Enterprise Mobility:Going Mobile

Have you been to a McDonalds or a Barista outlet lately? If yes, you must
surely have noticed the way the person takes the order, entering your
requirements on a small PDA that immediately updates the screen on the cash
counter, ensuring that by the time you reach the counter, your order is waiting
for you. Its a very simple example of how mobile application can be used to
speed up the process. Here, at McDonalds, the customer is happy because s/he
doesnt have to waste time in a queue and the company is happy because it has a
much faster turnaround and hence greater profits.

Yet, the enterprise mobile applications market is just picking up, as the
companies that have invested heavily into IT systems examine the way to
integrate mobile devices into their environment. The market for mobile
applications is estimated to be growing at 20-30% annually.

Indian corporates havent really woken up to the benefits of mobile
applications. While some have put in a few pilot projects, a lot many are still
dithering on their commitments. According to an international survey conducted
recently, business productivity improved by over 60% through the use of mobile
applications, especially mobile email. In fact, according to the same study,
there was an average gain of 59 minutes per employee by using mobile email
applications like Blackberry services.

Not only that, customer service also improves quite substantially when
mobiles are utilized in an organized manner. According to a research finding,
customer service improves by 36% based on more responsive support, and the
entire company operates 20% more efficiently due to smooth flow of latest
information and real-time communications.

Globally, the mobile applications space is really exploding in terms of
innovations and market size. Multinational companies are using the power of
mobiles to automate their sales force or do real-time tracking of goods and
products. As a matter of fact, many companies are marrying RFID-based
applications with cellular technology, and making them more effective.

Even the Asia Pacific market is increasing quite dramatically. According to
estimates, the mobile enterprise market is currently estimated to be worth
around $23 bn and would grow to around $30 bn by 2010.

Much of the action though is happening in our friendly neighborhood. China
accounts for around 50% of this market, with the manufacturing sector using
mobile applications extensively. A lot of it is also driven by MNCs that bring
along applications that have been developed in the US and Europe. Australia and
Korea also account for quite a percentage in terms of market share. In contrast,
the Indian mobile enterprise market is worth only around Rs 220 crore as of now
and is growing at around 30% annually.

Email: the Killer App?

Globally, email is the most popular application, and business executives
have taken up to email like nothing else. The ability to check, send emails, and
be connected all the time has empowered the workforce. And the undisputed leader
in this domain is Research In Motion (RIM), the provider of Blackberry. Over the
last few years, Blackberry has completely dominated the space in the mobile
email segment.

According to the data available, RIM accounts for close to 69% of the mobile
email market segment. As of April 2007, there were over 8 mn Blackberry users
worldwide. But its leadership is under threat from multiple quartersHP, Nokia,
and others launching a slew of PDA phones.

As per the estimates, the global addressable market for enterprise mobile
email would be around 260 mn subscriptions, while global mobile operator
revenues from mobile email and personal information management are expected to
surpass $600 mn by 2009, over three times those of 2005.

Indian companies are using a variety of methods to let its employees connect
to the mail server. Blackberry is a popular method, but a lot of others are also
opting for other GPRS-based push email services. Yet, without an iota of doubt,
mobile email happens to be the most popular enterprise application, even in
India.

Applications Galore

The insurance and pharma sectors have been the first to adopt mobile
applications. A lot of companies have gone in for ERP-centric applications like
order management and claim settlement. Companies like Tata AIG and
GlaxoSmithKline have used mobile phones in a big way. In fact, ValueFirst, an
enterprise mobile solutions vendor, has worked in close coordination with a
plethora of companies from the same vertical.

SFA (sales force automation) is another buzzword among corporates. Using
mobile devices, they can empower their field associates and ensure flow of
information in real-time manner over the company networks and the connected
mobile device. For companies, the most favored way is to integrate SMS-based
applications with the ERP, and ensure that order management and inventory
management is done in real-time.

Companies use mobile applications extensively for customer care or customer
relationship management.

What is ironical is that any application that is used by a company in a PC
environment can be shifted on a mobile platform and integrated with the company
infrastructure and yet many companies are either completely unaware of this or
scared to make use of the mobile platform.

Many applications of account receivables, vendor management, human resources,
etc can be accessed over mobile phones. According to experts, once the word
spreads on this ability, companies would eagerly make their customized
applications more mobile.

Also, many experts point out that while creating a mobile application and
running it is important to measure productivity. The success of a mobile
application can only be judged by how smooth and easy it makes the process.
While it may always be possible to justify mobility investments with an RoI
argument, investments need to be justified on the basis of business value versus
cost issue.

For instance, a big organization that deals with scores of vendors and
multiple customers, having a large sales team on the ground, is a right case for
SFA applications as it reduces downtime considerably. With IT budgets shrinking,
an understanding of what enterprise mobility applications can realistically
deliver on ground has become very critical. So it is important to understand
where it can optimize the bottomline. With this in mind, CIOs need to set their
expectations of the challenges that they are trying to overcome and the business
benefits they are trying to achieve. This, in effect, becomes the measure for
RoI and productivity in the future. But for an SMB, it needs to carefully
consider what the optimum solution is; rather than just going ahead and
implementing solutions.

Many companies are now able to easily provide mobile email services to their
employeesit also makes sense to do so. But even while doing so, they need to
ensure that better security and backup procedures are in place. Recently, when
there was an outage at Research in Motion (the company that runs Blackberry) in
the US, thousands of executives were caught off-guard and were not able to cope.
This kind of scenario is quite possible in India, considering the network
bandwidth, etc. Thus, a CIO needs to pay attention to prepare for an outage of
mobile services as well.

Major application developers in the Indian market are ValueFirst, Air2Web,
ACL Wireless, Cellnext, MobileOne, Base, Jataayu, Jopasana, and others.

The future seems bright for mobile applications, as the awareness will
increase with the time to come. GPS and GIS could provide a major thrust to the
market. Enterprises need to realize that opportunities are endless and at times
when companies need to tighten their belts, mobile applications can increase
productivity manifold.

Shashwat DC

Shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in