The Master Plan for Enterprise Mobility and the Role of Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence

Enterprise mobility and digital transformations are ultimately about enabling AI (artificial intelligence) and human collaboration to provide better and faster data driven decision making. ~ Kevin Benedict

If you agree with the statement above (it's not mandatory), then what does it take to actually deliver on it?  I believe this is where digital transformation and artificial intelligence comes into play.  First, let's discuss digital transformation.  Wikipedia's (one of my most favorite sites) definition is, "Digital transformation refers to the changes associated with the application of digital technology (i.e. going paperless) in all aspects of human society."

Geography and locations can be digitized through digital maps, satellite images, overlays, GPS tracking and on-the-ground sensors (with embedded wireless chips)  that report on all kinds of measurements and activities to a central server.  The status of machines can even be monitored through wireless sensors.  Think of a train, truck or ship automatically and wirelessly reporting its location, speed and operational status every few seconds to a central server. Mobile workers can report on the status of their work and projects, their physical environment and other activities and events from remote location.  This data paints a picture or digital representation of an environment.  My colleagues at the Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant call this data, "Code Halos."

Having all kinds of real-time data from a location or business process effectively digitizes it.  It provides a digital representation of events and activities that enhances your situational awareness.  It removes the "blind spots" in your area of operation.  Removing these blind spots from business processes are where competitive advantages and ROIs will be found in 2014.

Enterprise mobility enables every mobile user to effectively be a remote sensor.  Each additional sensor increases the situational awareness and intelligence of the organization, and better intelligence wins. ~Kevin Benedict

Once you have an accurate digital representation of your operational area (i.e. activities, resources, assets, events, locations, schedules, times, statuses, etc.) algorithms can be developed to better manage and execute your business based upon the digital inputs.  Algorithms or digital rules can be developed and implemented so rapid and automatic adjustments can be made to schedules, assignments, business processes and workflows using artificial intelligence.  I define artificial intelligence in this context as, "the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks, take actions and make decisions based upon data inputs and developed digital rules.  The key is having the data to input.  Mobile and wireless technologies, sensors and the Internet of Things provides the platforms for remote data collection in support of these solutions.

You can see a real world implementation of artificial intelligence integrated with mobile solutions in action in ClickSoftware's solutions ClickButler here - http://blogs.clicksoftware.com/clickipedia-blog/bid/91748/Artificial-Intelligence-Goes-Mobile-with-ClickButler

On a related subject, here is a great new video on the concept of "Code Halos" from my colleagues at the Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant.


*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) 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

***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.

The Mobile Strategy and Management Challenge

Believe it or not, a fair number of people like my workshops on mobile strategy.  The problem though is a fair number don't.  Why?  Sometimes developers come into my sessions, stay for 15 minutes and then leave.  They were expecting to learn how to develop mobile apps, or how to secure and integrate them with back-office systems.  They had no interest in learning about enterprise wide mobile strategies.

Enterprise wide mobile strategies are increasingly a business and IT leadership issue.  They involve brand, product and service strategies.  They involve plant operations, logistics and transportation.  They involve asset management, field operations and sales.  Enterprise wide mobile strategies touch every corner of the business.  Enterprise mobility is no longer an IT issue, or just a technical discussion.  Enterprise mobility is a C level discussion today.  Because of this mobile solution vendors must change their marketing strategies to address the needs of both business and IT decision makers rather than developers.

I had two people from different large oil companies come to a session I was leading in Orlando this month at the Enterprise Mobility 2013 conference.  They both had just suffered cyber-attacks that had caused major damage.  They only wanted to know about mobile security, not enterprise wide mobile strategies.  I understand.  That was the disaster on their plate that day.  They had no time to discuss strategy.  The challenge though is that without a strategy, it is hard to deliver mobile solutions that are strategic enough to matter.

I was reading an article from Forrester Research over the weekend.  Forrester Research is predicting the prices of mobile solutions will rise in 2014.  Why?  They will become more strategic.  They will offer significant competitive advantages.  They will support innovative products, services and business models.  They will make a difference.  The time for POCs (proof of concepts) is over.  It is time to execute with a strategy.

*I am in London speaking on mobile strategies and mobile led transformation with Forrester Research and Cognizant on Friday, December 6th.  Let me know if you would like to join us!  Email me here.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) 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

***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 Speaking with Forrester Research in London on December 6th

Greetings All,

I am speaking along with Forrester Research's John McCarthy on mobile led transformation in London on Friday, December 6th from 4 PM-7 PM.  If you are interested in attending the details follow:

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) 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

***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.

Where the Physical Meets the Digital - GIS and Enterprise Mobility

One of the mega-trends I write often about is the merging of the physical with the digital and the resulting impact on businesses.  A key element of this trend is the association of geospatial or location data with events, tasks, projects, processes, assets and resources.  I asked my civil engineering friend and hero of all ducks, J.D. Axford, to teach us a bit about graphical information systems (GIS).  Here it is for your reading pleasure.

Three broad categories of information are combined in GIS.  As a point of reference, let's consider how a utility company would use these three:

1. Landbase information typically comes from outside sources and depicts the natural (earth) and built (man-made) environment in which the utility operates – roads, rivers, and so on. 
2. Grid information, defining the physical system (power lines, transformers, substations, power generation sites) the utility owns and operates, this information comes from their engineering, surveying, and maintenance crews. 
3. Customer information is generated in-house and includes names, addresses, services provided, and maintenance schedules and requests, in addition to billing information. 

Combining these three data categories into a GIS enables a utility to support:

• outage management systems
• workflow scheduling
• damage prevention
• routine operations and maintenance 
• asset management
• workforce optimization

A GIS serves several purposes.  It is a geospatial database, plus a collaboration and communications tool for sharing geospatial data accurately, quickly, and broadly amongst enterprise teams.  This of course requires enterprise mobility solutions.  It ensures the field crews, engineering design and customer service departments are working together to efficiently meet goals. As always, effective communication require the data shared be accurate and available to those who need it, when they need it, and where they need it.  This is where the utility of mobile devices and especially tablets comes in.

In order to effectively use GIS, mapping software (like LatLonGo) must be developed that works across a number of different mobile hardware platforms to maximize its utilization.  It must also be able to integrate with ERPs, asset management apps and other business solutions.  Specialized software platforms are needed that support GIS integration with mobile devices.

Compressing data is another requirement so mobile devices have the space available to store GIS data, and so it remains accessible even when connectivity is lost. Collecting data through text and voice notes, photographs, and redlined maps and drawings are also essential and must be synchronized back to the main GIS server for collaboration and review.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) 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

***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.

Enterprise Mobility is a Component of Digital Transformation

Companies don't want enterprise mobility.  They want increased sales, lower expenses, better products, improved customer service and more profits.  They want to be survivors during this period of massive digital transformations.  What do I mean by digital transformation?  I mean the fact that entire industries are being changed before our eyes because the physical world is merging with the digital.  I mean big data analytics, mobile applications and broadband connectivity to the internet through mobile devices that introduce completely new business models, processes, products and markets.   In order to be a survivor in this competitive climate, companies must have a clear understanding and vision of what digital transformation is, and how it is impacting their industry, market, products and company.

I met with a large national paper manufacturer today.  They have yet to start any mobile application projects internally.  I wonder if they have ever read about the impact of digital transformation on Kodak film sales?  I don't revel in writing about this. I cringe.  The challenge is not IT. It is in the business that chooses not to commit a budget to preparing for digital transformation.  That sounds to me like waving the white flag in the face of change.

When I talk to companies about mobile strategies, I am not really talking about mobile strategies.  I am talking about digital transformation and how mobile applications support this transformation.  If you buy into the fact that entire industries and marketplaces are being digitally transformed (think film, newspapers, media, retail, banking, travel, education, healthcare etc.), then you recognize mobile applications are about real-time prospect, customer and employee engagement, commerce, interaction and collaboration on any device, any place and at any time!  The mobile app is the interface between the outside world and the company.  However, the mobile app will provide very little value if the internal IT systems are not capable of supporting the demands of evolving marketplaces.

Let me emphasize the concept of "real-time."  Mobile devices and mobile applications feed our desire for instant results accompanied by instant satisfaction.  This desire generates intense pressures for companies to upgrade and transform themselves, their business processes and IT systems to be able to respond in real-time.

In addition to our desire for real-time information capabilities, we must be able to creatively innovate our way into the new landscape where the competition is around "information logistics" systems.  Where our success is dependent upon our ability to collect data (from mobile devices, websites, social media, apps, sensors and other database) faster than our competition, and then integrate, analyze, report and put it to use in new business processes and services faster than our competitors.  It is the ability to look at all of these capabilities and to envision new business models, products and services never before possible without real-time capabilities that will determine the market winners.

It is our "information logistics" systems that enable us to digitally transform and be competitive.  It enables us to market to customers with precision.  It enables us to provide better SLAs (service level agreements) because of better visibility into remote operations and delivery capabilities.  It enables us to manage our cash better, because we can manufacturer in a "just-in-time" paradigm based upon real-time visibility into demand and orders.

Yes enterprise mobility is a crucial element in all of this.  It supports the "information logistics" system required to remain competitive in a world undergoing digital transformation, but let's not become mesmerized by enterprise mobility.  It is not the end goal. It is simply an enabler on the journey through digital transformation.

**Have you read the new Mobile Solution Directory here - http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

Read more on the Future of Work here - www.unevenlydistributed.com.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

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.

The Race for Sensors to Supply Big Data and Enterprise Mobility

Today's competitive marketplace requires companies to collect more data, analyze more data and utilize more data to improve customer interactions and engagements.  Mobile devices are exceptionally designed to assist in this effort.  Apple's iPhone comes with an inventory of sensors:

• Touch
• Voice
• GPS
• Proximity
• Ambient Light
• Accelerometer
• Magnetometer
• Gyroscopic

I listened to an IT expert in the CIA give a presentation on how they could use the sensors on a typical smartphones to uniquely identify the walking style and pace of individuals.  For example, the intelligence agency may suspect a person carrying a phone is a bad guy.  They can remotely switch on the smartphone's sensors and record the walking style and pace of the person carrying the phone and match it with their database records.  SCARY ISN'T IT!?

Those are just a few of the sensors available that integrate the physical world with the digital.  Read this article I wrote to learn more about the incredible capabilities of sensors.

Mobile apps can also be considered the API (application programming interface) between humans and smartphones.  For example, a mobile application for recommending local restaurants may start by asking the user what kind of food they prefer.  The human queries their stomach, and then inputs the results into their mobile app by touching the keypad or using their voice.  Suddenly a server in an Amazon data center knows your stomach's inputs!  That is one powerful sensor and API!  Given the vast array of sensors in the human body incredible things can be done once those sensor inputs are digitized.

Although there are many powerful sensors in the human body the API is still the human's touch, typing or voice.  The emergence of wearable sensors and smart devices are a way to try to automate the process of data collection so humans are not required to take time and effort to input the data.

Sensors are also connected to the non-physical.  Sensors can connect with time.  Once time reaches a specified place, a digital alarm can go off striking your physical ear with sound waves.  That is making the non-physical inputs, physical.

The challenge for businesses today is to envision how all of these sensors and available real-time data can be used to improve customer service, product design, marketplace interactions and engagements so there are more profits at the end of the day.  

In the book Digital Disruptions, James McQuivey writes that for most of history, disruptions (business and marketplace transformations) occurred in a physical world of factories and well-trod distribution networks.  However, the disruptions of tomorrow are likely coming from digital disruptions - sensors, code halos, big data and mobile devices and wearables.

The task and challenge of every IT department is to understand and design a strategy that recognizes that the competitive playing fields of tomorrow are among the digits.

***Have you seen the new Mobile Solution Directory here http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Strategic Enough to Matter, Code Halos and Mobile Apps

Gartner IT Budget Forecast

If a massive herd of elephants were charging at you from 20 meters away, would taking a small step forwards or backwards improve your safety? NO!  In many situations it seems that is how companies are approaching mobile strategies.  They are staring massive marketplace transformation in the face, but responding by just starting a few mobile app POCs (proof of concepts).

In James McQuivey's book titled, Digital Disruption:Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation, he states that competition in business is rapidly moving to a focus on knowledge of and engagement with customers.  Companies are developing an understanding of "code halos" (their customers' digital footprint or history of activities on the web, at a location and in various database systems) and they must now use this data to better engage with customers through their customers' "engagement format of choice" which is increasingly on a mobile device.

Finding, integrating and using a person's "code halo" represents a lot of work for an IT organization.  It takes strategy, budgets, resources and planning. It takes more than a small step as suggested in my earlier anecdote.   This is the kind of thing the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) needs to be taking up with the CEO and CIO.

In the latest technology budget forecasts I have seen from Gartner (see chart above), more of the technology budget is being shifted to the business and/or marketing department, while the IT budget remains relatively flat.  I believe this suggests many companies "get it."  They understand their ability to stay competitive in the face of Amazon, Apple, Google and eBay, etc.,  just to name a few of today's digital disruptors, depends on their ability to effectively collect, analyze and utilize "code halos" and engage with their customers and markets on a mobile device.

When it comes to enterprise mobility and mobile apps - Get strategic and get competitive before it is too late!!!

***Have you seen the NEW mobile solution directory here http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Enterprise Mobility and the Gift of Time

McCall, Idaho - Winter Wonderland

I was standing next to a grizzled old man (definition: anyone older than me that can grow a beard), at the coffee shop today.  He said he had been standing in lines all day.  I said, "Makes you appreciate smartphones, doesn't it?"  He agreed and added they save me so much time!

That comment is a perfect example of "blogger's inspiration!"  I said, "What do you mean by - "It saves you so much time?"  He said his work is closely tied to the weather.  He runs snow removal services in beautiful McCall, Idaho.  As a result, he must carefully monitor the weather including wind direction, precipitation forecasts and the beginnings and endings of storms.  He can now do all of this precisely from his smartphone.  He said he is absolutely more productive.

He went on to say, "I want to start working at the tail-end of a storm to maximize my productivity and customer services."  If he starts work too early his work will be covered by snow and he will have too remove it again, adding expense and delaying his work for other customers.  If he starts too late, he will have dissatisfied customers."  He uses his smartphone constantly in the winter to maximize his productivity.

Enterprise mobility solutions can provide all kinds of "gifts of time" to employers and employees.   From simple collaboration with colleagues, prospects and customers using your smartphone for voice, SMS, Skype or Google+ instead of traveling to a face-to-face, navigating quickly and accurately to a destination or to collect data in the field that is integrated with back-office systems.  There are all kinds of ways time can be saved by utilizing mobile technologies.

In recent decades productivity gains in manufacturing have been driven through better processes and process automations, automated data collections, advances in SCM (supply chain management), logistics and ERPs.  Today, there are even more productivity gains to be had in each of these areas by using mobile technologies to improve real-time visibility into events, processes, statuses, locations, resources and snow fall!

Have you reviewed my new Mobile Solution Directory at http://mobilesolutiondirectory.blogspot.com/?

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Mobile Expert Video Interviews: Regev Yativ

I had the privilege of interviewing Regev Yativ, the CEO/President in the Americas of Magic Software this week.  Magic Software is over 30 years old, which gives them a unique and interesting perspective on enterprise mobility and what makes a good solution and mobile strategy.  Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uAWK2RlZPQ&feature=share

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

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.

Satellites, GPS Tracking, Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Technologies

My good friend J.D. Axford, a civil engineer and hero of all ducks for his wetlands work, sent me a very interesting (if you are into GPS tracking, GIS, mobile technology, artificial intelligence, accelerometers, etc.) article he wrote on how the physical is meeting the digital in the world of construction and engineering today.  I am including it here for your pleasure and education.

Compaction, in heavy construction, is the application of energy to soil, crushed rock, or asphalt to increase density by driving out air, which enables the finished, compacted material to support buildings, roadways, and other structures. Compaction is specified as a percentage of the maximum dry density determined in the lab.

During construction, compaction is most often measured using a nuclear densitometer. Other reliable methods include the use of sand cone (ASTM D-1556) and rubber balloon (ASTM D-2167) methodologies; less formal tests used in the field include soil probes (a pointed steel rod pushed into the ground to gage penetration resistance and therefore estimate compaction), proof-rolling with loaded dump trucks while observing deflection, and even boot-heels. These all are necessarily spot-checks; consistency is sought by controlling the compaction process.  This requires the roller operator’s ability to track speed and passes over each section while estimating compaction, leading to both over- and under-compaction. Near-constant inspection is usually needed, and even so, compaction is a frequent source of job site disagreement.

Intelligent compaction (IC) is a system growing in use which combines on-board GPS, computers, and axle-mounted accelerometers to provide continuously-controlled compaction. The accelerometers measure stiffness, and indirect measurement of density, and feed that information to the computer, which uses GPS to produce a color-coded map of the working area; the colors are used to provide an intuitive depiction of areas already meeting specifications, and those needing more compaction. For asphalt work, IC systems (there are approximately eight US equipment vendors developing and selling IC), infrared sensors measure (and the computer maps) the asphalt temperature, a critical data set in ensuring timely compaction as the material cools.

As is normal, a test zone is compacted at the start of the overall compaction effort to determine the number of passes and speed the material requires to meet specifications. That information is entered into the on-board IC system as the baseline against which future work areas are compared and mapped. This eliminates guesswork, eliminates overwork, and improves the homogeneity of the finished product, saving money for the contractor and improving the service life of the compacted product.

Intelligent compaction, requires mobile technologies, GPS tracking and artificial intelligence to calculate all kinds of accelerometer and speed data, location and project requirements.  This is another example of how the physical is meeting the digital and improving processes.  You can learn more about how artificial intelligence is being integrated into field services by ClickSoftware here.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) Cognizant

View Linkedin Profile

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.