Choices – in life we always want to have choices. If we don’t, we feel cheated. On the other hand, sometimes too many choices are not a good thing. Have you ever tried to pick out a shade of white paint? Super White, China White, Ballet White, Linen White, White Silk, Navajo White, Mayonnaise…
You’ve decided that you want to begin an enterprise mobility project to enhance your business. So where to begin – what are your choices?
When envisioning a mobility project, it may seem natural to think that your first choice should be the devices. If that’s what you’re thinking – STOP right there! Hopefully I have reached you soon enough to save you from hours of confusing and contradictory reviews of various mobile devices and their capabilities. I’ve met plenty of companies who have deployed ‘single device type’ solutions – and what happens is that over time the users end up carrying multiple devices; the one with the app they need to do their job and the device they want to carry.
In my opinion, that is putting the cart before the horse. The device should not drive the project. Instead the project should drive the device(s). If the device is the focus it may be successful in the short fun, but success will last as long as the selected device is an ‘it’ device.
If you let the device lead the project, chances are that the device you select today, may not be the best choice in 3, 6 or 12 months. It wasn’t all that long ago that popular opinion was that the iPhone would be the device platform which would wipe all competition off the face of the planet on the way to world domination.
Yet according to NPD Group, in the 2nd Quarter of this year devices running the Android operating system lead the market. Of devices sold in Q2 33% were Android, 28% were BlackBerry and only 22% were iPhone. Understanding that the iPhone results for Q2 were likely hampered by those waiting for release of the new iPhone 4.0 – but none the less it is clear that the device race is far from over. So if you have launched a project which is iPhone dependent – are you feeling comfortable right now?
I’m not here to tell you what devices will dominate or even survive as the smartphone arms race pushes forward. I can tell you that fierce competition for marketshare will push all the device makers to be innovative which is good for all of us.
I’ve met plenty of companies who have told me that they are giving iPhones, iPads or some other device to their teams – and now they want to build a mobility strategy around that purchase.
If you are already involved in a ‘device first’ mobility initiative – it’s not too late to ensure a longer term success.
To make your project successful, ensure that your approach provides for a device diverse environment. Technologies are available which allow for deployment of applications across multiple device types. This will be critical for long term success.
The bottom line is to ensure long term success of the business initiative; the project can’t be tied to a single device. Even if you start on a single device type – you can be guaranteed that you’ll need to expand in the future to meet the whims of the users as new devices continue to catch their eye.
Take a look at the following cartoon posted by Rosscott at SystemComic.com. It’s very funny, and it illustrates the conundrum which is keeping up with fast moving devices.
Matt T –
Tags: Apps, Business Mobility, Enterprise Mobility, iPhone, Matt Torgersen, Mobile Applications, Mobile Apps, Mobile Devices, Pragmatic Mobility, ROI
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