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Showing posts from September, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 30, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market numbers and trends.

SMS, Human Capital Management and Mobile Applications

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It is easy to think that high value mobile applications need to be complex and sophisticated, but that is not always the case.  This morning I read about a solution that helps firefighters manage their human resources and schedules by interacting with their staff via SMS.  The solution, called ClickRoster, will automatically create the roster for every fire station and every shift for both full time and part time firefighters, allocating individuals to specific roles based on skill requirements and the Watch Managers’ decisions.

Ventureforth Delivers Mobile Enterprise Solutions for Oracle PeopleSoft Using Syclo's Agentry Platform

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Ventureforth, a Syclo Independent Software Vendor, licenses and develops off-the-shelf mobile solutions for Oracle, PeopleSoft and Indus (Ventyx) with the configurable mobile platform architecture from Syclo’s Agentry platform.  This is interesting for two reasons:

What Everyone Wants but Few Have - Mobile SDK

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Last week I interviewed the COO of Worklight , Kurt Daniels (see interview later this week) and learned about their strategy to become the leading mobile application platform for smartphones, tablets and beyond.  What makes them unique?  They want to be experts in mobile technologies, Mobile SDKs (software development kits) and platforms, but they don't want to develop mobile applications themselves.  They want to support systems integrators and customers that want to develop their own mobile solutions.

Do SAP and Sybase Recognize What is Happening?

I know many people that work at Sybase in the mobility products area.  They were overworked before the acquisition.  Now they are overworked times 10.  Why?  SAP bought them and enterprise mobility is in big demand today.  SAP customers have been waiting a long time for an SAP direction and roadmap around mobility and now that SAP has a strategy there is a huge backlog of interest.  What does SAP do with this interest?  They call the product folks at Sybase Unwired Platform and request their assistance.  I don't think the management folks at Sybase yet recognize what the SAP ecosystem is going to do to them.  I work closely with the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem.  The majority of these companies are going to want to partner with Sybase so they can support SAP's roadmap and strategy.  Read   SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 1 for more information on this subject.  These companies have their own customer bases and are actively recruiting

Kevin’s M2M News Weekly – September 29, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Location Based Services and Mobile Retailing Applications

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There is a fast growing segment of the mobile applications market that is rapidly being adopted by retailers.  Retailers and consumer packaged goods companies like Best Buy, Disney, Procter and Gamble, Starbucks, The Gap, American Eagle, Sports Authority and Macy's are all involved in various location based services projects. 

SAP's Consumer Mobile Initiative

SAP is now starting to really deliver vertical specific mobility strategies, ideas and solutions.  I love it!  They are demonstrating that they really understand the power of mobile applications.  Take a look at the following agenda items from their upcoming SAP Retail Forum 2010 in Las Vegas:

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly - September 28, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

More on Mobile Scanning Apps and Retail Stores

This morning I read an article written by Ben Lee of Smartsoft Mobile Solutions called Mobile Application Use for On-site Retail .  Ben describes how a number of different retailers have incorporated mobile applications, barcode, QR codes and scanning software into their strategies. 

Print Ads and QR Codes Combined with Mobile Scanning Software

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Image 1 Brooks Brothers is using QR (quick response) codes in its fall collection print ads that let consumers purchase the items they see right from the pages of Esquire magazine.  The challenge is getting customers to download the scanning software to their smartphone the first time.  After the mobile scanning app is downloaded, the process should be very easy.

SAP Enterprise Mobility Webinar - SAP, Sybase, PriceWaterhouseCooper and Kevin Benedict

I am very excited about this upcoming webinar on October 6th at 2 PM ET, because I have seen the draft presentation and it offers details that have been hard to find until now.  SAP/Sybase are starting to provide real insight into their strategies, the architecture of their solutions and the various components. 

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Open Text's Micah Kalen

For those of you unfamiliar with Open Text, they are an SAP Co-Innovation Partner (like Syclo and RIM).  They are an enterprise software company and leader in ECM (enterprise content management).  Open Text brings two decades of expertise and supports millions of users in 114 countries. They are focused on helping organizations capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness.  With that said, they are also developing a mobile enterprise software application called Open Text Everywhere .

SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 3

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The true value in extending business processes to mobile devices is to enable more employees, customers and partners to benefit from the company’s existing IT systems and investments. Mobile applications enable more users to take advantage of the ERP and other IT assets. SAP, in their central role, needed to define how mobile applications could efficiently and effectively connect and integrate with their solutions. The Sybase acquisition and the recently announced mobility roadmap now fulfills that need.

SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 2

SAP made a safe bet with the Sybase acquisition. Sybase was already the undisputed global leader in enterprise mobility databases, mobile synchronization technologies, mobile security and mobile device management. This is not another new emerging strategy and future solution. It is a mature and proven solution with millions of mobility users worldwide.

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 23, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market numbers and trends.

SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 1

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Many companies have asked me recently how the SAP acquisition of Sybase will impact the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem. It is a fair question that needs to be answered, as there is an increasing interest and demand from enterprises for mobile applications. Companies want and need to formulate a mobility strategy now, but they don’t want their first steps to be misguided. As a result they are watching webinars, attending conferences, downloading whitepapers and reading blogs in an effort to find answers. For years SAP did not provide many mobility answers. They struggled to understand and define a workable mobility strategy and roadmap. As a result, SAP mobility partners were forced to find their own answers. Today, however, things have dramatically changed in the world of SAP enterprise mobility. With SAP’s acquisition of Sybase, and their Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP), there is now a good and reliable mobile application platform and NetWeaver integration strategy that can be under

Kevin's M2M News Weekly - September 22, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market. Archived editions of Kevin's M2M News Weekly are available at here . You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others . Also available are Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly . ******** I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here . ******** Yesterday marked the official launch of the brand new "Global Smart Grid Federation," an international or

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – September 21, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retail applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. Archived editions of Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly are available at here . You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others . Also available are Kevin’s M2M News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly . ******** I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here . ******** Restaurants, retailers and other small businesses with storefronts are embracing location based social networks – think Foursquare or Facebook Inc.'s Places – to woo customers and keep them coming back.

Mobile Retailing - Macy's and Bloomingdale's Mobile Applications Strategies

Macy's and sister store Bloomingdale's recently announced that they have both recently revised and improved their e-commerce websites to better support their mobile retailing strategy.  When customers use an internet-capable mobile device to visit macys.com and bloomingdales.com, they now see larger and clearer images and click-through buttons so using the sites are faster and easier. Technology detects the type of mobile device a shopper is using and customizes the presentation of macys.com and bloomingdales.com to that customer.  They have added the following features to their e-commerce websites: When consumers access their websites through a mobile device, they can view larger and clearer images and click-through buttons. The site is faster and easier for mobile devices.  New technology detects the type of mobile device and customizes the website accordingly. Many of their customers come to the website after receiving email messages from Macy's or Bloomingdale's

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 6

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This is Part 6 in this series on My Advice to Mobile Application Vendors .  Today SIs (Systems Integrators) are wondering about their role in the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem.  They have traditionally played a significant role in SAP implementations, but what about mobility?  I had the opportunity to exchange emails recently with Florian Ganz, a systems integrator, with Energy4U  a Siemen business in Germany.  You many find his experiences and thoughts insightful on this subject. Florian entered the world of SAP mobility while working at SAP AG.  It was 2005, in the middle of SAP's mobility puberty.  He was given the challenging task of trying to fix SAP's early mobility projects and their escalating issues.  The experience was invaluable, as he quickly became exposed to just about every challenge large enterprises could have with mobile applications.  He traveled to almost every continent and spent time with over 35 SAP customers. In 2008, in the midst of SAP's da

27 Questions to Ask a Company Preparing an Enterprise Mobility Strategy

There are enterprise mobile application vendors like Clicksoftware that focus on supporting the needs of SAP customers that have mobile workers in rugged outdoor environments, and there are companies like Smartsoft Mobile Solutions that focus on supporting the needs of large and global retailers that use SAP and want customer facing mobile solutions to sell more products.  These environments can be very different from each other.  How do you know where to start when developing an enterprise mobility strategy? If you are an enterprise mobile applications vendor, a member of an IT organization or a systems integrator that is working with a client to help them develop an enterprise mobility strategy, then it would be useful to have a few questions to get the discussions started.  The following list of 27 questions is a good start, but I believe it is still an incomplete list.  I am sure I have missed important questions, so please click on the "comments" icon below and add t

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 16, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market numbers and trends. Archived editions of Kevin's Mobility News Weekly are available at http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/kevins-mobility-news-weekly.html You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others . Also available are Kevin’s M2M News Weekly and Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly . ******** I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here . ******** Market research firm IDC has increased its growth projections for this year's smartphone sales by 10 percent. The firm now expects smartphone sales to increase 55.4 percent compared to las

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 5

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This is part 5 of this article series. As an enterprise mobility vendor you need to recognize where your intellectual property is and where it will be developed in the future.  This can significantly impact your potential value.  Let me provide a scenario for your consideration. An enterprise mobility vendor develops a MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) that includes an SDK (software development kit).  They want every software developer in the world to use their platform and SDK.  They believe this will drive revenue from many different channels and allow them to enter new markets through these developers which will keep their cost of sales and marketing low.  They can see the money train coming down the tracks. The first part of their strategy works.  They get their generic MEAP and SDK into the hands of many developers.  The developers use the SDK to develop very interesting and complex mobile applications for many different markets.  The mobile applications are brand

Subscribe to an Email Version of Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others

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Finally!!!  I have added a feature to this blog site that supports email subscriptions.  You can now receive all blog articles on this site directly via email.  If you are interested  click here . *************************************************** Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst Phone +1 208-991-4410 Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin’s M2M News Weekly – September 15, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly. This is an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile and wireless devices that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market. Archived editions of Kevin's M2M News Weekly are available  at http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/m2m.html You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies for SAP and Others . Also available are  Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly  and Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly . ******** M2M connectivity specialist Wireless Logic will invest more than GBP 1 million upgrading its European Sim card management and monitoring system SIMPro over the next 18 months, Mobile News reported. http://www.telecompap

SAP Mentor Monday - Pre-Recorded SAP Enterprise Mobility Webinar

On Monday of this week John Appleby of Bluefin Solutions , Prashant Chatterjee of SAP and I recorded a webinar on the latest in SAP Enterprise Mobility.  It is available now for your viewing pleasure.  In this webinar https://sap.na.pgiconnect.com/p49687013 , I start out by discussing some of the most interesting new mobile technologies, and then Prashant and John actually bring substance to the webinar. Just a reminder that there are many video interviews I have done with industry experts like Syclo's CEO Rich Padula available for you to watch here, http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-video-series.html .  Syclo is a Co-Innovation Partner of SAP, which means they develop joint mobile solutions with SAP.  Theses videos are shaky and look like I am holding a small HD Flip video camera in one hand while conducting the interviews (in fact I am), but they do have some interesting content. *************************************************** Kevin Bene

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing Weekly – September 14, 2010

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications, mobile payments and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. Additional weekly newsletters on the subjects of enterprise mobility and M2M from Kevin Benedict can be found here http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/ . ******** ABN AMRO, ING, KPN, Rabobank, T-Mobile and Vodafone have signed a letter of intent to jointly introduce point of sale mobile payments in the Netherlands. http://www.nfcnews.com/2010/09/10/banks-telecoms-unite-to-bring-contactless-m-payment-to-the-netherlands ******** Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and the iPhone’s iOS may be the lead operating systems battling it out for smartphone supremacy, but when it comes to getting users around the world to click on ads, good old flip phones a

My Advice to Mobile Applications Vendors, Part 3

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In part 1 of this article series we focused on sales channel development and marketing strategies for mobile enterprise application vendors.  In part 2 we focused on sales strategies.  In part 3 we will discuss thought leadership. In my experience companies looking to implement new mobile technologies and strategies appreciate help.  They appreciate learning from your mistakes and others.  Often they don't even know the questions they should be asking.  They may not even understand the key considerations and choices they need to make.  They need help even getting to the decision making stage.  They need answers. I am a big fan of experts teaching workshops.  I have developed them myself.  One or two day workshops that identify all of the key issues, considerations and critical decisions enterprises need to understand before they decide on a mobile application strategy.  Thought leaders have this knowledge and provide it.  Inexperienced vendors are still learning themselves and