5 Reasons Customers Want Mobility

It’s no surprise that mobility is top of mind for CIO’s and IT organizations.

In their 2013 predictions, IDC noted it expects a mini tablet surge whereby the tablet market will grow by at least 42 percent to more than 170 million units in 2013.  Similarly, Gartner predicted earlier this year that mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4:1 by 2015, with CIO’s expecting more than 20% of their employees to use tablets instead of laptops by 2013.

The mobile movement has quickened the pace of change for application developers and, we too, expect to see tools and applications evolve to address the requirements of new devices and OS’. What’s driving this movement? We see 5 key trends:

1. Unconstrained access: Gone are the days of accessing Business applications only via an interface tied to a physical location. Access needs to be ad-hoc and 24 x 7, even in a Business context.
2. Self-service/empowerment: Users want to be empowered to work on their schedule. Secure mobile applications can empower employees to get things done the -fr -pl3 -pb3 way in a timely fashion.
3. Speed: We want to get things done now. In the Business context, this can mean being a step ahead of the competition, for the consumer it can mean convenience and a great Customer experience.
4. Device ergonomics: The ergonomics of mobile devices are compelling. A new class of user experience (UX) is available due to advances in form factor and sensors in the device e.g. GPS, Compass, Camera etc. Business Applications that can intelligently leverage the inherent power of the mobile app UX will lead to increased “stickiness” and loyalty amongst users.
5. Productivity: Both Companies and Employees are searching for ways to improve productivity and in turn, competitiveness. Consider a trained repair technician, being intelligently dispatched to the next destination without having to return to base for new instructions. Imagine the productivity gains, if she can now record the state of a repair process instantly and in real-time by tapping into back-end business services. Intelligent routing thanks to being “location-aware” support further gains and the list goes on….