Mobility is seen as an important medium for some key macro-trends of our time, such as big data and cloud, to deliver maximum business value. Businesses have started to understand the value that mobility can deliver, especially when it comes to customer responsiveness and employee productivity.
During our recent Webinar on How Next-Gen Platforms are helping conquer large Mobility Programs, Chris Marsh of 451 Research shared, based on a study, that about 60% of companies are increasing mobility budgets, a third significantly. A quarter of firms are increasing their dedicated mobile headcounts by over 50%.
But at the same time, adoption has been negatively impacted by a number of challenges mostly resulting from a lack to vision, security concerns, budget constraints or lack of skills. An interesting aspect of this was raised by Ravi Naik, SVP Technology at Katerra Inc. and a former CIO of SanDisk. According to him, getting on the mobility bandwagon at the behest of the IT team is not a good idea because IT typically looks for point solutions to point issues, which may not necessarily be aligned to business. Eventually, it fizzles out because business doesn’t see any value in the mobility solutions.
But mobility can be a real productivity game changer when it is aligned with business objectives. An integrated mobility solution with apps at the front end and a reusable development and deployment platform in the background is a sustainable and effective approach to mobility; rather than building a series of point solutions, according to Ravi.
In my own experience of over 15 years in building and deploying mobility solutions, I’ve found that there are some distinct patterns that one can observe in almost all successful mobility deployments. These are:
1. Understanding of the Goal:
From a mobility perspective, businesses tend to fall into four major stages - Mobile first (where mobile is the primary channel of engagement); Mobile Driven (where mobility brings huge business benefits); Mobile enabled (end to end business processes mapped on mobile); Mobile ready (enables devices to access enterprise applications). It is important to understand and clearly define the stage that you want to achieve through your mobility strategy before jumping into it.
2. Building User-Centric Applications:
Making efforts to understand the user and taking a user first approach is key. For instance, building apps that mimic the flow of the user’s day can help drive better adoption. Using tools to get feedback that can improve the next version is another aspect of this.
3. Preparing for constant change:
Unlike Enterprise applications, feedback on mobile applications is immediate, and changes and enhancements are expected in days/weeks, not months! Your development and deployment timelines need to recognize and incorporate these tight cycles.
4. Getting a 360-degree view:
A single view of devices, apps, users and data can not only ensure enhanced security and better monitoring; but it can also significantly improve user experiences
5. Keeping options open:
In general, mobile deployments that let end users keep their options open, whether in terms of technology, vendor or customization are most likely to emerge victorious.
6. Taking a broader view of ROI:
Companies tend to measure ROI only in terms of money spent; but this a very narrow view that doesn’t present an accurate picture. Instead, it makes sense to look not just at cost, but also time spent and most importantly, the peace of mind!
Mobility is here to stay, but the right approach can mean the difference between success and failure. Here’s the link to our Webinar on ‘How Next-Gen Platforms are helping conquer large Mobility Programs.’ Do take a listen! And feel free to write in at [hello@halosys.com] if you have any queries.
We also have a report by 451 Research on Halosys and how it is poised to help Sonata Software break new ground in the enterprise mobility space. Click here to download.
About the Author
Avinash Harsh has 15+ years of experience in Enterprise Software & Mobility.He was the co-founder & CEO of Halosys, An Enterprise Mobile Enablement Platform, that was acquired by Sonata Software in 2015. Currently, Avinash is the Head of Mobile Platform & Solutions at Sonata Software, where he leads a team focused on providing Mobility driven Digital Transformation solutions to customers.