Big Tech

2013

What Makes a

Mobile-Enabled

Business Tick?

Brett Looney

20+ Year

“Veteran”

(Scary I know)

Have seen many

companies and

technologies

“come and go”

Remembers the

beginnings of

mobile data

(2G anyone?)

Me

Worked for IT

integrators (started one, in fact)

and service

providers

Now at Amcom –

who delivers (amongst other things)

IP telephony and

mobile

Always looking

for the best

ways to use new

technology

Me

Mobility

What Does That Mean?

Anyone Any Device

Anywhere Any Time

Well, duh.

What do you

need to do?

What do you

need to do?

What do you

need to do?

Internal External Customers Varied

Support

What type of interaction do you need?

Manufacturing

CRM

Logistics

Sales

Ordering

What to do?

How Do You Do This?

But is it really

that simple?

Software Now better known as “apps”

Can you find one

software package

that can do everything?

Software Strategies

›Buy › Find the software you need

› Make sure it all works together

• Because finding one package is impossible

› Could be quite expensive

› Will need to compromise

› And getting software vendors to

interoperate is difficult

›Build › Design and write everything you need

› No compromise required

• Except on price

• And time

› Don’t forget budget to

maintain your creation

Software Strategies

›Connect › Buy the simplest tools that deliver

appropriate point solutions

› Make sure everything is “open”

› That is, can be connected to by anything else

› Write the bits that connect

everything together

› This is the basis of Web 2.0

› Mashups!

› And the key term is “API”

Software Strategies

That’s great – but

what about the

users?

What Do The Users Get?

Start with a web application

› Be generic as possible

› That is, don’t just support

Internet Explorer

What Do The Users Get?

Start with the basic functions

› Enhance over time

› But have an idea of what your

end-goal is

Maybe enhance with a

platform-specific app

› Delivers better user experience

› But increases cost to develop

and support

What Do The Users Get?

The Problem With Apps

Apps for a platform are

great

› Best user experience

› Deliver greatest control

But what platform will you support?

› Apple mobile ecosystem

› Apple OS-X

› Android

› Microsoft Windows Mobile

› Microsoft Windows

The Problem With Apps

And what about different

form factors?

› Screen size

› Resolution

› Aspect ratio

The Problem With Apps

Who Will Do This?

› Will become (or is!) a core function of IT

› IT becomes a core function of your business

› Could be internal

› If you’re big enough

› Or external

› Leverage from a development

company’s experience

Software development

Other Considerations

› Don’t forget about security

› Ongoing maintenance

› Still need to budget for this

› Enhancements

› Scalability

› What happens if you are

amazingly popular?

› Cloud

› This is to your advantage

› Bandwidth is not infinite

› Network coverage is

not complete

Other Considerations

How Is This Relevant?

What does this have to

do with me?

Internal &

External

They will

be mobile

Make information and

processes available to

everyone who needs

them

You need to enable

your users

Takeaways

› Mobile technology isn’t going away

› It will be integral to your business

› IT is crucial to your business

› It isn’t just a cost centre

› Software development is ongoing

› Necessary to ensure your business stays relevant