A recent trip to visit my brother and his kids brought to life just how behind I am as a user of mobile technology. My brother, an attorney, uses an I-Pad for quick access to email, schedule, and travel info, but his kids also grab the iPad to play video games. My wife used her iPhone on the trip to take family pics and create quick Facebook posts. She also uses it for corporate email--though happily, not on this particular trip.
Meanwhile--I seem stuck in 2004--using my cell phone just for voice calls and to check voice mail. The key reason for this is that I do most of my work from my home office these days, and on the few business trips I take I usually lug a Windows laptop to check email. But as I look at the possibility of more business travel in 2012, I'm thinking about getting a smart phone or tablet soon. For one thing--my old circa 2005 laptop takes about 15 minutes to fully boot, get onto WIFI, and get the browser running. I also like how mobile devices seem to have good apps for entertainment and personal productivity.
In looking over my email the other day (the old fashioned way--on a desktop PC!), I came across a tidbit about the two key drivers behind mobile apps for consumers. In a recent Advertising Age webcast, Patrick Moorhead, group management director of mobile platforms for Draftfcb in Chicago, posits that mobile consumers are looking for either “something to save time with” or a “something to wase time with” when using their device. I tend to agree.
With a tablet or smart phone, you can kill some time with a video game, or use a tablet as an e-reader. But you can also save time by keeping up with your email, rearranging schedules or appointments on the fly, or using mobile apps from service providers like banks, insurers, or doctors and clinics. But is there another key driver behind mobile apps--especially when it comes to enterprise-class mobile apps?
In my career as a writer about enterprise software, at a basic level the best "apps" are usually about applying a company's resources in a faster, more effective way. If a company can use a Web-based system for collaborative product development, they might be able to shave months off a new product launch, and that might make a big difference in grabbing market share and profitability for the new product. In production and supply chain planning, "resource management" is king. If you can schedule a production line to fulfill more orders with less labor, less machine time, or by holding less inventory, profitibilty rises. Same story in the supply chain--if you can pair techniques like cross-docking with supply chain monitoring software to speed up the distribution of outbound goods, that helps the bottom-line. What I'm wondering is, have enterprise mobile apps reached the point where they can help a company save resources and boost productivity, or are they still much like consumer mobile apps, some time-saving productivity tools for the individual, with hopefully less of the "time killer" aspect?
My guess is that enterprise mobile apps are already starting to help companies save resources, but they aren't the whole story on new technologies that optimize resources. Sure, enterprise mobile apps might help an executive catch an earlier flight, but to quickly re-optimize a supply chain, you might need a team of people accessing analytics, crunching real-time supply chain data, and then taking action. Some of this quick adjustment of supply chain resources might be done via mobile apps, but some people might be using a more conventional PC or laptop. And with the advent of "big data" analytics software supported by cloud computing, the wiser application of resources might rely on many types of devices that used to be "dumb," but are now smart and reporting data via the cloud. In the enterprise world, the biggest driver for mobile apps may end up being the way they can optimize resources, but in combination with technologies like big data and cloud computing.
As a technology-focused business journalist, I'm sure I'll be following these converging trends. As an average Joe user, I just want do a stuff like keep tabs on email, social media, and maybe read a book while on the move.
