18 Jun The Real Future of Mobile for IT Managers
We are living in an age of drastic change, thanks to emerging mobile technology. IT managers get that — they have understood the significance of mobile on future IT operations for a while now.
However, it’s time for them to re-assess their view of how mobile is affecting the way companies do business. Mobile is not just a part of future IT operations — it is future IT operations.
Mobile technology is reshaping business models, IT operating models, and entire marketplaces. So, it’s time to stop thinking about how mobile can enable current processes and operations. IT managers need to think about the ways mobile will restructure their work altogether.
What is driving the future of mobile?
In a recent CIO article, Deloitte consultants, Mike Brinker and Shehryar Khan, pointed out four forces that are defining the future of mobile.
Convergence: Mobile is tying our digital identities together, into a connected and always-there hub for everything in our personal and professional lives. So, our entertainment and our professional services will be centralized and intertwined, thanks to the mobile technology that powers them. Brinker and Khan state that “impulse computing” isn’t just a luxury anymore — it underlies every way in which we interact with the world on a daily basis.
Ubiquity: The ubiquitous nature of mobile means that our devices now allow us to sync almost all activities across a wide range of devices. Services and content will be able to follow users from their homes to their cars to their offices. This always-on capability will drastically change the way businesses interact with customers, as well as the nature of the services they can provide.
Transparency: According to Brinker and Khan, voice, gesture, and location-based services will become the main way we interact with devices and systems. Instead of manually clicking, typing, touching, or swiping, services will be provided in a user-free interaction. Our location, voice, or other prompts will automatically prepare services to be ready right when we need them.
Augmented Reality: The technological stuff of science fiction is moving from games and scientific environments, into the mainstream enterprise, according to Brinker and Khan. The technology we rely on will become extensions of our gestures and speech because it will be sensitive to location and context. The information we need will be adaptive to the environment and situation in which we need it.
The mobile future may seem overwhelming, but there are steps you can take to prepare your company for such drastic change. Being a forward-thinking manager isn’t enough — you need to take action now to prepare for a “mobile only” future.
Preparing Your Company for Mobile Only
Thankfully, the Deloitte consultants also shared some tips on how to prepare for this overwhelming mobile only future — here is the gist:
- Accelerate your company’s digital strategy: While strategy remains important, the time allotted for it must decrease. Mobile moves too fast to accommodate months of planning — weeks are more in-line with the pace of mobile innovation.
- Leverage redundancies in other areas of your organization: Your company is probably funding, and planning for, similar efforts in areas like asset management, social, CRM, content management, analytics, and more. Since these areas will form dependencies and overlap each other, as it relates to mobile, it makes sense to concert some of your efforts.
- Watch the tech startup community for cues: Look to those tech professionals on the cutting edge of emerging technology to seed ideas for your own company. Just because a new way of using mobile emerges in another industry, don’t think it won’t be able to cross industry lines.
- Always keep your users in mind: Regardless of how interesting the technology is, however, always view it through the eyes of your customers. Will it add value? Is it practical? Instead of trying to retain control over how your mobile innovation will be used, think about its applicable use from the perspective of your end users.
USACI partners with Best in the Business companies using the latest technology to help your company succeed. Please let us know how we can assist as you consider your mobility strategy. You can email us at tara.geiger@usaci.com or call us at 888-393-6565
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