Over the next three to five years, the continuing spread of mobile technology will have a dramatic impact on the way companies do business. Companies that embrace mobile technology will see improvements in productivity and operational efficiency that were unimaginable only a few years ago. In fact, mobile technology can’t be seen as a luxury anymore; it’s a necessity.
Some companies are already using mobile applications to deliver increased customer satisfaction and productivity; for them the future is already here. In many organizations, though, there’s a disconnect between the changing nature of work and the way business is transacted. Processes, tools and infrastructure are falling out of alignment with the new demographics of a workforce that’s informed by the “consumerization” of IT. Mobile email was the groundbreaking application here, but instant messaging, wikis and collaborative workspaces are also playing a role.
Some of mobility’s impacts will likely directly affect people, changing the way individuals and teams work together, and the ways customers receive service and support. Others will likely affect how companies manage their internal process flows and their alliance relationships, changing the nature of business processes and opening the door for new,
transformational business models. Mobile technology will likely also require changes in the systems and infrastructure that support the business, with implications for networks, devices, databases and applications.
Mobility Trends: What’s Headed to Your Company BlackBerry?
- Business intelligence. Now that many C-level executives carry BlackBerry smartphones for email and voice, the next step is to provide access to business intelligence, such as daily sales reports and quarterly financials.
- Context awareness. Look for leading-edge enterprises to begin incorporating contextual data into their mobile applications with a goal of streamlining business processes and increasing business agility. This includes location and presence, often available through a calendar application.
- Desktop view. Various third-party solutions for BlackBerry smartphones, including PCNow from Cisco’s WebEx unit, enable BlackBerry users to access files and folders stored on PC hard drives, and search their PCs with desktop search products.
- Social networking. As employees seek new ways of always being available to customers and business partners, enterprises will have to support social networking applications on smartphones. These will range from chatting to multimedia sharing.
Great Reports on Mobile Social Networking from Blackberry
The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications
Mobile unified communications allows organizations to provide employees with the ability to collaborate and communicate efficiently, as well as access information on-demand. An exclusive Computerworld online survey offers insight into how companies can develop cost-effective strategies for implementing or improving mobile applications and foster an efficient workplace.
The Promise of Mobile Unified Communications (PDF) – Computerworld
Mobile Social Networking: The New Ecosystem
Social networking and the next generation of handheld devices will improve business decision-making through efficient, unified communications and location awareness.
Mobile Social Networking: The New Ecosystem (PDF) – Computerworld
