Amplified Influence and Mobile Apps

Businesses, and let's be honest most of us, are interested in amplifying our influence.  I remember reading adventure books as a child about pioneers and woodsman that craved isolation, and that would move whenever neighbors settled close enough to hear, but that's not an effective strategy for influencing people.

I started writing my blog on enterprise mobility, www.MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com in 2006.  At the time I was the CEO of a mobile platform company and intimately involved in dozens of custom mobile software projects at any given time.  Daily I shared experiences, mistakes, lessons learned, strategies, etc.  Over the next few years thousands of people subscribed to my blog (I now have over 5.7 million page views since 2009).

I remember two emails in particular, both arrived on Mondays.  One from a fortune 500 company in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, saying they had read my articles, downloaded my trial software, and were ready to purchase it. Another email came from Christchurch, New Zealand.  Seems the folks in a large engineering and utility firm regularly read my articles, understood the capabilities of our software and wanted to submit an order.  Both of these emails reflected an amplified influence.

These days when I attend conferences on enterprise mobility it is not unusual for people to shake my hand and say they have read my articles, or if less fortunate, watched my videos for many years.  I still find that notion crazy!  I live in Boise, Idaho, which is not exactly main street America!

SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) solutions are giving, aware businesses, capabilities far beyond what was possible only a few years ago.  The two examples I listed above were from countries far from mine.  I was able to generate sales and close deals on the other side of the world with very little investment.

Is your company effectively taking advantage of these influence amplifiers?  Are you using SMAC solutions for this purpose?

In addition to sharing content from thought leaders - you need a strategy.  Mobile content and mobile apps are an important part of that.  I use Google's Blogger platform to blog. It has a mobile app.  It sends out my content optimized to be read on either a mobile device or a bigger screen.  I record interviews with the camera app on my iPhone.  I edit it on the mobile iMovie app.  I upload it to YouTube where it can be viewed on the mobile YouTube app.  I tweet about the video on a mobile app, and upload it to the mobile LinkedIn app.  All of these actions are part of a strategy to amplify influence.  It works.

In the past 36 months, I have taught digital transformation and mobile strategies workshops in 17 different countries.  In the past few months I have received invitations to speak in South Korea, Belgium, New Zealand and Portugal.  I live in Boise, the most isolated state capital in the United States.  The next nearest big town is 300 miles away.  What if your giant multinational company were employing these kinds of strategies hourly?

If you haven't already, I would encourage you to develop a full strategy on how to use these mobile and social media tools to amplify your influence, marketing and sales.  Digital transformation is happening all around us at a breathtaking speed.  It is making the once impossible, possible today and your competition is learning fast.

************************************************************************
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
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel
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.

Field Mobility News Weekly – Week of November 30, 2014

The Field Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to field mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Connected Globe News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Cyber Security News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Looking for an enterprise mobility solution?  Read the Mobile Solution Directory Here!

Group Mobile has declared Panasonic’s Toughbook 31 to be the “best rugged computer” of 2011. In making this selection, Group Mobile's experts took price, processor, battery life, wireless options, media bay options, display brightness, and the ability to withstand harsh environments into consideration. Read Original Content

A case study released by Motion showed Nebraska's Norton Public Power District saw a 75 percent increase in time savings since integrating Motion devices into its lineman staff. Read Original Content

Swiss waste management and material transportation company Challande et Fils is tracking the locations of its containers and waste bins as they are deposited at construction sites and other locations, using RFID tags on the bins, as well as readers on trucks to transmit GPS location data, along with each tag's unique ID number. Read Original Content

Oracle has introduced new Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.1 and Utilities Mobile Workforce Analytics, which help utility companies improve field service efficiency, customer service and system reliability. Read Original Content

B2M Solutions’ mobile software delivers valuable insight and actionable analytics for enterprise customers. Business leaders and managers within the mission critical, rugged mobile enterprise now have operational views of key business and technology analytics affecting performance and productivity. B2M software is developed with specific functionality to help organizations identify and unblock mobility problems as soon as, or even before, they occur, allowing customers to sustain critical business processes and gain competitive advantages. To Lean more visit www.B2M-Solutions.com.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by B2M Solutions

Daimler FleetBoard has created a telematics solution and driving analysis app for the Apple iPhone and iPad. Operators can use it to control their fleet of buses or delivery vehicles at any time and from any location. Read Original Content

Trimble has introduced My Connected Farm portal, a new Web-based solution for growers and agribusinesses to access and manage mapping applications, precision farming data and vehicle performance and movement. Read Original Content

EZid has released an electronic ear tag for cattle. The EZid ear tag provides accurate, cost effective RFID identification for use in dairy parlors, cow-calf and feedlot operations. Read Original Content

Most major apparel and footwear retailers will adopt item-level radio frequency identification within some part of their business over the next three to five years, according to data derived from a new survey sponsored by the VICS Item Level RFID Initiative. Read Original Content

Latest Articles on http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com

Feeling Thankful - Is there an App for That?
Gamification Strategies and Mobile Applications - The Way it Should Be
2015 Enterprise Mobility Events Announced
Insights into the Impact of Big Data, Mobile Apps and Code Halos Strategies on Retail
Transforming Web Content for Enterprise Mobility
Mobile Expert Interviews: Snappii's CEO Alex Bakman
Mobile Expert Interviews: Red Hat's Mike Piech
Big Data Business Models and Code Halo Strategies with SmartStory's CEO Michael Boerner
Digital Transformation Expert Interviews: SmartStory's Lloyd Mahaffey

Webinars of Note (recorded)


Virtualization ≠ Mobilization


Whitepapers of Note


A Comparison of the StarMobile MORPH Protocol vs. Traditional Remote Computing Protocols

Don't Get SMACked - How Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud are Reshaping the Enterprise
Making BYOD Work for Your Organization

************************************************************************
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
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel
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.

Feeling Thankful - Is there an App for That?

Happy Thanksgiving!
I am thankful for mobile apps and social media that let me connect, and stay connected with so many kind people and friends.  Just yesterday my wife and I met up with a high school friend, Marti, we had not seen in 25 years.  I was in a business meeting in downtown Portland, Oregon for several hours, but was able to track their location and meet up with them later in the day via SMS and Google maps on my smartphone. This friendship was reestablished via Facebook.

Today we are meeting another high school friend, Candy, that we had lost contact with for decades, but we are now the closest of friends after connecting again via Facebook.

I record corny video commentaries and interviews with experts that many of you have started watching, but few have finished. This year I have recorded 67 videos (don't view them if you are allergic to corny).  My friends, when trying to bolster my ego call them "authentic," but they are most often corny. When traveling I use my iPhone to film them.  I can record, edit and upload my videos to a YouTube channel all from my iPhone that fits in my pocket.  I can bring you with me on my travels and into discusses with leading mobility experts around the globe.

Social media and mobile technologies has enabled a redneck, Boise, Idaho based, mobility obsessed former dairy farmer to travel to the corners of the earth on a regular basis sharing mobile and digital transformation strategies and research with companies.  This is just crazy to me, and for that I THANK YOU!!!!

************************************************************************
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
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel
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 Cyber Security News Weekly – Week of November 23, 2014

Welcome to the Mobile Cyber Security News Weekly, our newest online newsletter. Mobile Cyber Security will focus on the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile and cyber security, mobile malware, mobile application management, cyber warfare (and more!) that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market trend information.

Also read Connected Globe News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Looking for an enterprise mobility solution?  Read the Mobile Solution Directory Here!

New ABI Research data has forecast global cyber security spending will reach $100 billion by 2020 as governments intensify efforts to protect their financial, energy and defense infrastructures against a constantly evolving threat landscape. Read Original Content

Starting next year, enterprise organizations will be able to secure their mobile communications with a new offering from unlikely partners: BlackBerry Limited and Samsung. BlackBerry executives announced the partnership, along with several other new products and services, during the company's Enterprise Portfolio Launch on Thursday in San Francisco. Read Original Content

More than 40 percent of UK businesses have suffered a security breach from work mobile phones in the past 12 months, according to BT, which has warned companies are not taking the dangers of smartphones seriously enough. Read Original Content

B2M Solutions’ mobile software delivers valuable insight and actionable analytics for enterprise customers. Business leaders and managers within the mission critical, rugged mobile enterprise now have operational views of key business and technology analytics affecting performance and productivity. B2M software is developed with specific functionality to help organizations identify and unblock mobility problems as soon as, or even before, they occur, allowing customers to sustain critical business processes and gain competitive advantages. To Lean more visit www.B2M-Solutions.com.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by B2M Solutions

According to Research and Markets, the global BYOD security market is set to grow at a combined annual growth rate of 35.23 percent over the period 2014-2019. Read Original Content

Around 95 percent of IT and security professionals are struggling with the security threat presented by BYOD and more than 80 percent expect the number of mobile security incidents their company suffers to grow in 2015. Read Original Content

Cyber security is predicted to be the fastest growing homeland security market as North America, Asia and Europe invest in cyber defenses, according to the new report, The Homeland Security Market Forecast 2014-2024, published by ASDReports. Read Original Content

According to Research and Markets, the BFSI security market is expected to grow from $21.53 billion in 2014 to $37.35 billion by 2019, at an estimated compound annual growth rate of 11.6 percent from 2014 to 2019. Read Original Content

According to a report by The Homeland Security Research Corporation, following a remarkable 23 percent annual market growth, the 2015 market will reach $9.5 billion, making the U.S. financial services cyber security market the largest non-government cyber security market. Read Original Content

Latest Articles on http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com

Gamification Strategies and Mobile Applications - The Way it Should Be
2015 Enterprise Mobility Events Announced
Insights into the Impact of Big Data, Mobile Apps and Code Halos Strategies on Retail
Transforming Web Content for Enterprise Mobility
Mobile Expert Interviews: Snappii's CEO Alex Bakman
Mobile Expert Interviews: Red Hat's Mike Piech
Big Data Business Models and Code Halo Strategies with SmartStory's CEO Michael Boerner
Digital Transformation Expert Interviews: SmartStory's Lloyd Mahaffey

Webinars of Note (recorded)


Virtualization ≠ Mobilization


Whitepapers of Note


A Comparison of the StarMobile MORPH Protocol vs. Traditional Remote Computing Protocols

Don't Get SMACked - How Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud are Reshaping the Enterprise
Making BYOD Work for Your Organization

************************************************************************
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
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel
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 Commerce News Weekly – Week of November 23, 2014

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile commerce and marketing, mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking, mobile ads and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Connected Globe News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Cyber Security News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Looking for an enterprise mobility solution?  Read the Mobile Solution Directory Here!

Shoppers are going mobile in larger and larger numbers, according to on-line retail data leader comScore. Mobile digital commerce is expected to have grown by 25 percent over the last season, almost twice the growth of desktop E-commerce.  Overall digital commerce is expected to grow by 16 percent, reaching $61 billion.  Read Original Content

Powa, a commerce specialist operating primarily in the United Kingdom, will be bringing its mobile commerce service to the United States. New funding will allow the company to launch its digital payments system in the U.S., expanding the mobile commerce options that are available in the country.  Read Original Content

Smartphone traffic to e-commerce sites grew by more than 62 percent and revenue grew 141 percent, according to MarketLive. Tablet revenue and traffic grew by a more modest 20 percent. Though still dominant, PC-based commerce growth “continued its decline.”  Read Original Content

The cost and time to mobilize enterprise applications can actually meet or exceed the original cost and time to implement those systems. In their new report, “StarMobile Transforms Enterprise Apps into Mobile Apps”, 451 Research details the advantages of StarMobile’s app development tool and how it can drastically reduce the cost and time to mobilize enterprise applications. Download report here: http://starmobileinc.com/report-451research-starmobile-transforms-mobile-apps-into-enterprise-apps/

A recently unveiled report from Juniper Research has found the total number of users who plan to engage in mobile transactions is going to grow considerably over the coming years. They predict just over two billion mobile phone or tablet users will make mobile commerce transactions by the end of 2017, up from 1.6 billion during this calendar year.  Read Original Content

Mobile payments may experience lackluster growth in Canada. A new study from GfK, a global market research firm, shows Canadians are somewhat apprehensive when it comes to using a smartphone to make a payment.  Read Original Content
Target Corp. has now taken another step that reveals the retailer is getting very serious about mobile commerce, as it has purchased Powered Analytics, which is said to have “an Amazon-like shopping experience,” that can be provided to shoppers while they are within a brick and mortar store location.  Read Original Content

In Contact Solutions' recently completed retail mobile shopping survey, one major issue with mobile buying behavior–customer care was found. Altogether, 16 percent of consumers said they struggle with mobile shopping apps at least half the time, and 38 percent of respondents said they are disappointed with the inability to get help within a mobile app.  Read Original Content

Smartphone and tablet based commerce is expected to account for 49 percent of all online sales in Europe by 2018, according to new research published by Forrester.  Read Original Content

According to the 2014 holiday shopping study conducted by Deloitte, which included the participation of 5,000 American consumers, the average holiday spending this year will be $1,299, which represents an increase of 13 percent over last year. Among all U.S. consumers 72 percent will be using their smartphones for shopping purposes.  Read Original Content

Realex Payments, Europe's leading payment solution provider, announced a new partnership with Shopgate, the world's leading software-as-a-service m-commerce platform.  Read Original Content

Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of consumers surveyed said they trusted their bank in providing a mobile digital wallet service, a Deloitte report found.  Read Original Content

Mobile-based payments in the United States are expected to reach $142 billion in volume in 2019, according to a report from the research firm Forrester, from about $50 billion currently.  Read Original Content

In the three weeks since the company released Apple Pay, Whole Foods has processed more than 150,000 Apple Pay transactions. McDonald’s, which accepts Apple Pay at its 14,000 restaurants in the United States, said Apple Pay accounted for 50 percent of its tap-to-pay transactions.  Read Original Content

A new study by Retale found consumers are ready for mobile.  Thirty-six percent of respondents have previously used a mobile device to pay for something in a brick-and-mortar retail store, while the majority (64 percent) has not. However, mobile pay use has more than doubled over a two-year period.  Read Original Content

Apple’s new mobile payment system Apple Pay already has support from major banks, credit card companies and also some major retailers.  Now it would appear smaller independent retailers will also be able to support Apple Pay in the future as Square’s Jack Dorsey has confirmed the company is working on bringing Apple Pay to Square.  Read Original Content

Latest Articles on http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com

Gamification Strategies and Mobile Applications - The Way it Should Be
2015 Enterprise Mobility Events Announced
Insights into the Impact of Big Data, Mobile Apps and Code Halos Strategies on Retail
Transforming Web Content for Enterprise Mobility
Mobile Expert Interviews: Snappii's CEO Alex Bakman
Mobile Expert Interviews: Red Hat's Mike Piech
Big Data Business Models and Code Halo Strategies with SmartStory's CEO Michael Boerner
Digital Transformation Expert Interviews: SmartStory's Lloyd Mahaffey

Webinars of Note (recorded)


Virtualization ≠ Mobilization


Whitepapers of Note


A Comparison of the StarMobile MORPH Protocol vs. Traditional Remote Computing Protocols

Don't Get SMACked - How Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud are Reshaping the Enterprise
Making BYOD Work for Your Organization
************************************************************************
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
Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel
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