited by limitations in their current IT infrastructure, design and/or architecture.
  • 83% of survey participants report the demand for mobile apps will force enterprises to make major investments in their IT environment to better support real-time interactions with mobile apps.
  • 80% of survey participants report that less than half of their back-office systems are optimized to support mobile applications.
  • 86% of survey participants report they have back-office systems that are too slow or incapable of supporting real-time interactions with mobile applications.
  • 33% of survey participants report their IT environment prevents them from delivering an optimized mobile application experience.
  • 36% of survey participants report they are dedicating budget to replace or upgrade back-office systems for the specific purpose of enhancing mobile app performances.
  • 65% of survey participants report the changes needed to optimize their IT environment for current and future mobile application requirements will significantly impact their IT budget?
  • 83% of survey participants report they expect business processes will need to change due to the impact of mobile applications on the business.
Please share your views, opinions and insights by taking this short survey and receive the final report free.


************************************************************************

Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: AnyPresence's Founder Rich Mendis

In this segment, I had the privilege of interviewing the founder of AnyPresence, Rich Mendis on his views of the enterprise mobility market, mobile strategies and his predictions for the future.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/GvvGl652Q9k?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw



************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Code Halos - Tracking the Mobile Workforce, Equipment and Other Variables for Optimal Performance

I write and speak often on the need to have a thoughtful Code Halo strategy in addition to your mobile and digital strategies.  Code Halos is the term for the information that surrounds people, organizations, and devices.  Many companies consider Code Halo strategies only for marketing, sales and customer service, but a well thought out Code Halo strategy for work done in the field like maintenance, repairs, asset management, construction and engineering is also important.  Let me try to make the case here.

There are many different objects and variables that can impact the performance of a mobile workforce, especially in the services industry.  In my enterprise mobility workshops I call these things PIOs (performance impact objects), and PIVs (performance impact variables).

Examples of PIOs:
  • People
  • Parts/Supplies/Materials
  • Tools
  • Job locations
  • Equipment (and availability)
  • Transportation (and availability)
  • Vendor (and availability)
  • Subcontractor (and availability)
  • Jobsite access
  • Permits/Approvals
Examples of PIVs:
  • Schedules (dependencies)
  • Qualifications
  • Skills
  • Experience
  • Weather
  • Traffic
  • Condition of equipment repair/maintenance
  • Sickness/Health
  • Funding
Each of these items must come together at the right time and right place to optimize the performance of a field service technician.  I think of PIOs and PIVs in the context of building the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.  In order to be completed and functioning, all the PIOs/PIVs had to come together at the right physical place and time.  If pieces were missing, or misaligned the entire system was delayed or fails.

In an ideal world, we would have full situational awareness.  All of the data from each PIO and PIV would be instantly available to our management system so predictive analytics and artificial intelligence could align all the variables for optimized service delivery.  Full situational awareness does not happen by accident.  It requires a great deal of strategy, planning and execution.

All of the PIOs and PIVs need to be tracked and monitored.  Sensors (IoT), GPS vehicle tracking and smartphones all play an important role here.  The data that is needed to make right decisions, either by a human decision maker or an artificial intelligence system needs to be collected, and as data has a shelf-life, it needs to be timely.  Those on the Titanic knew they were in trouble, but only when it was too late to prevent the trouble.  They would have appreciated good information a few minutes earlier.

Let me provide a scenario for consideration.  A customer calls in and requires repairs to a specialized, expensive piece of equipment.  The repair requires specialized training and skills, certifications, special parts, special tools and experience.  Knowing just the schedules and locations of your field service technicians is not good enough.  You need to know information concerning each PIO and PIV.  In order to optimally provide service to your customer, you need to know and monitor all relevant information, and since most field services teams are mobile, that means mobile technology and wireless sensors must be integrated with as many PIOs and PIVs systems as possible in order to provide the necessary data and visibility to maximize productivity.

When PIOs and PIVs are all connected via a shared network that provides visibility to network members it is called a Network Centric Operation.  A full network centric operational environment may not be economically feasible for 25 service technicians, but for 2,5000 service technicians yes.

If you have an available field service technician without the right experience or qualifications, then that doesn't help.  If you have a qualified, experienced and available field services technician, but without the right tools, equipment, parts or their location is too distant to be of service, then that also doesn't help.

PIOs/PIVs are most often not in one location for easy management.  They are located in many different locations and accessed via many different systems.  Enterprise mobility, sensors, connectivity, integration, dashboards, dynamic scheduling, HCM (human capital management), GPS tracking and event/project management, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence are all required to bring all of these pieces, data and variables together to provide optimal productivity.  Ideally these would be brought together under a considered Code Halo strategy for collecting, analyzing and using data to optimize productivity.



************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Speed, Agility, Enterprise Mobility and Better Thinking

Dromology - the science (or logic) of speed.  This is the definition developed by Urbanist and Professor Dr. Paul Virilio's.  He believed that, "a thing that acts with speed quickly comes to dominate that which is slower."  I highlighted this statement in his paper when I read, Speed and Politics recently.  I have observed this phenomena when analyzing businesses and their digital transformation efforts.

In today's business world speed and agility, or the lack thereof, can mean the difference between success and failure.  IT systems of yesteryear are today's anchors dragging down companies.  Business strategies and ways of thinking that brought successes in the past, today prolong their inevitable demise. It is not just the investments of the past that weigh down a business, but old thinking.

Agility is not just a programming and project management methodology, but a business requirement.  I recently attended a talk by Todd Lutwak, a Partner at the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz.  He said the cost of forming and running a startup company is down 100Xs that which it once cost.  Why?  It is due to things like open source technologies, cloud computing, SaaS business models, globalization and LinkedIn.  LinkedIn?  Indeed! He said LinkedIn enables startups to quickly, efficiently and cost effectively find the experts they need in ways never before possible.

All of the innovations and efficiencies Lutwak identified as helping startups, contribute to efficiencies, speed and agility.  No longer does a startup need to invest much of their investor funds into business systems just to start operating.  They can subscribe to SaaS solutions and be operating in 24 hours without significant upfront investments.  This speed enables the startup to focus on the innovative products and services, getting them to market, solving customer problems and making money.  Their focus can be on that which makes the business successful.

I believe the trend in enterprise mobility away from expensive on-premise MADP (mobile application development platforms) to MbaaS (mobile backend as a service) business models and solutions align with Lutwak's observations.  Companies don't want to make massive budget, time and resource commitments to platforms that may restrict their future agility and speed to market.

Many companies today believe the only way they can be successful in the future is to buy startups, or spin-off their own startups and build up from there.  They have concluded that the fossilized thinking, processes and systems of the traditional business are not conducive to future success.  That is sad, but often an all too accurate conclusion.

Let's just make sure that we build the next phase of our businesses with speed, agility, innovation and creative thinking at the core.



************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Application Performance, Speed and an Optimized User Experience Survey

Who wants a mobile turn-by-turn navigation system that was delayed by 30 seconds?  "You should have turned," is not what I want the automated voice to say to me.  I want a real-time experience on mobile apps. The challenge is that not all back-office systems and IT environments were designed to support real-time interactions with mobile apps.

I am currently working on a research project to better understand how the requirement to support real-time interactions with mobile applications will impact IT organizations.  Would you be willing to take a short survey to contribute your observations to it?  If so, please follow the link.  All participants will receive a free copy of the final report.

Survey - http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e9hmymorhwv3wle0/start

Thanks in Advance!
************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

IoT Expert Interview: Microsoft's Nick Landry

This week I am both learning, and speaking at the The Internet of Things Expo in New York City.  I will be teaching a session on the subject of IoT, Code Halos and Digital Transformation Strategies. Today, I had the privilege of interviewing Microsoft's mobile and IoT guru Nick Landry (Twitter @ActiveNick).  In this interview he shares Microsoft's solutions and strategies around the Internet of Things.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/smE9rjfLiWI



************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict Interviews SAP's Consumer Insight 365 Guru Jim Brooks

MNOs (mobile network operators) collect massive amounts of data on mobile phone usage, activities, web use and location.  SAP has 500 MNO clients around the world.  Combine the two and you have a service that can provide an incredible amount of business insight.  Jim Brooks shares the details of this new SAP service in this interview recorded with me at SAP's SAPPHIRE conference.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyoqHUEGUJ4&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share



************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Adam Stein

SAP announced many new developments in their SAP Mobile Platform this week in Orlando, FL at SAPPHIRE.  In this interview, SAP's Head of Mobile Solution, Product Marketing, Adam Stein shares the details.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/Y6j77VMdciY


************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview: VDC's Eric Klein

I had the pleasure to meet and spend time with VDC Research's Senior Analyst for Enterprise Mobility, Eric Klein this week at the SAPPHIRE conference for SAP users.  In this interview we discuss a wide range of enterprise mobility trends and developments.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4hRuAsb-Ug&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share



************************************************************************
Kevin Benedict
Writer, Speaker, Editor
Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant
View my profile on LinkedIn
Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility
Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies
Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos
Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Interviews with Kevin Benedict