A Frost & Sullivan White Paper
Mobility - A Key Business Survival Tool ... 3
Planning and Forethought can Overcome Common Mobility Challenges ... 4
Developing a Mobile Strategy – Cocktail Napkin Notes Don’t Count ... 5
Rapid Change and High Complexity – A Recipe for Failure ... 6
Mobile Security – Be Prepared for the Worst ... 7
Connected Enterprise – Focus on What Your Business Does Best ... 7
Lack of Resources to Manage Mobility – Use Technology to Work Smarter ... 8
Frost & Sullivan Mobility Strategy Best Practices ... 9
Finding the Right Mobility ... 10
Mobility – A Key business survivAl tool
When technology pundits pause for the briefest moment and reflect on the evolution computing mobility over the past decade, the changes are breathtaking. Less than a decade ago when employees accessed work data, it was usually email and it was usually done using company-issued devices such as:
1. A heavy laptop employees preferred to leave on a desk, or 2. A BlackBerry smartphone with an integrated keyboard.
A lot has changed over the past eight years. Today, smart phones are common in most households, which fueled the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend across the United States.
Company Support of BYOD:
North America 2014 U.S. Tier 1 Mobile Smart Phone Subscriber Forecast (2009-2015)
Do not know 3% Yes 65% No 32% 0 50 100 150 200 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Millions of Units
The impact has been dramatic and permanently changed the way enterprise, government, and consumers interact. Today, employees and customers expect organizations to support business on the go with mobile apps that leverage the capabilities of the latest smart phones and tablets on the market. The results of the smart phone mobility revolution are all around us. A few mobile app examples are:
• Finding a flight, buying a ticket, getting a boarding pass, and flight updates; • Restaurant ordering, NFC mobile payments and hotel room keys1;
• Shipment pickup, tracking, and signature verification at destination; • Banking mobile deposit, bill pay, and finding the nearest ATM; • Real-time investment account data to place orders to make trades; • Business calendars, email, Web conferencing, and collaboration; • Local and long-haul fleet management and tracking; and
• Workforce management, sales force automation, database access.
Smart phones and mobile apps are facilitating day-to-day operations for enterprise and government in new ways every day. The benefits of supporting ultra-mobility are so evident that in 2014, 82% of North American organizations surveyed2 said they had at least one employee-facing mobile app and 79% said they
would deploy one in 2015.3 Regardless of your industry, supporting mobility isn’t optional; it’s a necessity
for businesses that want to survive.
PlAnning And Forethought cAn overcoMe coMMon Mobility
chAllenges
A striking example of the Ostrich Syndrome* in organizations today was highlighted in a Frost & Sullivan survey
where 51% of decision-making IT professionals said there is no real business need to support mobile apps.4
IT decision-makers that believe there isn’t a business need for mobile apps should re-examine the issue before being asked to put their name in the annals of management that missed the boat. Any IT department that fights the shift to smart phones and mobile apps has staked out a losing strategy. The truth is that organizations have found mobile apps to be a survival necessity for several reasons that boost net profit.
Mobile Worker Applications: Purchase Drivers, North America, 2014
All Respondents: % Rating “Very” or “Somewhat Important”
N=300
More productive employees More efficient work processes To enhance customer engagement More employee collaboration Cost savings To establish a competitive advantage To make more money
To keep up with our competition
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 79% 75% 72% 70% 69% 68% 67% 65%
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Developing a Mobile Strategy – Cocktail Napkin Notes Don’t Count
While ignoring the shift to smart phones and mobile apps is a losing strategy, jotting ideas about mobile apps on a cocktail napkin doesn’t constitute a strategy at all. If you are among the 65% of decision-makers deploying enterprise mobile apps to keep up with the competition5, developing a formal mobility strategy is the key to
success. Organizations that devote time and effort to develop a mobile strategy are frequently the ones that improve key performance indicators (KPIs), while the ones that don’t are always trying to keep up with the competition. Developing a well-planned mobile strategy requires IT decision-makers and line-of-business (LOB) end users to cooperate and realistically examine three areas:
1. Why there is a push for mobile apps; 2. Assessing the need; and
• Is your office officially or unofficially a BYOD environment? • IT and LOB/operations need to proactively talk
• How are mobile apps used by any departments now?
• Are employees going around IT today with consumer-grade mobile apps? • If yes, what are the implications for the organization?
• Are enterprise-class mobile apps really necessary?
• What’s most important for your needs? Why?
• How will mobile apps benefit your organization and how will you measure it? • Is employee satisfaction just as important as cost savings?
• Is customer satisfaction as important as increasing productivity?
Assessing the Need Goals and KPI’s Why Mobile Apps
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Rapid Change and High Complexity – A Recipe for Failure
Leveraging technology to improve productivity and process efficiency should be the goal of every organization. Done properly, it can help you increase your competitive edge and lower operational costs. Sadly for the unprepared, the path to enterprise mobility becomes an endless maze that swallows IT budgets and careers. IT professionals trying to impress the organization with an app that is everything to everyone are most often the ones that stumble.
One of the keys to mobility strategy is speed of implementation. IT departments that get lost in the maze are the ones that aim for a mobile solution that will be the answer to everything in its first release. There’s nothing wrong with aiming high, but between the starting line and the final goal, there must be a series of attainable mile posts in the form of enterprise app releases. Organizations that don’t set realistic goals will burn budget for years without a single app release.
Developing firm goals and timelines with quantitatively measurable progress mile markers is not only the sanest approach, it’s also a sign of good project planning and successful IT departments.
Mobile Security – Be Prepared for the Worst
A Reminder from Your IT Support Team Don’t Become a Statistic - Use Your VPN and Firewall
Devices Affected by Malicious Wi-Fi Networks
Based on Skycure enabled devices worldwide
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 23% 30% 35% 41%
1 Month 2 Months 3 Months 4 Months
By Permission of Skycure
Mobility doesn’t fit into the traditional security perimeter model for IT departments that want to retain control over everything. That’s why 67% of IT decision-makers worry about data security for mobile worker applications.6 The fact that the weakest mobile security link is line-of-business (LOB) end users isn’t a
confidence booster either.
Security is an important aspect to any enterprise mobile app initiative, but to take advantage of the benefits that mobility provides, you can’t let security issues scare your organization. Examining mobile security issues and openly discussing them with LOB stakeholders is the only path to implement mobile apps that address end-user business needs and IT department security needs. Most important is getting buy-in from end users that mobile security is important. Changing end-user security perceptions means that IT has to take the time to inform and provide basic training for end users so they can play a proactive role in securing the organization. Periodic informational security reminders for end users can go a long way toward changing perceptions about the need for security.
Connected Enterprise – Focus on What Your Business Does Best
Integrating legacy systems with mobile enterprise apps is a nagging challenge on the minds of 49% of IT departments.7 Oftentimes these systems should have already been replaced, but for various reasons they haven’t
been retired. The pain of aging systems maintenance combined with integrating a mobile enterprise app with a system built before smart phones were common holds back some organizations that would otherwise embrace modern enterprise mobility.
Citing legacy systems as the reason that your organization can’t roll out enterprise apps for its employees is a symptom of a larger issue that should be addressed. However, legacy systems shouldn’t prevent you from embracing mobile apps to improve your operations. Some IT departments wrongly believe that in an environment with legacy systems, a timely mobile app roll-out means sacrificing IT support for other parts of the organization. The misguided belief that an IT department has to do everything in-house is out-dated. Keep the in-house focus on what you do best and outsource the rest. If you are one of the 46% of IT professionals resisting the
push for mobile apps because you don’t have a reliable mobility partner,8 then you probably haven’t taken
enough time to find the right partner. If 82% of organizations have at least one employee-facing app and 56% have two or more,9 then your competitors have found dependable mobility partners and it’s time you do, too.
Lack of Resources to Manage Mobility – Use Technology to Work Smarter
It’s no surprise that 43% of organizations say they are resource-challenged and adding mobility initiatives will overtax their IT personnel.10 In resource-constrained IT departments, using technology to work smarter and
maximize the potential of the personnel on-hand is vital. That’s why 71% of organizations will have Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) platforms by the end of 201511 to manage mobile devices and apps.
The organizations that don’t have EMM implementation on the IT planning road map are the ones that the mobility revolution is leaving behind. The key to growth and survival is making the leap to mobile worker apps, and 67% of managers and supervisors acknowledge this.12 A lack of personnel to manage mobility initiatives is
no longer an excuse to avoid implementing mobile worker apps in your organization. It’s just a warning flag to management that your department isn’t as informed as it should be about managing mobility initiatives.
C-Le vel Ex ecutiv e VP/Dir ector Manager/Super visor Sales P ersonnel Field P ersonnel Other users 60% 57% 67% 44% 51% 9%
We have EMM in place Plans to introduce EMM within 12 months 40%
31% 5%
24%
Plans to introduce EMM within 2 to 3 years No plans to introduce EMM platform
Users of Mobile Worker Apps
by Title: North America, 2014 Current and Planned Use of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) Platform: North America, 2014
Frost & sullivAn Mobility strAtegy best PrActices
Successful mobility strategies are always anchored to attainable and measurable goals that are possible with forethought and planning. The question many IT professionals have is, “Where should we start?” Frost & Sullivan has eight best practices that will get any IT department moving forward on the path to mobility success.
1. Create Your Mobile Strategy Blueprint
• Your mobile strategy blueprint should help you answer questions about your mobility initiative and should be written down as part of a formalized project plan.
• It should help you answer the question, “What are we trying to accomplish by providing mobile apps to the workforce?”
• It should assess the need for mobile apps based on their impact on productivity, process improvement, customer satisfaction, and net margins.
• Lastly, it should provide insight on the consumer-grade apps in use by LOB end users and the security implications of consumer-grade apps in the organization.
2. Define your goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Goals should be written down as part of a formal project/business plan, and quantitative KPIs should be developed to objectively measure progress.
• Quantitative measurements aren’t always easy to develop, but they are vital to measuring the post-deployment impact of individual apps on organizational goals.
3. Assemble the right team
• Pull together a team in IT and LOB that understands and believes in the benefits mobile apps will provide the organization.
• If there are stakeholders in management that believe there isn’t a real business need, this is the time to help them become better informed about mobility and business survival.
• IT departments that want fully customized mobile apps should be informed that 81% of all mobile app implementations in organizations today begin with a prepackaged app.13
4. Find the right partners
• Professional services partners will help improve your mobility strategy and vision, and help you meet goals and measure KPIs.
• The right partner will boost the speed of your mobility initiative, reduce complexity, ease integration with legacy systems, and offer mobility management solutions that lower the burden on IT personnel.
5. Test the application
• A methodical pilot phase should be part of every mobile app implementation. • IT will likely find more volunteers to participate in pilot testing than is needed.
• Thorough testing protects LOB productivity and process improvements, and minimizes avoidable organizational costs.
6. Ensure the application is secure
• Everyone that pays attention to mobile security knows it’s a fast-moving target. • A good partner will help you address your security concerns and mitigate them.
7. Use your KPIs to help measure your ROI
• Quantitatively measuring KPIs is important because it helps the organization determine if it achieved a positive return on its mobile app investment.
• Quantitative measurements of KPIs also facilitate comparisons of different mobile app initiatives that will help to improve your long-term mobile strategy blueprint.
8. Provide sufficient time to accurately measure the ROI on your first project before starting the next.
• Implementing two or more mobile projects closely together can skew KPI measurements, making it difficult to determine which apps are impacting certain goals and KPIs.
Finding the right Mobility PArtner
For the 46% of IT decision-makers that claim they can’t find a dependable mobility partner, there’s a strong possibility that they haven’t firmly defined what a dependable mobility partner should be for them. Fortunately, the Frost & Sullivan 2014 North American Mobile Enterprise Applications study identified the top characteristics every organization should look for when selecting a mobility partner. Of the 300 organizations surveyed, the top criterion for a mobility partner is a strong professional services capability. This means that organizations have matured and understand the challenges that can arise when deploying an enterprise app.
Mobile Business Applications: Mobility Partner Selection Criteria, North America, 2014
Professional services capability Cost of doing business Quality of mobile app portfolio Experience integrating apps Post-sales service and support Financial stability Mobile devices and OS supported Industry reputation 74% 75% 76% 77% 78% 79% 80% 80% 79% 79% 78% 78% 78% 78% 76%
Source: Frost & Sullivan
Though 80% of IT decision-makers want a mobility partner with strong professional services capabilities, 78% also need an experienced partner familiar with integrating apps with back-end systems. Interestingly, 78% also insist on a partner that can provide post-sales service and support. It is vital to have a mobility partner that can support your mobility initiative from the planning stage, through implementation, and into the post-rollout phase since that partner can be the difference between a successful enterprise app initiative and one that fails. Experienced IT professionals know that this is the winning trifecta for selecting the right mobility partner. As long as the mobility partners you consider have the winning trifecta, the remaining five selection criteria can be examined more closely based on the unique requirements of your organization.
However, any organization that is serious about its mobile initiatives should take a serious look at partnering with wireless carriers. Wireless carriers have devoted substantial resources to vetting devices, operating systems, and apps to understand what works well on the network and what doesn’t. That is why organizations partner with wireless carriers 10% more often than corporate software vendors and 17% more often than systems integrators.14
FinAl AnAlysis
Mobility initiatives are too important for organizations to chart a course on their own without the knowledge of an experienced partner. A large wireless network operator should be a top consideration as a partner because of their breadth and deep understanding of the devices that connect to the network and the experience to ensure that apps will function at peak performance on Wi-Fi, GSM, and LTE networks. Understanding mobility challenges and solutions in depth is the reason that organizations prefer wireless carriers as mobility partners over corporate software vendors, systems integrators, and mobile device manufacturers. Leveraging the knowledge and experience that a large, stable, wireless carrier can offer could be the most important step toward illuminating your path for success, while others struggle to find the right direction.
endnotes
1. LWhite, Martha C. “Skipping the Front Desk, and Checking In With a Click.” New York Times, 3 November 2014, B8. 2. Frost & Sullivan 2014 North American Mobile Enterprise Applications (NE2D-01), 8.
3. Ibid., 8. 4. Ibid., 9. 5. Ibid., 9. 6. Ibid., 9. 7. Ibid., 9. 8. Ibid., 9. 9. Ibid., 8 10. Ibid., 19. 11. Ibid., 28 12. Ibid., 18 13. Ibid., 34 14. Ibid., 12.
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