Mobile Enterprise: Get in the Game

By Howard Moore CEO, and Srirama Ayyeppen, CTO, Keste

The name of the game is to get the enterprise out to your mobile workforce. You have your infrastructure in place. But it’s a complex challenge that leaves many wondering where to start.

Most companies have responded by deploying mobile devices, yet many of these companies failed to realize it’s not about access to information; it’s about interaction with that information at the right time, in the right context.

Others have delayed jumping into mobility because it’s challenging to define a strategy that leverages the extensive investment in enterprise software, information systems and communications infrastructure already in place.

What these companies and others now understand is this: the traditional approach to deploying new technology is invalid for the mobile environment. Why? Because mobility breaks down traditional paradigms of what is inside and what is outside the corporate firewall.

The primary error in deploying mobile enterprises today is attempting to push all the functionality of the enterprise out to the remote workers. This is the right goal, but it can’t be successful because it doesn’t take into consideration the new process paradigm of mobility, which includes two key factors:
• Mobility requires companies to simplify a remote worker’s interaction with the enterprise, and;
• Mobile devices have a reduced form factor that simply can’t display content or interact in the same manner as a desktop PC.

Process Mobility: The Key to Effective Mobile Enterprise
Companies like Keste promote this mobile enterprise paradigm, which calls for “Occasionally Connected Computing” based on business rules, cashing rules, and data representation rules. Most mobilization projects concentrate on a single enterprise application. In reality, mobile users need elements of information from a number of back office systems. What’s required is truly seamless access to multiple applications from a single device.

These solutions are based on the premise that there is no “killer app”; rather, the extension of business processes and the integration of applications required to support the process is the killer solution. We call this concept Process Mobility.

Because of the complexity required to support the mobile worker and environment, the correct approach is to first craft a Mobile Application framework then deploy mobile processes in a staged fashion.

For example, in an optimized mobile environment, the field user simply enters data and the mobile architecture acts on the data. The knowledge is now on the back end of the enterprise versus sitting on the mobile device. This paradigm shift from real time connectivity to occasional connectivity where the data is processed throughout the enterprise by the framework versus the device is the difference.

Every situation is different. And different situations call for different levels of connectivity. No longer are companies bound by the constraints of more extreme “all or nothing” approaches.

The mobile architecture framework enables companies to create a homogeneous connected and unconnected environment that supports and encourages the extension of processes (not just applications) to end users.

Mobile enterprise cannot be considered in any way a plug-and-play application. Each enterprise has unique processes, unique roles, and a unique infrastructure. Through use of a mobile architecture framework, companies can effectively leverage their existing enterprise instead of utilizing non-integrated third party mobile applications.

The mobile enterprise architecture should be driven by a rules engine that filters out the complexity of advanced applications to deliver the relevant information and interaction. We find most relevant processes fall into three categories: Sales, Field Service and
Supply Chain.

These mobile processes are much more than extensions of a company’s mature processes. Mobility creates new opportunities to improve legacy processes that are fundamentally designed for a disconnected world.

Successfully Planning and Deploying Mobile Enterprise
Companies must take a long term approach to mobile deployment. The key is to break the project down into milestones. Each milestone is a decision point in the plan where smaller choices can be made. By taking this approach, companies remain flexible and nimble throughout a large scale project that introduces disruptive technologies and processes over extended periods of time.

Bottom line: a mobile enterprise needs mobile users to accept and adopt the tools. To achieve usability and performance, a mobile application should give exactly what the user wants. Otherwise, adoption will never take place.

No matter the size or scale of your mobile enterprise requirements, the key steps to a successful mobile enterprise deployment are:

• Build a foundation architecture to enable mobility. Start by adopting an open mobile application framework that allows you to extend any application to any device. The right framework enables you to deliver the functionality of the enterprise solution you have in place.

• Prioritize your mobile enterprise deployment. Companies should first determine how their business processes can improve through mobility – what could be done better, faster and/or cheaper – then prioritize the deployment of those mobile processes.

• Think big. Start small. Like any successful initiative, enable the success of your mobile enterprise for capitalizing on low-hanging fruit. Choose initial projects that are the lowest in cost with the highest impact.

• Leverage what you already have in place. Today’s enterprise software, for example Oracle, can be optimized for mobility through your mobile application framework.

Reaping the Benefits of Mobility
The effective mobile enterprise creates lasting value for the organization with continuous benefits, including the ability to:
• Integrate mobility into the enterprise at your pace
• Re-use of your current enterprise licenses with no need to buy non-integrated third party mobile apps for the same functionality
• Manage an integrated enterprise versus disparate applications
• Be prepared for the future with an open-standards based platform
• Successfully deploy solutions your mobile workforce will willingly adopt
• Increase mobile worker productivity
• Simplify corporate processes

By taking this expansive, yet targeted, approach, companies can leverage their existing applications and investment, while sensibly creating a mobile enterprise that is accepted by users and effective for the business. This, naturally, creates the Total Cost of Ownership and Return on Investment companies demand.