Enterprise Mobility Challenges

I wish I could tell you that mobilising an Enterprise was always easy. Like with most things worth doing there are challenges to success. Now I don't want to put you off mobility in any way! I did however want to group the tricks and traps into some sensible categories. Here is what I have come up with as the Challenges to Enterprise Mobility:

• Hype
• Justification
• New Technology
• Rapid Change

Hype
There are a lot of statistics around about mobility. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that there was a large increase in the number of statistics about mobility while you are reading this sentence. That's not to say that the statistics are untrue. Just that often they can be taken out of context. No doubt the % of people employed in an organisation that use smart phones has increased.  This usage is nearing saturation in a lot of the developed world. What I'd encourage people to think about is "What does this mean for business?"

Justification
The art form of benefits calculations and business value. It's easy to be swayed by stories of large cost savings or increases in throughput. As an advocate of mobility I believe you can get good business value from mobile initiatives. With tough economic times there is always more pressure to have a solid business case. So while soft benefits are great for gathering momentum you may need hard facts to win over the bean counters. Also when the rubber hits the road it's often important to be able match functionality to the benefits that you need to achieve. "What is the Return on Investment?" For more on specific benefits refer to this article on The Benefits of Enterprise Mobility.

New Technology
Mobile technology can require learning a new language with a whole set of its own acronyms and terminology. HTML5, MEAP, MDM, MDAP, etc, etc. Adding to the confusion an acronym can mean one thing in the mobile arena and something completely different to another audience. I remember having a conversation with someone awhile back about MDM. They thought I was discussing Master Data Management while I was happily refering to Mobile Device Management. The challenge here is of course: "What's the right solution?"
For specific thoughts on how to chose some aspects of mobile technology please refer to this article on HTML5 vs Native.

Rapid Change
There is plenty of evidence of rapid change in software and hardware in the mobile arena. Not long ago everyone was using a Nokia, then a Blackberry, now maybe an iPhone or Android device. In a few years who can say Google Glasses or Fujitsu Slates? Change of course is not limited to hardware and software but is most relevant to business process and the way mobile technologies are used.
I've put some thoughts on how mobile computing is changing in The Future of Enterprise Mobility.


I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences on the challenges of Enterprise Mobility....