While a significant number of organizations claim to have a strategy in place around mobility, quite a few struggle when it comes to processes, according to International Data Corp. IDC’s Enterprise Mobility MaturityScape Benchmark results.
Having a clear mobility strategy is essential for any organization today, not just for the sake of having one, but because of its well-established value to the business. The firms that understand this and embrace mobility – either through a deliberate IT-led initiative or an employee-driven culture – are reaping the rewards of carving out a strong competitive differentiation in the marketplace.
The study showed that 1 in 3 Singapore organizations have a vision and roadmap for mobility. In Indonesia, 1 in 3 organizations consider mobility important to their business but are resource- constrained.
Customers and employees are at the heart of mobile strategies. According to the study, the top 3 factors that in influence organizations’ mobility implementations are: improving customer experience, gaining competitive advantage, and improving employee productivity.
Among industries, banking and financial services organizations are farthest ahead, as they seek to generate new revenue streams through their mobility strategy. Manufacturing organizations, on the other hand, are looking to improve collaboration across locations through mobility.
Mobile applications
Mobile applications are the top agenda for organizations in the region. The top 3 mobility initiatives for the next 12 to 24 months are: launch line of business applications; launch or increase the number of companies issued smartphones and tablets; and launch horizontal business applications such as CRM, ERP, sales force automation, and business intelligence.
Organizations in Indonesia are more focused on consumer- facing applications, which is not a surprise given their still-evolving mobile landscape. Services organizations, on the other hand, are looking to enable byo access for employees.
Investment priorities
Investments are in place, or set to expand in the next two years. The study shows that 57% of organizations in the region plan to spend in the next 24 months, while 24% of companies in the region plan to spend after two years. Meanwhile,19% already have budgets.
Indonesian organizations are most aggressive when it comes to mobile application projects. 1 in 4 has a budget in place and a further 1 in 3 is planning to invest in the next 12 months.
Banks are most advanced compared with other industries with their mobile application plans. The study shows that 2 in 5 have a budget for mobile.
Nearly half of the organizations in the region have deployed at least 5 custom-built mobile apps.
More importantly, close to 6 out of 10 also have plans to deploy the same number over the next 24 months, clearly highlighting the growing emphasis on mobilizing the organization.
As companies expand their mobile application footprint, the need to manage and integrate these projects will also progressively increase, requiring robust platform tools and technologies.
A joint exercise
Budgeting for mobile application projects is primarily a joint exercise between IT and the line of business in the region, although it is worth noting that business units are beginning to hold more sway than IT.
Similarly, planning and execution of mobile application related projects is a joint approach between IT and the line of business, but it is still driven on a per-project basis. Few companies have a mobile center of excellence to drive mobility related initiatives in the organization.
In-house versus outsource
Fifty-three percent of organizations lean towards outsourcing the development work to an external provider, but the difference isn’t that big across the region, although Malaysia most favors the outsourcing approach.
Nearly 3 in 5 Malaysian organizations prefer to use an external services provider.
There is no right or wrong approach to the development approach. However, it is important to note that as the size and complexity of mobile deployments grow, having some internal core competency will become critical, which will require investment in skill sets and resources.
Skills development
Acquiring the right skill set is a challenge across the region, with nearly 50% of organizations having minimal or contracted skills to support mobile projects. This challenge is most acute in Malaysia.
Over 60% of Malaysian organizations have minimal or contracted resources for mobile projects.
As organizations continue to expand their mobile-related projects, having the requisite mobile-specific skillsets internally will become a necessity as managing and supporting these projects will require dedicated resources.
Investing in this competency early on will go a long way in ensuring the success of the organization’s mobile strategy.