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Showing posts from February, 2013

Notes and Videos from the Mobile World Congress 2013, Part 2

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Day Two of the Mobile World Congress 2013, and also Wrinkle Tuesday.  My hotel does not have irons or ironing boards and it was on the MWC 2013 recommended list...ugh. Here are some notes from my observations and discussions on Day 2: SAP Mobile Documents - this is an internally developed solution that acts like a secure Dropbox, but able to be central managed by IT.  Very useful! SAP is discussing M2M and/or The Internet of Things in at least two different locations here.  They have a demo in the Connected City, and a demo of a smart vending machine in their booth. Dropbox is also showing off an enterprise version.  You can now switch between a personal Dropbox and your enterprise version (secured and managed by your IT). SAP has developed several very interesting mobile B2C apps with deep social engagement models built in.  I love it.  One for sports teams and the other involving fashions and clothing. Firefox showing off their new mobile phones. SAP announced an M2M partne

Notes and Videos from the Mobile World Congress 2013, Part 1

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Yesterday was the first day of the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona.  It is reported there are 70,000 people here.  I counted 69,901.  I explored miles of aisles filled with mobile and wireless software vendors, equipment, accessories and devices manufacturers over 8 massive halls. I have been tracking down mobility experts to interview.  I tried to upload some of the interviews yesterday, but my hotel wireless appeared just enough to tease me before disappearing again. Today I will be speaking at the Power of Enterprise Mobility session in Hall 8.  There are seats for 250, but over 2,000 registered for it.  Yikes! Here is the first of many interviews I recorded with experts in mobility and M2M.  This interview is with M2M / Internet of Things guru and Fred Yentz, CEO of ILS Technology . ************************************************************* Kevin Benedict , Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant View Linkedin Profile

17 Questions to Ask When Developing Mobile Apps

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In this short video I review the 17 questions to ask when preparing to develop a mobile app.  These are basic questions, and I cover them fast!  Enjoy! ************************************************************* Kevin Benedict , Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant View Linkedin Profile Read the whitepaper on mobile, social, analytics and cloud strategies Don't Get SMACked Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Thomas Jefferson on Mobile and Collaboration

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I want an iPad mini! I came across this quote from Thomas Jefferson recently that I found interesting, " He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessoning mine; as he who lights his candle at mine, receives light without darkening me. Ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition...this [capability] seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them ." Thomas Jefferson was ruminating about collaboration - mobile and global collaboration.  He was sharing his belief that good ideas should be shared widely for the benefit of all.  Allowing your best and brightest minds, no matter their geographical location, to contribute their good ideas using mobile and collaboration technologies is a system, as Jefferson worded it, "benevolently designed by nature." If you are the software designer of the collaboratio

2013 Mobility Trends

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In this short video I review the findings and predictions from Gartner and comScore for 2013 mobility and other digital trends.  Enjoy!  Video Link:  http://youtu.be/YYmKYkQwWnw ************************************************************* Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant Read The Future of Work Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

What Questions Should We Ask Mobile Experts in Barcelona at MWC 2013?

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Next week I will be speaking at the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona and also interviewing all the mobility experts I can track down. I recognize that many of you reading this post may not have the opportunity to attend, but have questions you would like me to ask some of the mobility experts. If so, please post your questions in the comment field below and I will do my best to track down the answers on your behalf. Wow!  Eight halls full of mobile experts!!!  See image below. Cheers!

Mobility and Collaboration Platforms, Part 2

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OK, I am almost ready to get off of my soap box about how enterprise mobility and collaboration platforms, working together as part of SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud), are creating a huge sea change in how businesses are run.  In this short video I share some additional areas that will be impacted by these changes.  Enjoy! ************************************************************* Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant Read The Future of Work Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict on Enterprise Mobility and Collaboration

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Last week while speaking with CIOs and IT strategists in Europe the topic of enterprise collaboration came up often.  Of course, I was usually the one to raise it, but it is a natural extension of enterprise mobility so I am justified!  You can now have real-time communications with all of your brightest minds via mobile devices.  Why not use it!  Why not provide real-time collaboration apps that enable you to have full situational awareness within your company?  You can keep updated and contribute to all the important discussions and debates no matter your geographical location. In this short video, I discuss the impact mobility and collaboration platforms are having and will continue to have on many different aspects of your business.  Enjoy! ************************************************************* Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant Read The Future of Work Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Join the Linkedin

Terra Cotta Army, Mobility and Social Engagement Platforms

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This week I had the pleasure of teaching a SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) strategies workshop in Brussels for a very large insurance and banking company.  Following the workshop, my colleague in the mobility practice, Hugo Taborda, took me to see a visiting display of the Terra Cotta Army from China. For those not familiar with the Terra Cotta Army, it is a collection of over 7,000 terra cotta statutes found by a Chinese farmer in 1974.  Seven thousand soldiers and horses in long lines, standing silently, ready to escort their king into the afterlife. Yesterday on my return flight to Boise, Idaho I had ample time to meditate on terra cotta statues.  They were buried around 210 BC.  They have stood silent, ready for duty, for over 2,000 years.  Whether their king journeyed into an afterlife or not, they remained buried in Lintong district, Xi'an, Shaanix province, China.  They were immobile.  They have withstood the ravages of time (most of them), but cannot share

Mobile Expert Video Series: Cognizant's Ved Sen

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This week I was in four different countries in four days teaching mobile and social strategies for the enterprise.  While in London, I was able to corner mobility expert and my friend, Ved Sen, and film a quick interview.  In this segment, I ask him about the latest trends he is seeing and hearing about in Europe in 2013.  If you would like to contact Ved Sen and ask his advice on anything enterprise mobility related click here . ************************************************************* Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC, Cognizant Read The Future of Work Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and SMAC analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobility is the Conduit of Business Transformation

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This week I am teaching mobile and social strategies and will be visiting four countries in four days.  This type of schedule is a blur of airports, meeting new people and learning more about how mobile and social solutions are being used in the real world.  While on these trips I have a lot of time to ponder on flights. I have been thinking a lot lately about the the word conduit - a means by which something is received and/or transmitted , as a useful way of describing mobile devices .   Mobile devices are a conduit for voice communications.  Mobile devices are a conduit for social networks.  Mobile devices are a conduit for email, news, data collection, photos/videos, and now as e-wallets and mobile payments.  So much of our lives are now run through this conduit. In the last couple of weeks I have spent time with over a dozen companies keenly interested in the impact of mobility and social trends on their business.  In each case, the impact will be different, but significant

Is Social and Mobile Collaboration a Thing for the Enterprise?

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This week I have been working with companies in the Benelux on social and mobile strategies.  Today, I met with one CIO who says they have done POCs (proof of concepts) with three different social collaboration platforms, and each time the projects failed to catch on and be used by employees. I also recently read a ZDNet article  that included an interview with Jive's CEO Tony Zingale.  In this article, " Zingale acknowledged that the failure rate on social software that's merely flipped on and expected to work wonders is 'pretty high.'  He adds, 'Y ou have to learn how to be social and collaborate.'" How does a company learn to be social and collaborate? Is this a technology issue or a change management issue?  We as individuals have jumped into the social and collaboration scene pretty easily.  We use Facebook for ourselves and our soccer clubs.  We tweet and use Dropbox to share all kinds of files, we use email distribution lists to organize sch

Social and Mobile Rocking Organizational Charts and Processes

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Yesterday in my research on enterprise mobility and social businesses, I came across two statements that I want to share with you.  They are from the book Social Business By Design . The impact of new social models and enabling tools, combined with the means to employ them effectively (think mobile), are remaking the landscape of business, society, culture and government. Social business is one of the biggest shifts in structure and process of organizations in business history.  It taps into entirely new sources of creative output (everyone on the network...mostly mobile), relinquishes structure that reduces productive outputs, and inverts methods of traditional control and decision making in work processes (as anyone on the network can contribute). I don't think most businesses are yet aware of how transformational the SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) wave really is.  In my SMAC strategy workshops I compare this wave to a tsunami.  It does not care if social collabo

Speed, Change and Mobile Banking

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I am reading an interesting book titled Bank 3.0 by Brett King.  In this book King discusses the revolution and upcoming demolition of traditional banks in light of mobility.  Here are some interesting numbers from the book: In 1980 - credit cards took 14 days to approve, personal loans 7-14 days, home mortgages 30+ days. In 2008 - credit card were instantly approved, personal loans pre-approved/24 hours, home mortgages 24 hours. The increase in speed between 1980 and 2008 was primarily the result of the internet evolution and e-commerce.  Now jump forward to 2013, and mobility is the cause of the next increase in tempo.  People with mobile devices want instant access to their personal account information.  They want their business relationships and shopping experiences to be wonderful, convenient, digitized and instant.   My wife is my guide in this area.  She wants a great mobile app from any company we work with.  She directly associates the brand quality with the mobil