LOS ANGELES–Most companies are taking a limited approach to wireless mobility today, but the ones that are on the leading edge have begun to see quantifiable results and a competitive advantage, according to enterprise experts who spoke at the EnterpriseNow keynote at the CTIA I.T. & Entertainment event last week.
Eugene Signorini, vice president of enterprise mobility for Yankee Group, said businesses need to move from mobile solutions based on specific applications and deployments limited to executives and sales forces to a more strategic and holistic approach. Michael Russell, partner with Accenture’s North American Wireless Practice, emphasized the need for businesses to take a careful look at how wireless services can benefit them, then target specific processes and build upon their progress.
Although e-mail has driven early adoption, Signorini said that in order to truly reap the benefits of wireless companies will need to push beyond that application.
“Most companies are just beginning to think about how wireless can impact them strategically,” he commented.
According to a Yankee Group survey, about 41 percent of U.S. workers can be considered “mobile”–that is, they spend at least 20 percent of their time away from their primary place of work.
“Mobility in the enterprise has become more than a trend and is now a must for any business that wants to stay competitive,” said Steve Largent, president of CTIA, who opened up the pre-show event.
Russell said that companies should start by examining their business strategies, which will drive their perspectives on wireless. Businesses should focus on improving productivity by targeting “high-value processes” to go mobile. Accenture said it analyzed 40 specific mobile deployments and found that productivity improved with mobilized field-force employees and revenues were boosted by wireless access to sales-force applications. Russell said that giving remote access to customer information and history can make for a more personalized experience and lead to increased customer loyalty, as customers see work performed in front of them that is customized to their needs; it also can increase up-selling and cross-selling opportunities, he noted.
Real-time data should dramatically help speed, and speed is a critical issue, Russell added.
In one case, Accenture found that enhanced mobility added another 40 to 85 minutes of work time to a technician’s day.
Although businesses want to keep tight control of mobility, Signorini pointed out that some mobile capabilities can also be a source of creativity and innovation. In one deployment that included instant messaging, a community sprang up among technicians who used the service to share information.
Members of the audience expressed concerns about how to deal with constantly evolving networks and devices; the need for operators and vendors to think globally instead of regionally in order to best serve business customers; and the need to integrate access to voice and data.
Signorini noted that wireless operators and vendors value business customers, but they don’t always know best how to serve them. Carriers in particular are well-versed in serving consumers, and often simply repackage consumer offers for business users.
“Most companies come out with one approach and don’t think about it from the enterprise side,” he said. The path to holistic mobility, Signorini added, “will require those vendors to work much more closely together than they have to date.”
“The time to go mobile is now, and what you really have to do is build the strategy and apply it,” Russell said.
