Yesterday afternoon
The 451 Group’s analyst
Chris Hazelton hosted a panel on mobile applications that was a great overview of his research and went beyond the iPhone versus Blackberry banter I have heard at other conferences.
I thought Hazelton’s point that “mobile is a certainty in uncertain times” was very true – we are going to have our smartphones. It’s the crack of business. Just ask any husband or wife who has looked in frustration at their significant other checking work email on vacation – your smartphone can be an addiction.
We see tremendous benefits from mobile. Effectively leveraged mobile devices reduce employee downtime, provide a hub to share information, improve market perception of companies by reducing response times, decrease desk phone footprint and many more benefits.
Mobile devices are here to stay and as the market evolves we see use cases for netbooks, smartphones converge. So what were the highlights from this interesting panel?
Hazelton recommended that IT embrace mobile as part of their integrated strategy because it allows you to know the who/what/when/where employees are and what data they are viewing. You can provision remotely and do ‘over the air’ updates which allow you flexibility. By setting the standards and corporate strategy proactively you can enable and disable features and reduce company risk from lost devices and data.
An active IT mobile strategy also lets you enforce use of VPNs, establish whitelist and blacklist applications that meet corporate standards and shore up your security parameters
How does mobile impact cloud strategy? I thought Hazelton had an interesting point that smartphones create hundreds of millions of cloud endpoints and smartphones will exceed the shipments of PCs on an annual basis in two years. Smartphones need to be incorporated in the cloud strategy for enterprises as we look to applications that provide business value.
The benefits of the cloud are touted everywhere, but the challenges to the cloud in the mobile context were interesting. Network coverage is not pervasive yet, it’s difficult to integrate with mobile device API’s, native applications are dominant in mobile and then there are issues on the various platforms and use cases.
Hazelton pointed out that on the horizon we have emerging new devices that will also impact beyond the typical smartphone of today. For example, netbooks, eReaders and tablet PC’s that will see growth and evolution of capabilities that are adopted as yet another outreach into the enterprise.
Many IT organizations are still focused on which standard devices to support. Do you support the iPhone or the Blackberry? Hazelton was encouraging a more holistic and strategic view of mobility but he also provided a nice recap of the key platforms and his thoughts.
Blackberry per Hazelton will remain gold standard in enterprise. He said Blackberry will not see same success in the consumer market with current operating system unless able to update current OS significantly.
Apple is well ahead in consumer usability and developer ecosystem – another advantage on the consumer front are many new things coming down the pike. However there are issues and concerns with enterprise applications and while 50% of the audience at The 451 conference had an iPhone, most were having to pay for it themselves.
Android according to Hazelton has native exchange support that will challenge RIM in the enterprise. Developers however are reluctant to support Android due to multiple versions of OS which can slow innovation.
Microsoft is betting on Windows Mobile 7 living on device vendor goodwill per Hazelton and the Palm WebOS market share will expand but growth with be in the mid-market.
There was a lot of discussion about platforms, about infrastructure but not a lot of meat around what I wanted to hear about - business applications. The use for the business, the business need cases that are actively out in organizations today. There was some reference to the fact that the way applications are shared (app store parameters) and many different platforms available are prohibiting. I wonder if the next generation of devices that are rumored where we have a more display landscape married with internet and phone will drive new applications, take away even more from reliance on the desktop. I have a feeling the discussion will be quite different around mobility in the next 12-24 months.
All in all some great take-aways and yet another reminder that our landscape is evolving and we have to consider mobile as a proactive part of our infrastructure strategy, our application standards and how we will enable folks to make business decisions. On the road, in the clouds - now we have so many choices.
As Business Intelligence Product Marketing Manager for SAS, I’m responsible for the Global message direction, strategy and marketing of SAS business intelligence. More on me. About the pot pie, I'm a southern girl, and that's comfort food. But food for thought -- I can explain.