Over the past 18 months, we were invited by a number of our customers to join their enterprise mobility strategy discussions and workshops. While we observed several different approaches, we saw that there were really two distinct camps – two ways of tackling this challenge, one of which was far more successful than the other.
On the one side, some companies involved the “business” in their initial discussions about mobility. These customers are now at a phase where they are crosschecking their thinking and work with us to identify any areas for improvement.
On the other side of the great divide, we saw companies that restricted their mobility activities to the IT department. The discussion focused on technology rather than on use cases. And ownership was either not defined or not commonly agreed upon.
It sounds deceptively simple but the key to success lies in tackling the challenge from a business point of view. A successful enterprise mobility strategy must go beyond selecting smartphones and apps. It needs to be broader than planning for a platform or a device management system. And it is far more than a BYOD concept. Companies that understand that technology and products are not the strategy, but simply tools used to execute it, are further ahead.
In working with customers, we saw that users were more satisfied when they were involved early on. We also observed that the “business first” approach helped to keep technology infrastructure costs in check. While proof of concepts and pilots can help a company gauge a technology’s potential, the real test of any technology is whether or not it adds business value.
How can you make sure your mobile strategy is on the winning side of the divide? The following steps can help ensure your enterprise mobility strategy puts your “business” before technology:
Today a company should not ask the question “if” enterprise mobility is a relevant topic for them, but “how” they want to start the journey and what opportunities it provides. Enterprise mobility can improve business processes, help create new business models, and be one of the cornerstones of real-time business as it connects the “anytime” to the “everywhere”.
Watch for the next article in the mobility minute series that will tackle strategy from IT’s perspective.
Dr. Ralf Weppernig
Head of Global Mobile Strategy Services | SAP
Connect with me on linkedIn
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Read “The Enterprise Mobility Minute #3: Got and Enterprise Mobility Strategy? Go Get a New One” and follow the entire Enterprise Mobility Minute series.
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