What are challenges in implementation enterprise mobility projects?

Over the last 5 years, I have been involved with more than 25 mobility projects that have achieved varied degrees of success, partly due to planning and partly due to implementation.

A common thread through most of them has been more of a managerial than a technical issue and that is that mobility has not been the CIO’s primary focus area. That is understandable, because a CIO is responsible for smooth running of the company’s enterprise systems and ensuring that they keep up with the times. And alas, mobility was considered a nice-to-have add-on but not essential. I met with numerous CIOs between 2005 and 2009 who would say, "Our ERP implementation is still getting stabilized so we will look into mobile solutions later." And those that did take them up could not give them the attention an enterprise system needed.

The good news today, after the huge downturn and thanks to HP and SAP making billion-dollar news on enterprise mobility, is that CEOs have woken up to the fact that the business world has changed and they cannot cling to the past and that mobility is here to stay and should be given closer managerial attention.

A big mistake is to not allot a full-time person, with adequate authority, to be fully responsible for a mobility project. A mobility project often becomes yet another project in the project manager’s responsibilities. A manager in a bank once complained to me, “I have 20 projects under me at any given time, how can I give mobility priority when my core system upgrade is more important?”

India is a large country and most companies want to deploy mobile solutions through out the country. That is a very difficult task because implementation involves field level support such as hand-holding the user in the initial stages of the implementation, management of devices including repairs, replacement, data connectivity, etc. Most software producers are not geared to provide this service. And more importantly, many CIOs may think that it is a trivial issue, especially as a mobile is such an easy device to use and manage. Implementations can fail if sufficient importance is not given to this aspect. And not just importance but sufficient budget too! Did you know, there are companies now that specialize in providing only mobility implementation services including providing handsets entirely as a service?

Here is another big issue with a mobile solution implementation: Do some of you remember when you first introduced enterprise grade solutions, one of the big issues was overloading of the system resulting in poor user response when all planned users got on to the system? Companies then made millions selling load-testing tools! That is now a common issue today in mobility – CIOs tend to assume that a mobile solution will easily scale up, after all a mobile solution is quite simple and straight-forward. Unfortunately, just like any other enterprise system, if the underlying technology platform is inadequate, a true on-line mobile solution will fail under load. I know of an insurance company that implemented a sales solution, not ours I assure you, that croaked when just 400 users were using it concurrently. Naturally that got fixed post-facto at immense cost and resulted in a delayed implementation.

To summarize, in my opinion, there are three important factors that can affect implementation of enterprise mobility projects,
1) Focus needs to be given by the company’s top management, that is the CEO and CIO,
2) Implementation logistics are critical and should be addressed, preferably using a separate service provider,
3) It is important to have a strong technology platform for mobility that can handle load.

Mobile Applications for Marketing

Marketing through mobile phones has been around for some time now. It mainly consisted of a means to send text messages (SMS) to the target, promoting a product or service or offering a discount when the message is shown at a retail outlet (these discount coupons are called m-coupons). What these mechanisms lack is a means to generate pull from the consumer, that is, an incentive for the consumer to actually search for special offers. In addition, most of these SMS marketing offerings lack subsequent analytics to determine efficacy of the marketing efforts. A service provided by a company called MobiMedia, in India, is the ultimate mobile marketing solution. The consumer is sent an SMS, clicks on a link to download an application that offers an attractive and easy-to-use means to pull m-coupons of interest. The coupons can be presented at a participating retailer where they can be redeemed. Companies using the service can set up their own marketing campaigns and throughout a campaign duration can track consumer actions relevant to the promotions and also generate valuable analytics.

Convergence of Visual Data & Mobile Solutions

Many mobile phones today have cameras and quite a few mobile entertainment applications exist, that invoke the camera facility. It is now the turn of mobile enterprise solutions to utilize the camera phone for business use. Applications can control the camera, capture a picture and then pass it along with other information to a central server for processing. All along, the picture is treated like another data item and thus catalogued in a database for easy retrieval later. Mobile photo applications are used by insurance claims inspectors for visually recording a vehicle’s condition, by marketing people to decide on how to place consumer products on retail shelves, by loan sales persons to capture documents; and the list can go on, encompassing any application where a visual record needs to be taken for processing. An innovative application I came across was one where barcodes on redemption vouchers are read, verified and accounted for immediately, with just an ordinary camera phone instead of an expensive portable barcode reader. It is just a matter of time that mobile photo applications will become common-place in the enterprise world.

CXO’s Guide to Enterprise Mobility – 3

I just could not resist the temptation of giving a few more tips on implementing mobile solutions.

Q: Our ERP vendor has a mobile solution; would we be better off implementing that?
A: That is a decision that can be taken only after you have examined the ERP vendor’s mobile solution with respect to your requirements. A vendor who specializes in mobile solutions would probably be more agile than an ERP vendor, in meeting your dynamically changing mobility requirements.

Q: What is the single biggest issue encountered when implementing mobile solutions?
A: The biggest issue is lack of management focus. Day-to-day operations tend to divert the attention of senior management from a mobility project, because mobility projects are often considered “nice to have” but not essential.

Q: How do we rapidly implement mobile solutions?
A: A senior manager vested with authority should be made responsible for implementing a mobile solution. This person should be dedicated for the job and should have the backing of the company’s leadership.

CXO’s Guide to Enterprise Mobility – 2

In this posting I have addressed more queries that a CXO will have on enterprise mobility.

Q: We are in the throes of implementing a new ERP system. What will be the right time to get into a mobility project?
A: Mobile solutions change the way business is conducted out of the office. Most standard implementations of ERP solutions cater to the processes within the workplace. Hence as mobility is contributing a set of new processes, it can be implemented independently. There is no need to wait for an ERP implementation to be completed, to get the benefits of mobility.

Q: Then won’t the IT team get stretched while implementing ERP and Mobility at the same time?
A: Ideally, Mobility should be implemented by the business department and not IT. There is very little of IT involved particularly as a lot of mobility implementations can be started on a cloud computing model.

Q: What are the issues in integrating mobile solutions with our ERP?
A: Unless real-time data is essential, a batch model for transfer of data to and from the ERP system is ideal, and that is often a non-issue. It will also reduce the on-line load on the ERP system. Integrate in real-time only when required and keep that in mind when selecting a mobility solution vendor.

CXO’s Guide to Enterprise Mobility - 1

CXOs and business heads are often in a quandary with respect to investment decisions on mobile enterprise solutions. They have numerous questions that cannot be easily answered because enterprise mobility is not yet a mature practice like e-commerce. In this and the next posting, I will try and address some of these queries.

Q: What are the measurable benefits of mobile solutions to the organization?
A: Mobile solutions improve processes by redefining them and their value can often be computed in advance, but their greater value in improving the way business is conducted is often un-measurable at the micro level. The result will be contribution to an increased top-line and profits, however, the contribution cannot be easily assessed and isolated.

Q: How do we take an investment decision for enterprise mobility?
A: Trust your gut and that of your business head who asks for a mobile solution.

Q: How can we be sure a mobile solution will succeed?
A: A mobile solution is like any other computerized solution in that the benefit it accrues to an organization depends largely on how effectively it is implemented. And the onus of that lies not with the managers down the line but with the top executive management and whether they consider it a priority or not.

Q: How do we choose the right vendor for mobile solutions?
A: That is a tough decision. Just like when you choose a music system for yourself, you have to examine all the qualities of the system, understand the company manufacturing the system and check out customer feedback, not just one or two that could have been fabricated, similarly you need to see the “big picture” when choosing a mobile solutions vendor. At the end of the day, most often, you have to trust your first impression.

Q: Should we not wait for others to try out mobile solutions first instead of being “guinea pigs”?
A: If your competitor gets the benefits of mobile solutions first then you will, most likely, be left behind. Why wait, when you are convinced that mobility will give you benefits?

Presenting Value to the Management

A business head in a bank was convinced that mobile solutions would help his customer-contact representatives out in the field. He knew that the process would get streamlined and his managers would be able to manage the field force with greater efficiency and that significant time and effort would be saved in daily reporting and call tracking. The IT organization conducted live pilot projects and after detailed evaluation selected a vendor for supply of the mobile solution. The business head then prepared a formal request for executive sanction for the investment, highlighting that a 10% improvement in productivity would be expected.

The business head was in for a rude shock when the executive committee rejected the request because the benefits were largely intangible and moreover as the actual field force was employed by external agencies and not by the company, a lot of the benefit would accrue to them and not to the company. This is a situation that happens more often than not in companies contemplating enterprise mobility. Executives taking investment decisions want to see tangible measurable results immediately and not “in the future”. Consequently, vital decisions on implementing mobility get delayed, primarily due to procedures.

Important decisions that will elevate the company’s operations to the next level of service and efficiency, such as deploying mobile solutions, should be taken with some risk on the part of the senior managers. Taking such calculated risks is the hallmark of a progressive management.

Balancing Cost of Mobile Solutions & their Value

Recently I came across a case of a CEO of a SME who recognized the need for a mobile SFA application for his company. He wanted to get one implemented fast. Then when he went scouting for solutions he found huge variation in cost, where some solutions were costing ten times more than others. That put him in a dilemma as to which one to go in for, the low cost solution or the high cost one.

Mobile solutions are like any other software solution where you can get huge variations in price. For example, you can get a freelance programmer to build you a solution at even lower cost. Then how do you decide which way to go? The best approach a CEO could take in such a situation is to engage an independent consultant to evaluate different solutions and find the best one where value and cost are balanced. In the face of it two solutions having huge difference in cost may appear the same but when the consultant goes into various aspects such as flexibility for enhancements, ability to easily connect to enterprise systems, ability to handle increased user load in future, hidden costs and a host of other factors and of course overall value generated, the solution chosen might be quite a surprise. The CEO should tread carefully and take a calculated decision.

Mobile Solutions in the Cloud

Mobile solutions for an enterprise can easily be put in a cloud computing environment. With little or no initial cost, the prospect is very attractive. That would bring enterprise mobility within easy reach of small and medium enterprises. And that sounds quite logical. Unfortunately it is not so easy, because introduction of a mobile solution, even in a small set of people, requires them to be trained adequately in the new process that the solution brings in; and this is an aspect that is often overlooked. It is not that the training will take time as normally the changes in processes are mostly simplifications of existing manual ones. Nevertheless, the importance of training should not be under-estimated.

Some Common Misconceptions Regarding Mobile Enterprise Solutions

Enterprise software gurus have observed that just as the Internet changed the way companies do business, “mobility is now becoming the next competitive frontier.” Yet mobile solutions which are the backbone of enterprise mobility are not fully understood by enterprises.

The first reaction of a manager is that as the mobile is a very small device, it may be difficult to use it for any significant amounts of data. That is not so as the mobile screen can scroll down to display quite a large set of information. I know of a mobile application that accesses 2,000 item names and provides a means to drill down to a particular item detail in just seven seconds and all this on a low-end mobile phone!

Mobile solutions are often relegated to a secondary function – something that supports an enterprise process. Thus managers believe that unless the enterprise processes are in place and stable, which hardly ever happens on schedule, mobile solutions cannot add value. In most cases that is not correct. A mobile solution brings in a change in the way business is conducted in the field. It is a process in itself and in most situations can subsist on its own. For example, a company waited four years for their ERP system to stabilize and delayed the implementation of mobile SFA. They now realize that had they brought in mobile SFA earlier, they could have expedited the placement of orders on behalf of their distributors and thus increased sales.

Are Mobile Solutions Limited to Large Enterprises?

Mobile solutions are not just for large enterprises. In fact, it is the smaller ones that have the agility to implement them quicker. A small company, with just 80 sales persons, successfully implemented a mobile solution for sales force automation (SFA) that within a year contributed directly to a 15% increase in sales with the same workforce. Did they meet with initial user resistance? Yes, they certainly did, but the management stuck to their resolve that only the mobile solution be used and not the spreadsheet processes they were following earlier. The head of sales refused to receive reports that did not come from the system. Yet it took a good six months for the sales persons to feel comfortable with the technology and to start delivering value, which was increase in sales.

Talking about agility, I know of a large automobile company that showed incredible agility in implementing a mobile sales solution. In just a few months they had an SFA mobile application in operation and the secret of such a successful implementation was almost entirely due to the dogged resolve on the part of the senior management to push though a project that they firmly believed would benefit their business. That and an allocation of resources to get the mobile solution implemented. This example brings to my mind a very important dictum in adopting enterprise mobile solutions: Plan for significant cost for implementation, which might even be more than the cost of the mobile solution software itself.

Factors Affecting Success of Enterprise Mobile Solutions

Mobile solutions and their implementation bring to my mind a sense of deja vu. Remember when ERP or e-business was getting popular, how many software development companies sprang up to address that market? And then a lot of them fell by the wayside as they were unable to meet the demands of IT-savvy users. The same will happen for mobile solutions. Just as in conventional solutions, it is easy to build mobile solutions that look good and even perform well in a small scale. But then when changing requirements of an enterprise need to be met and more users get on board then the “easy-to-build” mobile solutions start getting flakey. By then it is too late for a company’s CIO to take corrective action and a lot of time and money would have been spent in an unsuccessful project. CIOs should dig a lot deeper into the underlying technology of a mobile solution before taking the shortest and easiest path.

Another unusual difficulty faced by companies is that unlike conventional business solutions that are restricted to a place of business, mobile solutions can be perceived by end-users as possibly invading their privacy. Once, at the end of a user training session, a young sales person came up to me and asked me whether his movement in the field would be tracked by the mobile solution. He was genuinely concerned and it is such concerns that often result in resistance at the user level and consequently in unsuccessful implementations. Companies must train their field workers adequately to allay such fears before they introduce mobile solutions.

Ultimately, success for an enterprise mobility implementation is measured only by the value it brings to the company and on whether that value generation can be sustained. But if the company’s top management does not appreciate this value then the mobile solution will become yet another failed IT project. Top management support and sponsorship is absolutely essential for success.

Adoption of Enterprise Mobile Solutions

Back in 1997, when I demonstrated a Java-based Internet solution for loan processing for banks, at a major IT event in Orlando, people were extremely skeptical about such a solution working. Today similar solutions are used by nearly all major banks. The solutions then and now are essentially the same, with of course increased levels of security, then what has changed? It is the mindset of the adopters. Anything new is met with a degree of hesitation. Very few people can step where no-one has stepped before. Others wait and watch to see how the early adopters have fared before stepping in themselves. This is a natural process and naturally takes time. Mobile solutions for enterprises have essentially followed the same pattern. The previous decade saw a telecom revolution as never before. Mobile phones became more powerful and cheaper while telecom networks became faster. People started adopting mobile solutions but most stayed with e-mail and other collaboration applications. Then of-course there are those adventurers who started using mobile solutions for their business processes, some with successes and others with failures. I bow to these pioneers. In my next posting, I will talk about their experiences.

Are Enterprises adopting Mobile Solutions?

Mobility is the talk of the town and anything about mobility gets people excited. But are mobile solutions really getting adopted amongst enterprises? Out of 20 CEOs of mid-sized enterprises I discussed mobility with, 19 got genuinely interested in what it could do for their companies. They were convinced that mobile solutions for their field workers could improve productivity and customer relationships. They were convinced that it was the way to go for their companies. Six months later when I checked with some of them and asked on how their mobility projects were progressing, I found that none had even made plans for implementing mobile solutions. When asked why, the answer was either that they would do so after their existing core systems had stabilized (ever heard of a stabilized system?) or that they did not know where or how to begin.