Mobile has become a key ingredient in the integration of business and technology. If designed and delivered effectively, it provides unparalleled convenience, speed, and ease of use. However, if enterprise mobility is going to enable organizations to drive growth and profitability, technology alone won’t guarantee success.
In my last post, I discussed the need to have a strategic approach to mobility. When we think of strategy for success with mobility, we need to take a holistic view and consider all ingredients that can impact the end-to-end mobile user experience.
Mobility Must Deliver Business Value First
You can’t lose sight of the big picture. Many times, the success of mobility revolves around a simple question: What is the business value for mobile? For example, partially duplicating a PC-based access on a mobile device may not deliver the greatest value.  Furthermore, the ability to access snapshots of static data on a mobile device may provide limited value if it lacks integration with business processes or systems.
It doesn’t matter how simple the requirement may appear or the size and scope of the project may be. Often, information technology (IT) teams mainly concentrate on the technical details (an absolutely necessary step) but they need to go beyond just the mechanics and think about the value. A technical solution alone may sometimes not be adequate enough because technology is only half of the solution and enterprise mobility is no different.
Make Your Customers the Focal Point
In order to deliver true business value and drive growth and profitability in mobility, your customers (or users) must become the focal point of your mobility initiative. Avoid the one-size-fits-all approach at all costs because it doesn’t take into account the many attributes that will be unique to each of the environments you operate in and, therefore, may result in shortsighted decisions. For your design, consider the entire user experience that goes beyond the development, such as the communication, delivery, or support infrastructures.
Mobility Demands the Right Talent
Identifying the right talent with the right background is critical to growth and profitability in mobility. It goes without saying that the subject matter expertise around mobility, as well as areas related to business content and processes, is a prerequisite. However, equally important are the soft skills, starting with critical thinking and a mobile-first mindset.
Leadership is Critical
Enterprise mobility initiatives can’t go far without the right leadership in place; the success of your mobile journey depends on that support more than anything else. However, having leadership only on paper isn’t enough. You need business and technology leaders- or mobile transformers- that champion the mobile cause and become ardent mobile users. As your most active consumers of the mobile solution, these leaders will have the most direct impact on the success of your mobility projects because they set an example for the rest of the organization to follow.
Bottom Line: In many cases, you may be forced to solve unique business problems that can’t be addressed using standard solutions. Hence, technical knowledge alone will guarantee neither a successful outcome nor adoption of your mobility solutions. It’s your mobile team’s talent, ingenuity, and dedication that will make a difference and provide growth and profitability in mobility.
How do you drive growth and profitability with your mobility approach?
Kaan Turnali is Global Senior Director, Business Intelligence (BI) at SAP. He is responsible for the development, oversight, and execution of strategy for the BI platform across SAP’s Global Customer Operations (GCO) Reporting & Analytics Platform. In addition, he manages special mobile BI projects for the Office of the CEO and the GCO senior management team.
Prior to joining SAP in 2006, Kaan worked as a senior BI consultant specializing in strategy, design, and development of enterprise BI solutions for SMB and Fortune 500 companies. His background and experience in the integration of business and technology span over two decades. He is an adjunct professor, teaching BI in the doctor of business administration program at Wilmington University.
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