The era for mobile business intelligence (BI) solutions has arrived, or at least according to a new report from Ovum. According to the analytics firm, the arrival of high-performance mobile devices and the evolution of robust data-carrying infrastructure have allowed the proliferation of mobile BI.
In explaining its conclusion, Ovum noted that while the space has in the past suffered from a lack of technological advancement and use cases, it can now enable senior executives and line-of-business managers to adapt to a new “connected” business reality that expects them to have ready access to BI information in order to make quick and timely business decisions.
As noted in a recent RCR Wireless New feature report on enterprise mobility, corporations have been addressing mobile strategies since the development of handheld PCs. There were many success cases, for instance, of insurance companies empowering their sales force with mobile device to handle field services. With the increased penetration of smartphones, enterprises have been bolstering mobile access from simple applications such as e-mail to more advanced uses such as the visualization of dashboards.
“In the past, when talking about mobile BI applications they were basically to check out a report, but today users want to see the report and be able to take action, doing things such as approving, including information and doing transactions,” noted Flavio Bolieiro, VP for Latin America at MicroStrategy, in a recent interview with RCR Wireless News.
Ovum noted that mid-sized vendors – MicroStrategy, Information Builders and Yellowfin – were leading the charge with feature-packed, yet functional mobile solutions, while mega BI vendor SAP emerged as a top solution provider for iOS-enabled devices.
SAP’s mobile strategy has been driven by its acquisitions of Afaria, Syclo and Sybase and a BI roadmap that is heavily influenced by a “mobile-first” mindset. “Mobility is a key factor, because people will prefer to access systems and Internet through mobile devices,” said Sanjay Poonen, president for global solutions at SAP, last year in a meeting with journalists in Brazil.
Indeed, SAP has jumped into mobility with both feet. The company’s goal is to use mobile to reach 1 billion users for its solutions by 2015. Over its 40 years, German enterprise software has signed up 35 million end users to its traditional enterprise solutions.
Competitors such as IBM, Oracle and SAS are also eyeing market share. Ovum said it believes they have the technology and necessary development resources to improve their solutions quickly in 2013.
Regarding operating systems, Ovum’s report found that while all vendors fully support Apple’s iOS platform, and nearly all (90%) supported Google’s Android OS, there is a considerable lack support for Research In Motion’s BlackBerry (50%) and Microsoft’s Windows (33%) devices.
Ovum analyst Fredrik Tunvall noted the iPad’s success in the consumer market has affected vendors’ go-to-market strategies. But he also added that if vendors aim to reach a larger audience, they should consider supporting native/hybrid applications for Android and Windows devices, “as both are expected to become increasingly prevalent in the enterprise, especially in emerging markets,” he noted.
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