As I travel back from the Mobile Computing Summit conference held in Burlingame CA this week, I’m trying to remember what air travel was like back in the days with no Wi-Fi. Internet on the plane is a great way to kill time on a flight and catch up on email (kudos Virgin America!). I’m reminded of how quickly things change and how quickly we forget the way things were.
The Mobile Computing Summit conference held a lot of great sessions, with dynamic speakers and excellent content. However, similar to Wi-Fi enabled flights, I’m struck with the thought that things need to change in the enterprise for it to see the same success as consumer Apps. The “consumerization” of the enterprise mobility is introducing the concept of Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) has left the IT manager flummoxed.
With a large portion of conference dedicated to the mobile platform selection, who will win the enterprise race, and with what feature sets? The question I continue to ask is where does the enterprise realize their true ROI by investing in mobility. Google and Apple didn’t invent the tablet, nor the first smart phone. But they did focus on the user experience, launching it into the stratosphere. From acquiring the App, introducing gestures, and setting usability guidelines, a new level of user experience was the disruptive component. As the enterprise adopts the App mentality, it too must realize the same level of focus on user experience is required for their enterprise Apps. Gone are the days that an enterprise App must simply work regardless of how poorly it was designed or implemented. The employee (your customer) does have a choice, they can wait until the next time they are at their desk to make the update, approve the transaction, or close the sale – potentially costing money in delays or missed opportunities. However more importantly, the investment made in enterprise mobile Apps is being wasted.
To be clear, I’m not saying that one ignores security, nor allows employees to do whatever they want. Instead, the enterprise should assess the risk of using a mobility platform and set clear goals for the path they choose, thus instituting the right level of controls for the risk tolerance. In the end, focusing on the mobile user experience will allow the enterprise to see the same level of success the consumer Apps have been enjoying for the last several years.
