Greater definition of mobile strategy decision making, mobile development and wearables are set to expand across enterprise space in 2017.
Editor’s Note: With 2017 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from across the mobile telecommunications space on what they expect to see in the new year.
According to industry analyst firm IDC, “mobility has become a core requirement for most enterprise applications today.” Enterprises may feel pressure to go mobile-first and convert more traditional tasks to mobile operations. Fortunately, the transition to mobile is achieving positive returns for many businesses, which can lead to the implementation of more complex mobile projects. Here are three predictions for what’s coming up for 2017 as enterprise mobility continues to evolve.
Business and IT leaders define their roles in mobile strategy decision making
Business leaders are playing an increasing role in mobile decision making. In 2016, responsibility for mobile initiatives was expected to become more balanced between IT and business leaders, indicating an increase in collaboration between the two. Still, collaboration alone is not enough. In 2017, enterprises should develop a clear delineation between what will be business-led and what will be IT-led in mobile strategy.
Business leaders, ranging from the marketing lead to the CFO, are well positioned to help drive decisions around application features, design, workflows and use cases. Given that business leaders are also often the users of the apps, they play an important role in enabling the app to simplify employee tasks and deliver a return on investment.
On the other hand, IT leaders traditionally drive the technical decisions and implementation of mobile apps, particularly as it comes to developing modern architectures based on microservices and application programing interfaces, platforms (cloud, container-based, etc.), and processes. Maintaining distinct decision-making roles between business and IT leaders in mobile strategy can lead to greater communication and collaboration and deliver the business benefits of mobile.
Mobile development techniques will lead digital strategy
There are currently more mobile devices in circulation than the global population. Furthermore, global mobile internet use has recently exceeded that of desktops and today’s workforce is increasingly mobile inclined. Mobile should no longer be seen as a standalone initiative in the enterprise. In 2017, I predict mobile app development will become a mainstay of digital strategy in the enterprise, and mobile will alter the way enterprises develop and deploy software.
Development and operation tools and microservice architectures designed for mobile enable more flexible and agile development methods, and API-based architectures in the cloud can increase the scalability of mobile. Enterprises in 2017 are likely to apply these mobile principles to the broader portfolio of software and digital strategy. Many organizations are continuing to move traditional workloads to the cloud and use container-based platform technologies to run multiple workloads in the same environment. I anticipate enterprises will turn to container-based platforms to help streamline modern application development, reduce cost and support the transition to mobile.
Enterprise wearables will support niche and tactical job tasks
According to forecasts by IDC, worldwide shipments of wearable devices are expected to top 97.3 million units by the end of 2016, representing 19.5% growth over 2015. I anticipate there will be growth of smart devices in the enterprise wearables market in 2017, which will likely be accentuated by the fact the market is growing from a relatively small base, as enterprises seek to customize solutions for niche jobs and tasks.
Broad enterprise wearable use should start with tactical trials in particular workforces. Organizations in areas like health care, manufacturing, military, law enforcement and field services have already begun to benefit from wearable devices in the workforce, whether it’s glasses, watches or body cameras. As consumer adoption of wearables increases, I expect enterprises will see an uptick in “bring-your-own-device” approaches in a similar manner to the advent of enterprise smartphone adoption. Eventually, as enterprises move past the trial phase with wearables, it should become part of an overall mobile and digital strategy.
With the ability to implement more complex mobile projects in 2017, I believe enterprises should expect to face new challenges that may require them to clearly define the roles of business and IT leaders to achieve their desired outcomes and ROI. I also believe that organizations, seeing the benefits of mobile for a more agile business will also start deploying mobile architectures and frameworks for traditional business tasks, enabling mobile to take the lead in digital strategy. Additionally, enterprises will expand their use of wearables as part of this overall strategy, beginning with deployments for niche, tactical job tasks.
Overall, I expect mobility will continue to be recognized as an important part of the enterprise, leading the way for companies to achieve greater innovation and positive business returns.
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