VDC Research: Enterprise & Government Mobility Market Blog

Sapphire: Cloudy With the Promise of Business Transformation

SAP kicked off the first day of their annual SAPPHIRE NOW event this week in Orlando with 4 press releases (http://www.news-sap.com) - two of which pertain directly to enterprise mobility. First, the company announced that its Afaria device management solution was available on Amazon's Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. The AWS Marketplace will offer a fully configured SAP Afaria 7.0 server, that brings a new UI, Windows Phone 8 support, an app portal that is integrated with the SAP Store, as well as mobile analytics dashboards for BI reporting. SAP clearly sees the need to be aggressive as vendors such as AirWatch, MobileIron, and Fiberlink are enjoying significant success in the channel and in acquiring new customers. In this vein, SAP revealed competitive pricing ($1.11 per user/month), as well as the ability trial its Afaria solution for free (a first for the company).

SAP has built a sizeable roster of managed mobility partners such as (Atos, HP, Rogers, and Swisscom - to name just a few) that will be able to execute the new business that emerges from the AWS Marketplace or offer a co-branded instance of Afaria in the cloud via their own cloud. SAP's Sanjay Poonen (President, and head of SAP's Mobile Division) hosted a roundtable and provided some color around the value proposition of moving Afaria to the cloud that he sees for the company's existing customers and prospects. SAP seems to be settling on the name "Afaria Cloud Edition"

“By offering SAP Afaria on the secure, scalable AWS cloud infrastructure ... and making it as easy as possible for customers and partners to test and deploy the industry’s leading mobile device management solution in an economical and reliable fashion”

The second mobile-oriented release centered on the company's furthering of its mobile security portfolio - SAP revealed that it has partnered with Mocana, and will resell the company's flagship security solution (Mobile App Protection or MAP). "App wrapping" is a core element of Mocana's MAP solution, and was a notable hole in SAP's holistic EMM strategy - while many of SAP's competitors offer app wrapping solutions, Mocana has significant tenure, IP and presence in federal markets (the company has been active in these markets since 2002), offers a robust solution, and is a good choice as a partner for this capability. Some have criticized SAP for not developing this capability on their own, I disagree, as does the company's co-CEO who made clear that he recognizes the value of partners in filling gaps in the company's product portfolio. The partnership with Mocana is just one element of the mobile security enhancements that SAP has revealed and SAP's Poonen made it clear that the company recognizes the need to emphasize mobile security "cyber security is increasingly a board room priority, and as such, iron-clad mobile security is job one for all CIOs and CISOs to execute their mobile strategy” - no doubt about this, and in this vein, the company has evolved its SAP Store solution (the company's MAM offering) which now offers a mobile app distribution storefront, which includes secure distribution of internally developed and purchased third-party apps - this was long overdue, and positions SAP as a true end-to-end EMM solution provider.

HANA Enterprise Cloud - Speed/Flexibity/Reliability

To date, the wide majority of SAP's customers remain largely "on-premise" - however, the company has clearly come to recognize that its customers are ready, willing and quickly moving to the cloud. SAP saw small and more nimble competitors such as Salesforce (not small any longer), NetSuite and Workday capitalize on its lack of a fomalized cloud strategy and has made notable acquisitions to better position its application portfolio for the cloud. The acquisitions of SuccessFactors and Ariba made it clear that SAP was serious about moving to the cloud - the company's HANA cloud (which SAP boasted had ~30M users on it today) takes the strategy even further by opening up a platform on which the company can foster innovation by giving new partners the ability to develop apps and solutions to run on the HANA cloud.

Stay tuned to our blog for further updates from Orlando.

Geek Sapphire stat: there are 5.2 miles of optical cable installed at the Orlando convention center for broadcasting video at this event.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Can Apple Devices Rough the Rugged DSD Market?

According to a recent article from Mobile Enterprise Magazine, PepsiCo’s North American Beverages division has adopted Apple products into its Direct Store Delivery system. Not only are roughly 4,000 field merchandisers equipped with iPhones and 2,000 field managers with iPads, but PepsiCo has gone a step further and developed two iOS apps entirely in-house through its technology group:

Power4Merch

• Enables merchandisers to view schedules, store and display details
• Notifies merchandisers of driver arrival
• Displays store details and account information

Manager’s Briefcase

• Enables managers to coordinate and monitor deliveries, schedules and contracts
• Displays pricing and planograms
• Provides electronic versions of paperwork and automated notifications to merchandisers

This unprecedented move is sure to shake the DSD market, which is characterized by mature processes, long upgrade cycles and heavy reliance on legacy rugged devices. While consumer grade technologies have slowly but surely trickled into markets ranging from retail and healthcare to education and insurance, DSD organizations’ risk aversion and reliance on mature processes has thus far stunted adoption of smartphones and tablets in the DSD space.  PepsiCo’s move to implement iOS devices is even more risky given the considerable capital investment required to purchase solutions, integrate with existing (Windows-based) systems and train mobile workers. However, according to Brian Spearman (SVP of Go-To-Market and Service, PepsiCo North America Beverages), PepsiCo is seeing early success with this program, estimating that the new iOS apps save each employee an impressive 6 hours a week.

Use of Power4Merch and Manager’s Briefcase has actually increased the operational efficiency of the DSD system by facilitating real time communication, leveraging data, and eliminating the need for printed information such as schedules and order quantities.

Beyond facilitating advances in operational efficiency, DSD organizations are increasingly looking at consumer grade technologies as a means to enhance their brand and image in customer-facing merchandising activities. Devices such as the iPad are generally more visually appealing as well as easier to operate than traditional rugged devices. They boast high resolution and larger screens, making sales presentations and customer/end-user surveying activities more intuitive and effective. Further, many DSD drivers are already familiar with operating consumer grade technology, and companies may find it more cost-effective to leverage personal devices instead of those purchased by the company. These are clear advantages that could drive a shift towards consumer grade devices in the DSD market.

A recent VDC survey of DSD IT decision-makers revealed that those in this price sensitive market feel that ruggedized devices may be overpriced relative to the value they provide. And yet, rugged vendors emphasize the total cost of device ownership, citing additional costs to manage and support consumer grade devices throughout their lifecycle (e.g. repairs, OS updates, and replacement cycle).  To address growing interest in the tablet form factor in the DSD market, vendors such as Panasonic and Motorola have been working to develop rugged tablets capable of utilizing apps and increasing operational efficiency as well. In the end, consumer grade devices are sure to make an entrance into the DSD market, albeit slow and cautious. Whether they will prosper will be determined when the first iPhone falls two inches to the ground and shatters. 

Stay tuned for more insights into the DSD Market.  VDC's Enterprise Mobility & Connected Devices Practice will be publishing its annual Direct Store Delivery Report by end of Q2.

MWC 2013 Event Recap

I'm finally over my jet lag and wanted to share some perspectives on my visit to MWC ― Mobile World Capital moved the event to a new venue this year (the Fira Gran Via) a sprawling and massive conference center that definitely was designed for several concurrent conferences, but was required to handle the largest ever MWC attendance (72,000+ attendees). While MWC runs for four days, I left feeling like I could have used at least one extra day to see everyone I would have liked to (there were ~1,500 vendors exhibiting at the event). Barcelona definitely felt crowded, the streets, my hotel, and every restaurant was packed through Thursday ― getting a taxi was quite the challenge at the end of each day (not surprising given that all of the hotels near the show were sold out well ahead of the event). I definitely spent the majority of my time in meetings (and walking) ― the distance from hall 1 to 8 is >1KM, so the moving sidewalks were definitely appreciated.

Sick of BYOD? Get used to it ...

Given my coverage here at VDC, the majority of my conversations with vendors centered on EMM (enterprise mobility management) which continues to expand, with MDM at its core, and continued expansion of app management, security, authentication/identity management, virtualization, dual-persona (data separation / container solutions), app-level security (wrappers), and mobile content management. Bottom line, CIOs will be grappling with BYOD for some time, and vendors know it. The vendor landscape for these aforementioned enterprise mobility components continues to become more diverse with best-of-breed mobile-first startups continuing to provide complementary capabilities to enhance solutions.

A Layered Approach to Mobile Security ― Samsung KNOX builds on SAFE Initiative

The topical EMM example that generated significant buzz out of MWC was Samsung's KNOX announcement ― core to this solution is Samsung's proprietary security enhanced Android OS (commonly referred to as SE Android). KNOX enabled devices will feature a secure boot chain which leverages ARM's TrustZone technology to monitor kernel integrity and to ensure that only authorized apps can be run (this theoretically will prevent any KNOX enabled devices from being jailbroken ― this will be interesting to keep an eye on). The KNOX component that is getting the most media attention is the application layer security component to KNOX (the AES 256 bit encrypted container) as well as the native IPSec VPN for containerized apps ― this is an area that merits more than just a few sentences in a blog post, I'll be posting more on KNOX later this week. Samsung was involved in another important announcement last week ― the company has partnered with Red Bend Software for a dual-persona solution (a type 1 hypervisor) that is currently in beta in several large customers. I will be keeping an eye on this initiative, and look forward to seeing the results of the test deployments (beta customers have agreed to an extensive survey that will provide valuable insights on the UX and IT management aspects of dual persona deployments). What was most interesting was the competing vendors with their own "mini stations" inside the Samsung booth (tough to call it a booth ...) ― reps. from vendors like Fixmo, AirWatch, SOTI and Centrify standing just a few feet from each other...

AirWatch ― $1B+ Valuation

The rapidly growing EMM vendor was the enterprise mobility vendor that everyone was talking about on Monday morning at MWC ― when Ralph De La Vega (President and CEO of Mobility at AT&T) stops by to congratulate you, you know you've got everyone's attention. In case you missed it, AirWatch landed a $200M investment on the eve of MWC (Sunday night). AirWatch was one of the few vendors to have 2 booths at MWC ― the booth to drive traffic to their primary booth happened to be right next to SAP's booth ― suffice it to say, that AirWatch continues to be aggressive. I had the opportunity to participate in the company's user conference being held at MWC (AirWatchConnect) ― the event attracted key customers, featured an impressive lineup of both industry and analyst speakers and was well executed. While the competition is fierce, I still see the channel as being key. Vendors competing with AirWatch are increasingly focused on carrier relationships and continue to expand their solution range as well.

Product Launches ― Phablets and Lower Pricing

Other than the mid-range Windows Phones that Nokia released, the device story out of MWC was all about Android. OEMs such as LG, Lenovo, HTC, ZTE, Huawei and Nokia released new smartphones ― Sony, HP, Asus, Acer, Samsung, each released tablets ― the unmistakable trend is that the screen size race is continuing, and the prevalence of Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon processor (although Huawei's Hisilicon 1.5Ghz quad-core processor seems to be on par with the Snapdragon). Nokia announced its 301 and 105 feature phones aimed at emerging markets (Nokia mentioned China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Vietnam and other markets in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East in its press release). The 105 features a numeric keypad (most impressive is the 12 hour talk time and month of standby time) and will retail for a remarkably low ~$20, the 301 will retail for ~$85 and packs smartphone like features ― both phones have Nokia's solid build quality, with the 105 being positioned as backup or emergency phones, both are also being positioned toward a younger demographic.

More on Nokia

Nokia remains challenged with its enterprise strategy ― the company is looking to Microsoft for support, but the folks in Redmond don't appear to be executing well with helping Nokia establish their OS as an enterprise contender. Meanwhile, Blackberry, Samsung and Apple continue to enhance their enterprise focus ― Nokia still produces high quality products and has a broad range of devices that are appealing to consumers, however the clock is running out on both BlackBerry and Nokia to gain traction ― others such as Huawei, HTC and Lenovo may have an opening as well. 

Other tidbits

• The GSMA announced OneAPI Exchange to help foster collaboration between operators and developers (partners include: AT&T, Deutsche Telkom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone)
• Mobily announced a partnership with Jasper Wireless to help integrate M2M solutions across a broad range of connected devices (e.g., automotive telematics, smart metering and infotainment products) ― Jasper will provide cloud-based applications and management services to Mobily.
• 17 mobile operators committed to support Mozilla's mobile Firefox OS
• Companies such as IBM, Intel, Ford, Samsung, and SAP participated in unveiling of GSMA's Connected City - a nice concept that really did provide a forward look at the potential cities of our future where everyone and everything can benefit from intelligent wireless connections.
• There are lots of demos of M2M in operation at MWC, many of our discussions with operators and service providers centered on how they intend to participate in empowering the market with advisory, implementation, and value-added services, aimed at specific verticals or use cases. It’s clear that an increasingly broad range of vendors see M2M as a vehicle to lift their bottom line and are architecting solutions and services based on connectivity that are tightly coupled with data collection and analytics.

Didn’t get to MWC? Here’s a link to a gallery of assorted pics from the event ― the largest mobile event of the year definitely lived up to its billing …

Samsung Continues its Creep into the Enterprise Market...Launches KNOX at MWC

Tuesday, February 25th, Samsung launched its latest mobile solution - KNOX.  KNOX is a dual-persona platform, enabling two distinct environments to exist simultaneously on mobile workers' device.

BYOD continues to challenge IT, driving complexities in multi-OS management, BYOD vs corporate device management, and security management.  Samsung is betting on the dual-persona concept as the path forward. While the concept has existed for several years (with Enterproid one of the first to market with a solution), its adoption has been slow.  

Yet, KNOX is clearly an attractive solution:

• For consumers, the KNOX will simplify management of corporate versus personal data and protect personal data/content from access by IT.
• For IT, KNOX facilitates containerization and enhanced security of corporate content, integrity management services, easy integration with existing MDM, and VPN services, as well as simplified management of employee devices.

While the solution clearly has some drawbacks (e.g. limited to Samsung GALAXY devices, Android-only, available only on select Galaxy devices starting in Q2 2013), this was a bold move by Samsung.

The BYOD trend - driving consumer-grade devices into the workplace and increasingly complex mobile infrastructures - has represented a clear market opportunity for Samsung to more fully penetrate the enterprise market.  Launching the SAFE (Samsung Approved for Enterprise) program in 2011 for certifying enhanced device security, KNOX will further drive Samsung's penetration into the enterprise market.  

For traditional enterprise mobility vendors, this announcement should be a red flag - Samsung is determined to carve its own place in the enterprise market.

 

Stay tuned for our next post on this announcement by Eric Klein, Senior Analyst - currently at MWC Barcelona.

AirWatch Secures $200M in Series A Funding

Mobile World Congress 2013 kicked off with a bang for MDM startup AirWatch.  This 10-year old company announced the largest round of funding of enterprise mobility investment this year - $200 million, led by Venture Insight Partners.

 

This funding indicates further aggressive spending and investment by AirWatch to advance its position in the now crowded MDM market.  We see further growth opportunities geographically as well as in certain verticals (e.g. retail, where AirWatch works with Lowes and Home Depot).  

Given the company's history of strong investment in R&D, we expect this $200 million in funding to drive innovative product announcements and customer wins over the next 6-8 months.

Will AT&T's Attention to Mobile Developers Pay Dividends?

AT&T held the 8th iteration of its developer summit this past January in Las Vegas. The event kicked off with the company’s first “hackathon” of 2013 (AT&T held 28 of these in 2012) and offered attendees a full day of mobile-oriented sessions, ranging from technical deep dives to go-to-market strategies for enterprise-oriented developers. This was my second year attending this event, and I came away with a very positive impression of AT&T’s commitment to fostering its community of developers. It is clear that the company is raising the profile of the event. Not only was the attendance up from 2012 (with ~2,700 developers on hand, this was the largest event to date), but AT&T has also added executive presence to the event. Ralph de la Vega, the President and CEO of AT&T Mobility, typically keynotes this event; however, this year he was joined by other key executives, including the company’s CTO and CMO. AT&T also landed Cisco’s Chairman and CEO John Chambers as a keynote speaker and “rock stars” in developer circles like Christian Heilmann from Mozilla to lead breakout sessions. Scheduling the event ahead of CES was a smart move, as it gave the event a good representation of both the media and analyst communities (as well as a critical mass of mobile-oriented developers).

Click here to read this entire research note.

Solving the BYOD Challenge Without Managing Devices

Join me on February 6th to learn about enterprise-grade mobility solutions for BYOD environments

As a long-time industry watcher you've likely seen many acronyms come and go (WAP, ASP, ISDN, etc.) ‒ BYOD is no exception, and will ultimately disappear from our vernacular as well. However, given that we are in the early days of mobile enablement, the trend is sure to impact the modern workplace for years to come, and will pose both an opportunity and a threat for CIOs and IT administrators who will ultimately be supporting an increasingly diverse roster of mobile devices.

While some might argue that the "genie is out of the bottle" and that we are well beyond the point controlling to usage of personally owned devices in the workplace, there very well may be potential for the pendulum swing back toward more centralized IT practices for managing mobile deployments if the ROI garnered from BYOD programs doesn’t materialize. Regardless, the issue will be top of mind this year and next for CIOs as they grapple with device diversity, billing, security, acceptable use policies and more as our mobile workforce continues to grow.

The BYOD trend has a broad range of market participants focused on solutions to capitalize on the opportunity that mobile enablement can bring while mitigating against the risks that comes with personally owned devices being introduced into corporate environments. While there are many viable options that have come to market, one solution category we see gaining traction is enterprise-grade "workspace" or "secure container" solutions that can improve the security and manageability of mobile platforms.

If your organization is grappling with BYOD and in the process of implementing a BYOD strategy, we would welcome your participation in this important upcoming webinar being sponsored by Globo PLC ‒ Solving the BYOD Challenge Without Managing Devices. We will be discussing how CIOs are dealing with the complexity that BYOD programs introduce, as well provide guidance on how your organization can alleviate the pressures associated with the mobile enablement of its growing mobile workforce. Globo will be demonstrating its enterprise-grade mobile solution that is flexible, scalable and designed with BYOD environments in mind.

 

NRF 2013: Translating the interactive online experience into the store...and other observations

NRF 2013 certainly lived up to its “The BIG Show” billing and delivered an extremely well attended trade show by both retail technology vendors and investors. From mobile payments and POS innovation to retail analytics and concierge programs, one key theme throughout NRF was the desire by retailers to replicate – if not improve – the interactive experience enabled through online channels. The  growing threat of trends like show-rooming and from e-tail powerhouse Amazon.com and continued inability of traditional retailers to more effectively integrate their online and in-store experiences are leaving retailers predictably nervous.

The recent holiday retail sales figures published by NRF are proof positive as sales through ‘stores’ rose by 3% - down from 5.6% in 2011 – while online sales grew by 11.1%.  While these channel patterns are not expected to change dramatically, what we are beginning to see – as evidenced by a number of innovative releases at NRF – is that solutions to deliver a true integrated omni-channel solution for retailers are increasingly viable and that retailers are serious about delivering this experience. To that effect, some of the key themes and unique announcements observed during NRF 2013 include:

• The power of the associate. Retail associates represent one of – if not THE – key competitive
  advantage of traditional retailers. Yet they frequently not treated as such. Clearly high turnover of associates contributes to retailers challenges. However, retail associates need to be better leveraged – and trained – to support the increasingly educated consumer. This means equipping retail associates with solutions to enable real time access to critical product and inventory data and communications and collaboration capabilities within the retail setting. Innovative solutions such as Motorola’s SB1 smart badge are a cost effective example of how retailers can empower and support their associates.
• The integrated retail experience. The industry has been discussing omni-channel retailing for several years. However, the reality never quite lived up to the promise. What we are starting to witness, however, is that for select items – such as apparel or DIY products – fulfillment from store locations is gaining a lot of attention by retailers. Moreover, the seamless integration of the online store-front with the in-store retail solutions is delivering the capability where, for example, Home Depot can fulfill an order it received within 20 minutes by an in-store associate.
• More actionable analytics. For an industry with such slim margins it is incredible how little retail decision makers really know about their operations. Ask how long it takes to run a price mark-up/down and a blank stare will be a common response. Workforce management analytics and the dashboards that make the data readily accessible are the often overlooked, yet exceedingly important tools for retailers in today’s hyper-competitive climate where decisions need to be made spontaneously, often in a highly distributed manner. Solution providers
  such as Kronos and their recently introduced Workforce Tablet Analytics will assist retailers in deriving real value from Big Data.
• Store format changes. One of the biggest changes we are in the midst of witnessing is the dramatic shift in POS infrastructure. While traditional ‘fixed’ POS stations remain the defacto solution, the rate at which retail organizations are investing in mobile POS and payment solutions and, equally importantly, the rate at which they are NOT upgrading legacy POS solutions. Unique solutions from established payment vendors such as Verifone and Ingenico that enable secure payment across a variety of mobile devices – such as tablets and smartphones – and the integration of new payment types with existing retail infrastructure (thing PayPal and NCR) is driving massive change. While mobile POS offers some clear benefits in the form of improved service quality, speed of sales process and personalization of shopping experience it is not until this year when we expect a fundamental shift towards mobile payment. One major question, however, is whether mobile can sufficiently withstand the rush of a seasonal shopping season such as end of year holiday season.
• Store format changes, part II. One of the other developments and trends we discussed and are tracking is related to the fluidity of the retail operation and the ability for retailers to more rapidly respond to quick shifts in the market. An impact of this is the shift to smaller footprint store formats and larger warehouses or more warehouse space. Technologies that allow retailers to be more responsive to rapid changes in demand or product mix and do so on a
  individual store basis are increasingly critical.
• Microsoft’s Windows 8 Embedded Handheld. While there has been much anticipation and
  debate leading up to Microsoft’s official release of their next generation OS for enterprise/ruggedized mobile devices, the cat is finally out of the bag. Among other developments, Microsoft is delivering UI upgrades to bring this platform on par with modern mobile platforms and some of the prototypes we previewed were truly transformational. As expected, there is a clean break from the existing Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 – which Microsoft will continue to support through 2020. What was perhaps not expected was that the launch will be coordinated with a select group of OEM partners, unlike the broad availability
  of existing solutions. Microsoft is clearly taking a page out of the Windows 8 launch program. While the volume hit will be negligible – launch partners account for approximately 60% of rugged handheld shipments – in the case of the niche-oriented and still fragmented market, this may backfire. 

2013 Predictions - Part 1

Mobile Developer Skills Gap a Growing Issue

There is a massive shortage issue and skills gaps when it comes to enterprise mobile developers. According to VDC's research, IT departments rate their mobile support capabilities lowest in comparison to other more traditional IT services. While mobile development is one of the faster growing job segments, most developers are drawn to more consumer and media oriented development work. Developing sophisticated enterprise mobile applications with stringent security and backend database integration requirements - and where more complex native development remains pervasive - has represented a less appealing career choice.

Although the trend towards HTML5/Javascript for enterprise mobile solutions is potentially expanding the developer pool to more traditional web developers, a skill set disparity remains. In the case of HTML5 for enterprise mobile applications, strong coding practices are required to address and overcome many of the limitations inherent with HTML5 - such as the asynchronous nature of HTML5/Javascript. This is going to represent a major issue for enterprise mobility in 2013 and possibly years to come.

Flipboard for the Enterprise:  Enterprise Mobile Applications as the Next Wave of Consumerization

As the past few years have seen a rapid influx of mobile devices into the enterprise space - led, of course, by Apple's iPhone and iPad - so too have we seen traditional consumer apps optimized to target the enterprise market, such as Dropbox, Yammer, Salesforce Desk, and Jobvite. And yet - not for lack of trying - the award-winning Flipboard app for social news aggregation has not encountered an enterprise-ready counterpart.

First launched in mid-2010, Flipboard has garnered a worldwide following, facilitating intuitive flip-through navigation of personalized social and news content. One of the more notorious Flipboard rivals targeting the enterprise is Moprise. The company's app - Coaxion - enables real-time collaboration and document access, both online and offline, via services such as SharePoint, Dropbox. Despite VC backing of over $500k and successful partnership with QuickOffice, Dropbox, SharePoint and others, the app has yet to take off in the enterprise market.

Mike McCue, co-founder of Flipboard, tweeted in May of 2012:  "How do I feel about all the Flipboard clones? I'd rather be competing with 1,000 copycats than 1,000 innovators." While the incredible success of Flipboard in consumer markets hints at a similar opportunity in the enterprise market, McCue is spot-on in highlighting the vast importance of true innovation and optimization in design of a "Flipboard for the enterprise" application. The challenge will be to maintain Flipboard's end user-centric appeal and presentation while integrating corporate news, content, or collaborative elements. VDC sees a sizeable market opportunity for a Flipboard-esque enterprise app and expects continued competition and innovation over the next year as organizations look to capitalize on Flipboard's key value propositions (content aggregation, personalization, attractive UI/UX, visual appeal, consistent cross-platform experience), while optimizing the content, collaboration, and sharing features to suit enterprise requirements.

Rugged Mobile Community will Struggle with Balance as Market Segment Matures

That the rugged mobile community experienced a correction in 2012 is an understatement. With the rugged handheld and data collection focused vendor landscape undergoing massive consolidation - with Motorola Solution's acquisition of PSION and Honeywell's pending acquisition of Intermec - and other solution providers such as GD-Itronix end of lifting much of their portfolio - the outlook is increasingly uncertain. While the need for rugged solutions in a variety of end use markets is clear, the growing maturity of the opportunity coupled with the increasing commoditization, diminishing differentiation (and innovation) among vendor solutions and continued vendor fragmentation are combining to drive continued vendor and product consolidation.

An additional challenge in 2013 for this community will be influenced by their strong ties to Windows OS platforms. While several vendors have experimented with Android solutions, traction in target markets has been limited. Moreover, the forthcoming changes to Windows Embedded Handheld and noted issues with backward compatibility with legacy applications is a well documented concern as is the viability of Windows 8 (Pro) for these vendors 2013 tablet initiatives.

Where we do expect to see innovative developments and opportunities for this community moving forward will be in the shift from legacy rugged handheld to rugged smartphone solutions especially around the integration of mission critical communications capabilities - such as support for Public Safety Band 14. In addition, we anticipate greater opportunities and focus around rugged tablet solutions - in part as a displacement for existing mounted rugged notebooks but similarly in support for new applications and workflows.

New Entrants to Drive Increasing Competition in Mobile Content Management

The past few years have seen the steady trickle of mobile devices into the enterprise evolve into a widespread wave of BYOD support. And yet, while enterprise support of BYOD devices may appease employees' desire to use their personal devices in the workplace, organizations are currently inhibited from capitalizing on the considerable potential mobile devices offer to transform the enterprise. VDC's 2012 survey of enterprise IT decision-makers revealed that just over 40% of organization allow employees to use productivity apps on their personal devices. Even fewer (~28%) empower employees with access to specialized line of business applications. And yet, organizations are increasingly recognizing the limitations of these restrictive policies, which counteract the core advantages of mobilization initiatives (enhanced productivity, real time decision-making, customer loyalty, sales.)

Partnering with Oracle to deliver solutions for Oracle Universal Content Management, Fishbowl Solutions represents an early player in the mobile ECM (enterprise content management) space. Deploying the company's Android or iOS applications, organizations are able to empower workers with mobile access to the ECM system, while ensuring security of corporate data and systems. Over the next year, we will see increasing competition in this space, as established content management vendors adapt current ECM solutions to meet the unique requirements inherent to mobile environments. Emphasis will shift from device management (MDM) to more sophisticated content management through digital rights management, encryption, authentication, data loss prevention, geo-fencing, context-management, and other technologies facilitating administration of users' access, storage, and synchronization of enterprise content.

Exploiting Enterprise Mobility to Address Pain Points in Manufacturing Industry

Manufacturing organizations are using mobile solutions to give their increasingly mobile workforce access to real-time data on the go. Demand for increased visibility of assets, execution of business remotely, and goals to improve sales and customer service are some of the factors behind increasing adoption of enterprise mobility solutions among manufacturers.

Whether they are involved in process or discrete manufacturing, majority of the manufacturing organizations are highly receptive towards mobilizing traditional manufacturing applications such as asset management, shop floor management, field service and field sales management.

Here are some enterprise mobility investment drivers in manufacturing industry:

Give anytime anywhere access to employees. Besides gains in productivity and efficiency, the employees are looking to better communicate and collaborate, as well as making decisions on the go based on the real-time information available to them.

Enterprise applications remain to be the heart and soul of manufacturing. While manufacturing industry has been slow in making the transition to mobility (in comparison to the other vertical market segments), the process is expected to be much more smooth from now on since the traditional enterprise application vendors (e.g. SAP, Oracle, Infor, Epicor, etc) are on board. VDC anticipates more modules/ suites from these applications (e.g. ERP, CRM, MES, WMS, etc) to be mobilized in addition to the modules like Expense Management that lead the way in making the shift to mobile.

Jump on the mobility bandwagon now, if you haven’t already done so. Organizations have started to view mobility as an extension of their core processes and functions within the manufacturing environment. Inventory management, for example has been an application that many manufacturing organizations are using in their warehouses and DCs.