Everything is changing in how companies must manage business operations in the context of the rise of mobile. The growth of mobility through demand from consumers themselves was one of those revolutions that never could have been predicted. It took 100 years to have a billion landlines, yet it only took 10 years to have a billion mobile phones, and it was only one year before we had one billion smart phones and smart devices used around the world.
Put Down Your Pitchforks
Teams within companies, departments, businesses, and whole industries cannot and should not try to control how people want to consume their services, whether it be executing live trades to buying an upgrade on an airline ticket. This has been a consumer-driven revolution or otherwise termed: the “Consumerization of IT.”
One of the critical ingredients to riding the wave of mobile user service consumption is to package and expose every customer service, as well as all of the data and information held by businesses. Exposure, of course, has to be controlled, policed, and secure, but regardless of where the service lies in an organization, it has to be wrapped-up nicely and reusable.
Find the Hidden Treasure
Before anyone starts to grab their muskets and jump into the revolution without a clear direction, companies have to know that the battle is not that difficult to win. All the value already exists in businesses and is available to them if they use mobility effectively and smartly. Companies just need to harness what is currently available there, as this is not a new feature, function or capability. Incorporating and taking advantage of mobility is about unshackling and re-using what is already there in inventive ways to stay ahead of the competition.
Many new and innovative ways of doing business will no doubt come over the next few years. There will for sure be many different devices as we have already embarked on wearable technology with Google Glass, so it is no time before there are smart watches and smart shoes. Each new device will make it easier to use the services when we need them at the time we need to use them, but we have to make sure they are de-coupled, split-up into consumable modules and exposed to the wider world.
For more on how to unlock the potential value of mobility with your business, watch this webinar featuring Forrester Research Senior Analyst Michael Facemire.
