Why are you going mobile?

This week I had a great meeting with a new customer that is looking to build a really cool enterprise mobile application for the lighting industry. Meeting with them was refreshing as they obviously had invested serious time thinking through the mobile application, end-user requirements, backend integration and reporting requirements. This is unusual in that most of the customers come to with an idea for a mobile app but haven't really through through the business application.

My experience with them motivated me to share some enterprise mobility guidelines we walk through with our customers.

First Question: What is your goal in "Going Mobile"? Or better yet, WHY go mobile?

Obvious as this questions seems, it is the foundation of your success. But many companies are on their 2nd, 3rd even 4th mobile implementation because they didn't understand the "why" of going mobile. If a customer understands the "why" of going mobile their success rate  increase exponentially.  Some example goals and the "whys" brought to us to date

• Improve responsiveness to customers.
  This is really a goal. It's a result of good systems. Why do you want to improve responsiveness to customers? Have you struggled in this area? Have you identified the bottlenecks? What does it mean if you are successful?
• Providing mobile access to existing applications in the field to improve field worker productivity
  When I hear this I ask, "why is it important for field workers to have this data?" Does it enable the customer to make a decision now? Does it enable the field worker to guide decisions of the customer? Does it enable the service tech to offer the service now?
• Improve operational efficiencies both in the field and back end
  Again this is a goal. What is the cause of operational inefficiencies? Where are the bottlenecks? If I can eliminate those bottlenecks how does this affect serving my customers? How does it improve invoicing cycles? What reports now become available to help managers/sales people more effectively drive business.
• Expedite the invoicing process
  The why on this is clear as every business wants to keep cash flow moving in a positive direction so they can grow their business.
• Proof of service completion and acceptance
  Why? - A business wants to confidently demonstrate  service was completed or accepted.

Once you understand the "whys" of going mobile you can can establish the goals that will help you determine the right mobile strategy.  Most companies today deploy mobile applications in opportunistic business silos. While this approach can serve as a proving ground for mobile solutions it also can create a situation where mobile solutions become limited in scope, disjointed, invite technology disparity and are not scalable.

Businesses need to consider the overall mobility requirements within an organization and develop a long-term strategy that supports these goals then develop rollout strategies and pilots that align with the long-term strategy. Businesses tend to initially evaluate mobile solutions from the perspective of the field worker. But mobility needs assessments need to consider the entire business process and infrastructure considering every component including:

• Customer experience; Do customers interact with the device? A customer might review a service ticket or to provide a digital signature
• Field worker: what is the business process in the field? What data is required to help the technician or customer make a decision? Is mobile printing required? GPS -Do you need to know where your workers are or do they need help finding customer locations
• What kind of PDA device? Smartphone? Rugged PDA? Customer and field worker needs will drive device selection
• Back end integration: what accounting or corporate database systems need to be integrated with?
• Management and Executive Management: Considerations may inclue reporting, management evaluation and / or approval processes
• IT Support - what is required from the IT department? What device and connectivity standards have been set?
• Security policies

I find companies are on track when they've carefully considered these areas as well as come conclusions on the following:

• They have identified specific business processes that will significantly benefit mobile technology and why those are important
• Individual or departmental mobile projects are implemented with the overall business goals in mind. "Smaller" mobile projects can integrate with the enterprise mobile management, infrastructure and security policies.
• Common software, cloud based solutions or middleware mobile solutions are implemented across the organization.
• Implementation of device policies whether they be BYOD or corporate sponsored are clear and enforceable
• Projects are managed and supported according to clearly defined policies

I'll take a look at deciding which mobile applications to deploy in part 2 of this article.

Jody Sedrick

Follow me on Twitter: @jodysedrick and @zenewareinc

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SAP acquires Syclo - Doubling down on mobility

SAP finally got it right with the announcement of acquiring Syclo. I remember shaking my head when SAP acquired Sybase thinking, "I see the infrastructure and synchronization value but Sybase doesn't provide a MEAP, SDK or even off-the shelf apps."

In a previous life, I spent 5 years building a MEAP solution that sat on top of Sybase.  I know first hand the power of the infrastructure as well as the weakness and lack of development tools. Sybase always seemed like a three legged stool somehow propped up with only two legs. The one significant benefit I saw at the time was that it provided a truly viable path for SAP's customers to extend data to mobile users - all be it the 9th attempt as pointed out by Narendra Agrawal in his article "With Syclo Acquisition SAP does it again"

My first question when I heard the news was "Did SAP finally realize they made a mistake the first time around learning that Syclo would've be a better bet in the first place? Or, is this a key strategic move to further support and build on SAPs mobile vision?" It's probably a little of both.

I think this is a big win for SAP since Syclo provides a much better mobile platform as well as industry proven mobile applications.  Companies looking to deploy enterprise mobile solutions quickly will be drawn to a Syclo's enterprise class app library that already integrate with SAP and a powerful MEAP to extend app capabilities or build entire new libraries.

I think the acquisition further entrenches SAPs commitment to enterprise mobility. I see it as a strategic play to broaden their enterprise mobility reach. Public consensus seems to agree as illustrated by Kevin Benedict in his blog "SAP Acquires Syclo - A second Cup of Coffed and 25 Comments". A whopping 78% think this is a good move for SAP.

The question remains, will customers view the acquisition in the same light?  I see the potential for many projects being placed on hold as companies wait for the dust to settle from yet another merger. I wonder if SAP will take this as an opportunity to simplify the pricing model as the current SUP pricing model is confusing at best.

Clearly this is another indicator of how quickly the Enterprise Mobility landscape is evolving.  This evolution creates on-going challenges and opportunities for mobile solution integrators and customers who are trying to decide how to develop and deploy mobile projects amidst an ever changing field of mobility players.

Jody Sedrick

Follow me on Twitter: @jodysedrick and @zenewareinc

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MEAP Nirvana? Is developing your own mobile solution wise?

For the past year I have consulted with a company that has sought to develop their own mobile solution. Early in the consulting process I recommended a cloud based mobile solution that aligned with their business model and processes. My recommendation to go with a pre-packaged solution that met 90% of their needs was primarily based on the fact that they hadn't put together a dedicated team to work on the project. Their attitude was, "A MEAP will make up for any difficiencies our developer might have in time or expertise", or "I can work on this project while traveling".

They have come to realize that while a MEAP solution provides great power to accomplish their mobility goals there are still a lot of challenges and complexities involved with developing an enterprise mobility solution that require time, evaluation, dedication and development.

A very simple example of this happened this week. The same company that decided to build their own mobile application approached us to solve some challenges they had encountered developing their own mobile app. As our team looked at the mobile solution a few simple, yet crucial, points were missed in their application design. Here are two examples:

1. Work order tables were joined on a customer name without having a unique customer ID. The result - if they changed a customer name from "Freds" to "Fred's" all ties to previous work orders would have been lost.
2. Work order numbers were not unique and could be shared between multiple customers. The result - Customer A could end up with Customer B's information. Not such a good idea.

There were other complications within their app but you can see how a few simple things can negatively impact the results of your mobile solution.  It is important to recognize there are difficulties and challenges in customer developing a mobile solution whether using a MEAP or traditional coding.

The following is a list of questions and considerations you should weigh before embarking in developing your own mobile solution:

1. Do you have dedicated resources available to gather all the business and technical requirements of your application?
2. Do you understand the business process in the field? What does the field technician need to be successful? What does the corporate side need to be successful? The key is building a mobile solution that provides the right data at the point of action.
3. Do you have and can you dedicate the right technical resources to design, develop, test, deploy and support your application?
4. Do you have experienced mobile application designers that can build intelligent business logic within the application and not simply design a great interface?
5. What mobile device options are available? What device features are required by the end user - barcode scanning, GPS, RFID or are consumer grade devices sufficient?
6. With what backend systems do you to have to integrate?

Mobility has become an integral part of business. It's no longer a "would be nice" part of your business, it is mission critical. Whether using a MEAP or traditional development methodologies the key is developing a mobile solution that can evolve as your business and mobile technology evolves.

Jody Sedrick
Follow me on Twitter: @jodysedrick and @zenewareincLinkedIn Profile