The Mobile Revolution Is Upon Us
Well folks, I’m out of breath. I was minding my own business just cruising the net for interesting stories and then all of a sudden I stumbled upon a treasure trove of fundamental information. It all began when I came across an article by Michelle Megna entitled What’s Behind the iPhone Success Story? and read in the first sentence that Apple sold 3.8 million iPhones in the last quarter (that’s three months for the non-accountants) for a $1.5 billion boost to sales revenue during the worst recession we’ve had in approximately 70 years. I was interested to read Megna’s reporting of the reasons behind this success story – 1) the too numerous to list apps, 2) the interconnectivity with the Mac for ease of data transfer, 3) the consumer preference of the iPhone to the Netbook. You’ll have to read further down into the article before you come across the astounding sales numbers for RIM’s Blackberry devices for the comparable time period. And so the story ends – or so I thought.
So I’m in this smartphone / mobility state of mind when I come across Andrew Dod’s article entitled Strategic Considerations for “Going Mobile”. Dod’s article takes this topic into the stratosphere with countless references to vital information. He begins by calling our attention to the old days and another revolution, 1994 that is and modems firing at 14.4 bps. Companies quickly realized that the paradigm had shifted and they needed to be a part of the internet and figure out how to compete and make money. With over 4 billion mobile devices in existence today the same questions asked in 1994 are being asked again:
· How do we get our business on mobile?
· How can we easily create and distribute content on mobile?
· How do we integrate mobile into our business operations?
· How do we ensure effective adoption of our mobile applications?
· How do we extend and grow our business on mobile?
Dod cautions us that mobile is not just for marketing but can help the enterprise achieve its core business objectives. With the excess of mobile devices out there Dod declares that content should be upper most in the mind of the business strategist to address the“significant variations in operating systems, screen sizes, display resolution, processing speed, memory, and performance.” Dod lays out the three major types of content, each with its own unique character and requirements to fit into the business strategy:
· Text messaging SMS (short message service) delivers simple content but is limited in how much it can deliver - only 160 characters.
· Mobile Web (WAP): This is where your smartphone uses WAP (wireless application protocol) to access Web sites. The WAP browser is simplified for your handheld device but is fully interactive. Use of the WAP browser is different from a PC browser. Web sites usually display clumsily on the smaller mobile screens. It is better to deliver tailored offerings with a limited portion of the content and functionality available at the full Web site.
· Mobile Applications: Since mobile devices support numerous platforms, rich media applications have become available enabling a much more vibrant user experience with video and audio. This allows for content developed specifically for the mobile device. Dod suggests that the smart business treats the mobile medium as its own medium, rather than an off-shoot of online.
Dod’s emphasis throughout his article is the importance of content when delivering it to a mobile device. He has devised a list of what he calls the ten C’s of mobile strategies. It is really quite ingenious. I could not do it justice in this blog posting and so I highly recommend his article to all my readers.
Continuing on with this treasure trove of information, many of my readers may remember my Blog posting last August 4, 2008 entitled Mobile Computing: A Unified Platform Is Essential As Technologies Converge regarding Jim Hemmer’s “Mobile Bang Theory”. Just to refresh your recollection Hemmer’s theory simply states that one action from a mobile device can be the catalyst for many other internal, as well as external, business reactions yielding significant ROI. Well Hemmer is back with a follow up to his Mobile Bang Theory entitled The Mobile Bang Theory – Part II: Let the ROI Sparks Fly. He sees the global economic meltdown as an aid in bringing cost containment more into focus for the enterprise and thus putting mobility projects on the top of the “to do” list for IT managers.
Hemmer’s take on the current mobile revolution is quite fascinating. He really sees a BIG PICTURE when he describes the inherent benefits of mobility. His vision combines multiple systems and devices and networks and processes and people and the end result is faster ROI. He emphasizes this faster ROI by explaining that the global recession provides opportunities in the sales cycle to impress your customers. He takes this lesson from the former president of Scandinavian Airlines, Jan Carlzon, who turned the company around during a deep recession. As Carlzon explained each customer interaction was a “moment of truth” for the company to impress the customer. Hemmer takes the moment of truth approach and refines it to fit today’s economic environment. These moments of truth become “Trigger Points” where the sale can be won or lost based on the timely and relevant use of data that can be brought to bear via mobile devices.
To be sure, mobility is not solely for the sales cycle. Hemmer’s article is full of other real examples of the use and benefits to the enterprise deploying the latest mobility devices and applications. He presents examples of mobility’s use for field service operations and also the productivity gains for IT Management itself as data can be retrieved real time to provide visibility into the operations. Jim Hemmer’s article is a nice companion piece to Andrew Dod’s article. And as Andrew Dod stated in his article:
“Mobile is here, now, and only going to dwarf the first Internet wave due to its ubiquity, essentialness, convenience, and proximity to nearly all we do.”
