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Showing posts from July, 2014

The Real Challenge of Mobile Apps is Real-Time

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Can you imagine a scenario where you ask Apple’s Siri a question, and she says, “Can I get back to you in 5 minutes?”  Wouldn't that be irritating?  Information and requests for information have a shelf life. The information is requested at a specific time for a reason.  If you send me the information in 5 minutes I have probably moved on to something else. In a recent survey I conducted with 79 participants involved in mobile technologies and projects, 83.7% said they or their clients' have IT systems that are too slow or incapable of supporting real-time mobile application requirements. That is a problem. Many organizations are facing a challenging time supporting the real-time data requirements of mobile applications.  They are recognizing that significant work needs to be done inside their complex IT environment to ensure that data queries and reports can be produced instantly for use on mobile applications.  In many organizations upgrading and enhancing their IT ecos

Managing Mobility in the Workplace: Best Practices with 451 Research, HP and Kevin Benedict

Join me at 9 AM PDST, Thursday, July 24th for a lively discussion with 451 Research and HP on the topics of enterprise mobility, mobile printing, mobile strategies and trends. ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Editor 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 Browse the Mobile Solution Directory 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 m

Mobile Solutions, the Internet of Things, Code Halos and Enterprise Strategies, Part 1

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Tactics without strategy are dangerous. ~ Robert Leonhard If you believe as the authors of the new book Code Halos  do, that data is the new competitive arena for businesses, then you will want to develop a strategy in order to compete.  What might that strategy look like?  It may be as simple as, " We believe the better we understand the needs and preferences of our individual prospects and customers, the more convenient and personalized we can make their experiences which leads to happier and more loyal customers that promote our business and help us grow." Streaming music stations provide us with a useful example of this kind of strategy.  They enable me to personalize my music stations so I conveniently hear what I want, and as a result I listen to it more often.  Amazon Prime knows my family intimately.  They use this knowledge to enhance our shopping experience daily.  Netflix knows our history and preferences and enhances our experience as a result. Do you ha

Mobile Apps, Code Halos, the Sharing Economy and Trustonomics

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I love receiving gifts in the form of new insights!  It doesn't matter if others received the same gift years ago and I am just getting it now.  If it is new to me, I get excited.  It is like waking up in the morning and discovering a new room in your house.  I read an article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times this weekend titled, " And Now for a Bit of Good News ."  The subject of the article was the new "sharing economy," think Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, etc.  In the article, Friedman calls Airbnb a " Trust Platform ."  To me, this weekend, this term was a gift.  He is so right. I have used Airbnb many times when traveling with my family, and to date have been very pleased with our experiences.  Often the transactions are sizeable as I am reserving a home in a desirable location for a week.  I am engaging in a transaction of some size with a person I don't know, in a home I have never visited, most often in a foreign country using different cur

Mobile Expert Interviews: Mocana's John Aisien

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Mobile security is a big deal.  The internet of things security is a big deal.  Internet security in general is a big deal.  In this interview we have the privilege of learning from mobility and security expert John Aisien, VP of Marketing and Corporate Development with Mocana .  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/fJmzK5_bCRo?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Editor 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 Browse the Mobile Solution Directory 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

Apple iOS and the Enterprise - Latest Developments

My friend and mobile expert Dave Akka shares his insights on the latest Apple strategies and developments to support the enterprise in this guest article. Following the recent Apple WWDC developer conference, it’s worth looking at what they are doing to make their products more attractive to the enterprise? iOS: The accidental leader? As NetApp’s Mike Elgan noted recently, iOS became the leading operating system for enterprise mobility almost by accident, although it might be more accurate to say that it wasn't originally designed for the enterprise or expected to be such a hit.  The iPhone was released as a consumer device like the iPod into a world of feature phones with a small smartphone market dominated by Nokia’s Symbian, while the Blackberry was the fully-locked-down enterprise mobility device of choice.  No one expected that the consumers who bought the iPhone would consider it to be so much better than their work devices that they would break every policy imaginable

Mobile Expert Interview: Feedhenry's Dr. Micheal O' Foghlu

In this segment of the Mobile Expert Interview series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Micheal O' Foghlu (pronounced Meehaul O Fowl Loo), but of course you already knew that.  His name actually has four accents above the letters of his name, but I don't know how to add those.  Sorry!  He is the CTO of the mobile platform company Feedhenry and has a lot of interesting insights to share.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/td--FUaeJtc?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw It's time again for the annual State of Enterprise Mobility report.  A lot has changed in the enterprise mobility world in the past year.  Would you be willing to participate in the survey?  All participants will receive the final report for free.  Here is the survey link - http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e9hmymorhwv3wle0/start . I will be compiling the results and writing the report in the month of August. ************************************************************************ Kevin

IT Infrastructures and Architectures are Impacting Mobile Experiences - Early Survey Results

Have you taken this year's The State of Enterprise Mobility Report  survey yet?  If not, please do as your insights are very important to us.  All participants will receive the final report free.  Here are some early results: 73% of survey participants report their mobile strategies and plans are inhibited by limitations in their current IT infrastructure, design and/or architecture. 83% of survey participants report the demand for mobile apps will force enterprises to make major investments in their IT environment to better support real-time interactions with mobile apps. 80% of survey participants report that less than half of their back-office systems are optimized to support mobile applications. 86% of survey participants report they have back-office systems that are too slow or incapable of supporting real-time interactions with mobile applications. 33% of survey participants report their IT environment prevents them from delivering an optimized mobile application expe

Mobile Expert Interview: AnyPresence's Founder Rich Mendis

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In this segment, I had the privilege of interviewing the founder of AnyPresence, Rich Mendis on his views of the enterprise mobility market, mobile strategies and his predictions for the future.  Enjoy! Video Link: http://youtu.be/GvvGl652Q9k?list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw ************************************************************************ Kevin Benedict Writer, Speaker, Editor 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 Browse the Mobile Solution Directory 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

Code Halos - Tracking the Mobile Workforce, Equipment and Other Variables for Optimal Performance

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I write and speak often on the need to have a thoughtful Code Halo strategy in addition to your mobile and digital strategies.   Code Halos is the term for the information that surrounds people, organizations, and devices.  Many companies consider Code Halo strategies only for marketing, sales and customer service, but a well thought out Code Halo strategy for work done in the field like maintenance, repairs, asset management, construction and engineering is also important.  Let me try to make the case here. There are many different objects and variables that can impact the performance of a mobile workforce, especially in the services industry.  In my enterprise mobility workshops I call these things PIOs (performance impact objects), and PIVs (performance impact variables). Examples of PIOs: People Parts/Supplies/Materials Tools Job locations Equipment (and availability) Transportation (and availability) Vendor (and availability) Subcontractor (and availability) Jobsi

Speed, Agility, Enterprise Mobility and Better Thinking

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Dromology - the science (or logic) of speed.  This is the definition developed by Urbanist and Professor Dr. Paul Virilio's.  He believed that, " a thing that acts with speed quickly comes to dominate that which is slower ."  I highlighted this statement in his paper when I read, Speed and Politics   recently.  I have observed this phenomena when analyzing businesses and their digital transformation efforts. In today's business world speed and agility, or the lack thereof, can mean the difference between success and failure.  IT systems of yesteryear are today's anchors dragging down companies.  Business strategies and ways of thinking that brought successes in the past, today prolong their inevitable demise. It is not just the investments of the past that weigh down a business, but old thinking. Agility is not just a programming and project management methodology, but a business requirement.  I recently attended a talk by Todd Lutwak, a Partner at the VC fir