Why an Application Centric Strategy is Wrong - Part 2

[Former Member]

Last week I posted a blog titled 'Why an Application Centric Strategy is Wrong'. This blog stimulated conversations and made me realize that there was more information necessary to truly outline why a Platform-based approach to enterprise mobility is strategic for business transformation.

Let's begin with a comparison of the two approaches to enterprise mobility.

Application-Centric Enterprise Mobility	Platform-Based Enterprise Mobility
Large IT support infrastructure for mobile applications and devices Limited choice in mobile devices that can be used Lack of mobile application integration, resulting in a greater number of siloed business workflows Multiple tool sets required to enforce corporate security Need to maintain a complex point solution roadmap to guide employees in their choice of devices, applications and use cases	Lower administrative, maintenance, and support costs Large choice of mobile devices that can be used, including latest technology Integrated mobile applications, allowing greater flexibility in information sharing and workflow Management of all devices, applications, and security on a single console Greater flexibility in expanding mobile techology through the organization

Many of these points impact the developer or the IT mobile project lead, agreed. But a few impact the business owner, like the head of Marketing or Operations who are trying to find a solution for their customers or employees to implement today with support for future expansion. This ability to quickly develop and modify mobile apps that work across all devices in the business ecosystem makes it possible to adapt to mobile technologies as those technologies emerge. It is also possible to scale mobile solutions to meet the demands of more users running more apps on more devices without increasing the overhead of your mobile technology management.

With a platform-based strategy, it becomes possible to make more manufacturing, marketing, sales, and planning decisions based on real-time data. Business processes speed up and become more accurate. The more deeply mobile technology penetrates an organization, the more opportunity that organization has to transform its business processes.

The diagram to the right shows the relationship between

a platform-based mobile infrastructure and the transformative power of largescale business mobility. To take full advantage of what enterprise mobility can do for business operations, organizations need to “think outside the department.” They need to consider strategies that not only provide access to business information across the enterprise, but also capture valuable business data at its source. A platform-based strategy provides the controls needed to fully manage applications, costs, and security while staying on the leading edge of this rapidly changing technology.

Specifically, adopting a platform-based approach to enterprise mobility has the following benefits for all stakeholders:

• Business managers benefit by having options that offer them the fastest time to value from a given IT investment, solutions that leverage existing IT systems, and solutions that will support future mobile technologies.
• IT managers benefit by delivering a high-value mobile infrastructure that has complete visibility and control over mobile devices, applications, operations, and costs. This highly advantageous infrastructure is also highly secure, integrates easily with existing business applications and authentication systems, and requires minimal support for end users.
• Developers benefit by having a platform that lets them quickly build and update complex applications. This is helped by out-of-the-box containers that have built-in data integration, user authentication, and security, which allow developers to focus their efforts on creating business logic and attractive user interfaces.
• Users, including employees, suppliers, partners, and customers, benefit by having applications with well-designed user interfaces that do not require user configuration. They simply work, and they work on the users’ preferred devices.

There are benefits for all mobile stakeholders and if you are looking for more information for the business person and business impact I suggest you download recent Harvard Business Review Mobile Reports, happy reading!