Enterprise Mobility Blog

“Why would you buy a Mac?” was the answer that I gave to my buddy years ago when he asked for my advice on purchasing one of those all-in-one colored iMacs. I tried to scare him away with talk of file, application, and network incompatibility but in the end I believed it was his “artsy” side that drove him to purchase one anyway.

Well it’s twelve years later and I have been carrying around an iPhone since it was first released. I use a MacBook Pro for work. My kids play Webkinz and Water on a MacBook and iPad that I have at the house. My wife pays our bills on our new iMac and I back everything up on a Time Capsule. WHAT HAPPENED!

I believe it comes down to the fact that I underestimated the power of “usability”. It all started for me with the release of the original iPhone back in June of 2007. Mobility is my job, so I force myself to try all new devices for at least two weeks. I was less than thrilled to try out the iPhone, touting a “virtual” keyboard, which I knew would be unusable. But after two weeks of usage, I was marveling at the predictive keyboard and the device usability as I watched my then two-year-old daughter teach herself to scroll through photos.

Apple devices began to replace other electronic devices I had been using because the iPhone had sparked my curiosity. If Apple could make a phone so usable, could a Mac have similar usability advantages? The answer to this question became very evident to me after I was able to give my “computer challenged” friend my MacBook for a week. I wanted to see if he could make any progress in helping me out on one of our yearly friend videos. In the past I myself had labored over trying to create these movies with my XP machine. Creating these movies took forever and many times I would experience crashes, causing me to lose days worth of effort. To my surprise, he was able to complete the creation of a video, with music, on his first try!

Another example just happened while I was writing this blog; I received a text message from my sixty-something mom from her new iPhone. REALLY…! This is MY mom! On her last phone she had a text message that was unread for years because she couldn’t figure out what it was. I could go on and on…

No, I don’t work for Apple, and I reserve the right to change my electronics preference at any time (which I probably will sometime in the future). The point is DO NOT underestimate the importance of usability. Whether you’re building an enterprise mobile application, a mobile game for consumers, tools for developers, or the next game changing mobile device, “usability” is a VERY important key to success.

There’s not much doubt these days about the value of business mobility. Mobilized operations are more efficient and mobility makes workers more productive. The rate at which mobility is captivating the hearts and minds of today’s knowledge workers is itself testament to the value of this technology in the work place.

But how valuable is it really? What does it do for the company’s bottom line?

Fonality, a business communications company, recently commissioned a study to determine the value of providing employees with “the same business communications experience inside and outside the office.” Fonality conducted its study on small businesses (companies with 10 to 250 employees). The results were based on surveying workers, who depend on access to critical business applications, about how much time they spent trying to get that information in the field. Fonality reports that it found providing workers with the same business communications experience inside and outside the office saved companies $10,000 per mobile employee per year, just on increased productivity from being able to have more real time access to business critical applications.

Although this is a pretty significant number, it does not take into consideration the multiplier effect of accelerated business operations. Whenever a business process pauses to wait on an input or a decision from somebody in the chain of operations, that delays the ultimate objective of the business process. Here are a couple of examples:

• Someone needs to book a business trip. They need to get a travel approval from their supervisor before they can book. The supervisor is also traveling and is unable to respond to the travel approval request in a timely manner. When the approval finally comes through, this worker has missed the window for booking a low fare and pays for a higher priced ticket. Over time this scenario repeats itself over and over. For larger organizations it isn’t uncommon for them to have over 1 million such request that need processing per year. If the higher booking rate was estimated at a conservative average of $200 per booking, that adds up to 200 million in spending per year that could be saved if just this one, simple business process was mobilized.
• Similar scenario as above, but instead of a travel approval, it’s a contract review for new business, or an opportunity to respond quickly to a customer request that would convert to new business. A delay can result on a missed sale.

So mobility not only produces cost savings through measurable increases in personal productivity, every time someone is more productive, that increased productivity has a multiplier affect that accelerates downstream business processes. This results in further savings or greater revenue opportunities. Looking at it in this way, investments in a solid mobility strategy are a real bargain!

Welcome to Part 3 of my three-part blog on Mobility Architecture. Last week, I discussed online-only applications. Today, I want to talk about what we call “online+” applications, deployed to our Hybrid Web Container.

There’s a lot of debate in the field about whether to develop mobile apps using native  UI or HTML5. The Hybrid Web Container says, do both. The container itself is a native application, which gives you access to phone OS features (such as camera), and allows for application management and versioning. The container also provides for native app features like authentication, on-boarding, push notifications, and some offline capability (the “+” in online+ mentioned earlier). These types of capabilities are difficult or impossible to implement with a pure web solution.

The applications that run inside the container, however, are based on HTML5 and Javascript. The container handles the configuration and display of the app for the specific device OS. This means two things. First, the application itself is managed once, on a single codeline; no need for multiple front ends for iOS, Android, etc. Second, any changes are made using Javascript or CSS, so web developers can quickly and easily build and maintain these applications, without needing to be mobile development experts.

This architecture is perfect for light- to medium-weight enterprise applications that need to support a variety of device types. The HTML5/Javascript means you can achieve “write once, deploy anywhere” development paradigm, with only minor, optional changes required to suit different device types. For example, you might choose to modify how the app displays on an iPad vs. on a Blackberry smartphone, for ease of use reasons. But that modification is made in Javascript, using method calls in a single codeline, so maintenance is simple.

Because the apps run in the container, and the container is a native application, you can have application management that would be impossible in an HTML5 solution running just in a browser. As the apps are updated, they can be pushed out to users, so you can ensure that your user community is on the most recent version. As employees leave or change positions, the administrator can remove apps from their profile, and the apps are seamlessly removed from the user’s device, without any user intervention required. A browser cannot support this.

The major reason the container is better than pure web, however, is the push notification. As server events are logged, a notification is sent to the Unwired Server in SUP. That notification is pushed out to the appropriate user device, leveraging the notification technology appropriate (e.g. APNS for iOS devices). If the device is offline, those notifications can be queued in the server, to be picked up when the device comes back online. Unlike the pure request/response architecture of browser-based apps, container applications allow the user to respond as needed, based on business processes happening in the backend, instead of as the user thinks of it.

This is what we mean by “online+”. In addition, applications that require user interaction (e.g. travel approvals, purchase approvals, etc.) can be used offline. As an approval request comes through, the user is notified, and the details of the request are stored locally on the device. The user can respond to the request in offline mode, if, say, they are on an airplane, and then those actions are queued up on the device, and sent back to the server when the device is back online.

To summarize all three architectures, the bottom line is that SUP supports a variety of different ways to build mobile apps, because not all mobile apps are created equal. Enterprises can choose the paradigm most appropriate to their business requirements, and developer skill set, and not be locked into a methodology that doesn’t quite fit.

Welcome to Part 2 of my three-part blog on Mobility Architecture. Last week, I discussed offline-enabled architecture, and what types of applications are best suited for it. Today, I want to dive into online only applications.

Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP) supports online-only applications through our support for the SAP NetWeaver ® Gateway connectivity. Mobile apps can be written to take advantage of the ease of connectivity to SAP applications, and still leverage many of the enterprise features of SUP.

Because online-only apps connect directly to Gateway, and do not utilize the Mobile Business Object architecture, there is no client database for the device, and hence, no offline capabilities. Gateway provides a RESTful web services interface, so interactions are synchronous. The UI is written specific to the device OS, using the tooling specific to that OS (e.g. xCode for iOS development).

This architecture is best suited to what we call “person-centric” applications: lightweight mobile applications that normally involve an information worker accomplishing some simple task or business process. Lookup of enterprise information, approval of business requests–these types of applications are ideal for online-only architecture, for several reasons.

First, they are generally fairly straightforward, meaning the UI design is not complex. This is ideal, especially in environments where more than one or two mobile operating systems must be supported, because the UI has be written from scratch and maintained separately for each OS. Ironically, these apps also benefit from very nice UI, which they can get from being built as native applications.

Second, there is often an expectation that these applications will be used to get “up-to-the-minute” enterprise data. This means that users will want to make a request and get information back; therefore, no expectation of offline use will be present. Unlike process-centric apps, where the users expect to be able to accomplish their entire job using the app, and expect that some of the time they may not have connectivity, lightweight business apps are typically used for “on-the-fly” types of inquiries and responses, where connectivity is understood to be a prerequisite.

Third, these apps are often used to pull data from multiple systems into a single mobile view. The RESTful web services interface of Gateway is ideal for accessing several SAP  (or other OData-enabled) enterprise applications and pulling the data together into a single response.

A typical online-only application in this model would be a business dashboard. It quite possibly needs information from multiple systems, users would be pinging it for real-time data while connected, and it will benefit greatly from the rich UI and graphics most easily created using a native application.

Next week, I’ll finish up with “online+” applications, using the Hybrid Web Container.

As I talk to customers about developing a mobility strategy, I’m often asked, “What type of mobile architecture will work best for me?” Of course, in true product management fashion, the answer is “it depends”. Fortunately, SUP 2.1 supports offline-enabled, online-only, and “online+” application types. Thanks to this, enterprises can choose the architecture that works best for the application, rather than having to force all application requirements into a one-size-fits-all model.

Given this choice, then, how do developers and managers know which architecture is the best for the proposed mobile application? That can depend on a variety of factors, but there are some high-level guidelines that customers can use to get started. This week and the next couple, I will look at each type supported by SUP in turn, starting with “offline-enabled”.

I use the term offline-enabled specifically, to make a point. These applications are built around SUP’s Mobile Business Object data synchronization capabilities, with a native client that runs on the mobile device. We have called these “offline apps”, but that causes some confusion. I’ve had many customers ask me why, given today’s extensive mobile networks, you’d want to build a mobile app that was entirely offline? I explain that just because they can run offline, doesn’t mean that they have to run that way.

This type of offline-enabled architecture is best suited to what we call “process-centric applications”. These are generally complex apps, which someone might use to do the vast majority of their day-to-day work. Examples are Mobile CRM Sales, Mobile Field Service, and applications for repair technicians, delivery drivers—folks whose entire day is generally spent away from the office. These are often good candidates for mobilization, because the increased productivity is measurable—more widgets delivered per driver, more gizmos repaired per day—and often significant.

There are two features of the native/MBO architecture that make it ideal for this use case: the native client, and the offline capabilities of data synchronization. The native client works best for complex, multi-screen applications. Browsers simply are not well suited to this type of complexity and rich UI requirements. Especially for apps that are intended to run on tablets, native UI can handle the bigger architecture more easily. The downside of having to write a new UI for each platform is often irrelevant, as these types of applications are often associated with company-provided devices, rather than expected to run on employee-owned smartphones.

The other feature is offline enablement. With data synchronization, a copy of the relevant data is stored on a mobile database on the client device, so that updates can be made while there is no connection. Real-time queries are supported also, of course, for the latest information, but with remote workers, offline can aid productivity. I hear a lot from customers that “everyone is always connected” these days. But there’s connected….and there’s connected. If the worker is in a remote location and has a single bar, or no Wifi connectivity, they might as well not be connected at all, for the amount of time it will take to do any updates to the back end. We in the U.S., land of unlimited data plans, also tend to forget that in many emerging markets, data plans are incredibly expensive. Enterprises in those areas would much rather update all relevant data in the warehouse or office using corporate WiFi at the beginning and end of the service day, and limit any online usage to situations that legitimately require real-time lookups. No point spending data plan money on reloading the customer’s address, again.

Next week: Online only apps!

There has been a lot of interest recently in building browser based web applications as mobile business apps. This approach would greatly simplify mobile application development. Any smartphone or tablet that can browse the internet would be able to run a web app. This means it would only be necessary to build and maintain one version of these applications.

Although this approach works for simple applications, mobile applications built this way have a number of limitations, including:
• Web applications have no direct access to device specific hardware. This limits their ability to use device specific features like cameras and GPS, and it also gives developers less control over how data is handled on the devices, which could lead to security issues. Also, web applications have limited ability to process large data volumes.
• Web applications do not provide any control over which devices are connecting to the enterprise’s web server.
• With web applications, end users must self-provision apps & bookmark links. It is not possible to send one app to all device users at one time. It is also not possible to use push messaging to distribute notifications and content to employees.
• It is not possible to customize the look and feel of HTML web pages for different devices; each page needs to be changed individually for this to occur.
• Web applications are slower than native apps, which makes it more difficult to give the “on device” application user experience.

There is, however, a different approach to web applications which gives them all the performance advantages of native apps while retaining the development and maintenance advantages of web applications. This involves the use of a native app “container” which becomes the environment in which a web app runs on the mobile device. These are called hybrid applications.

A web app container is a native application designed to process generic function calls from a web application. The container itself has device specific hardware controls and hooks to back end corporate databases. Each mobile device type supported by the company would have its own version of a container, which would be installed on the device when it is enabled for business use. Web apps operate within the containers so that the same generic function calls would work appropriately on the different mobile devices. For instance a web app that called for a GPS function would work the same on an Android, iPhone, or Blackberry once those devices had containers installed on them.

Hybrid applications offer a tremendous opportunity to lower the cost of mobile application development and maintenance. This is one piece of the cost of mobile apps conversation. There is more to come.

Today was a big day for the mobile industry with some exciting announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The setting couldn’t be better – a beautiful sunny day in the incredible city of Barcelona. The conference hall, set among incredible history and stunning architecture, was full of construction workers building booths and exhibitors gearing up to meet the crowd of 50,000 people expected the attend this year’s show.

The big event though was held this evening before the conference opens – and it was called “Samsung Unpacked”. It was the much anticipated launch of Samsung’s latest Android device – the Galaxy S2 – and the surprise announcement of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (as in 10.1 inches). Both products are very impressive from a consumer perspective with enhanced screen technology and dual core processors. However, it is the enterprise side of the story that is the big news.

We are excited to have been a part of this event because of the focus on business mobility – specifically Android finally being ready for ‘prime time’ in the enterprise. I know you are wondering how this is even possible with the limitations in the Android OS for management… Well, Sybase and Samsung have been collaborating to deliver much stronger device management to meet the tough security needs faced by corporate IT. Sybase Afaria® Advanced Enterprise Security (AES) for Android, provides breakthrough security and application management for Samsung’s Galaxy S and Galaxy S II devices (running Android 2.3).

During the event this evening, Dr. Raj Nathan (Sybase’s Executive VP and CMO) delivered part of the keynote presentation (which can be viewed online at www.samsungunpacked.com). During this keynote he unveiled what these product enhancements really mean to enterprises: that companies can now confidently and securely adopt Android devices.

So, how exactly can we do that? Well, there are three key ways that Afaria AES delivers the most comprehensive device management capabilities on Samsung Android devices:

• Security management – Afaria can now enforce device encryption, perform a remote lock/wipe, provide strong password security, and deliver corporate sandbox management
• Device management – Afaria enables over-the-air (OTA) deployments, reducing the complexity of managing devices by automating OTA deployments
• Application management – Afaria can deliver and control the applications that run on Samsung Android devices

While these are just a couple of quick hilights, there’s much more to read on our website. For more detail, check out sybase.com/android for a technical datasheet and to watch a webcast. You can also check out samsungunpacked.com, or if you’re lucky enough to be here in Barcelona, enjoy some paella and sangria, then come visit Sybase in the Samsung booth.

During Sunday night’s Super Bowl XLV game I recalled the famous saying, “The best offense is a good defense”. This quote is listed in the Mieder Dictionary of American Proverbs however there are other thought leaders, including Machiavelli and Sun Tzu, who have made similar declarations. The multiple assertions of this concept validates that this statement can be considered to be true and therefore can be applied to various topics.

This concept can be applied to the topic of enterprise mobility. Most enterprise organizations have a frontline group which is commonly known as field workers. Field professionals have been traditionally into two main categories: task and information workers. Task workers are in the field and perform more traditional blue collar or grey collar type job functions. They are assigned a specific task to complete and they adhere to an operational schedule assigned to them. Examples of a task worker include remote rehabilitation therapists, field service representatives, and retail frontline services.  Once they have completed their task(s) they send reports to update the office of their performance and status. Information workers, or knowledge workers, are also working in the field and perform traditional white collar type job functions. Examples of an information worker include district managers, sales representatives, and field engineers. An information worker creates, consumes, transforms and analyses data while working in various environments. These traditional field workers have used both established mobile technology as well as emerging devices, including iPhones and iPads. Times have changed because today all types of workers across the enterprise are using their mobile devices in various environments to conduct business.  

As different types of workers bring and use their own mobile devices in the enterprise security issues become more prevalent. There are increased risks of information being accessed by unwanted third parties, additional scenarios for incidences of attack, and hostile software such as Malware can now be found on mobile devices. Enterprise organizations should defend their business infrastructure and operations with an enterprise mobility strategy. Applying security and management to mobile enterprise devices is critical. Companies should use mobile device security and management solutions to protect critical and confidential business information that is accessed by workers from their mobile smartphones and tablets. Organizations should invest in an infrastructure that allows IT to confidently manage and secure data, devices and applications over any network for any size of deployment. This investment is a ‘good defense’ strategy because it will enable enterprise organizations to meet security compliance policies, industry regulations and IP protection, and furthermore, it supports employees to use the mobile device of their preference.

Enterprises that secure and manage their iPhones, iPads, Android mobile devices and tablets, and BlackBerry smartphones, have a ‘good defense’. This defense allows all enterprise workers to play their best offense in the field with customers and partners. With mobility, all enterprise workers are enabled to complete actions of common business workflows to ensure that the velocity of business does not slow when mobile workers step away from their desk. Beyond business workflows, mobility enables information workers to instantly update information, such as data in a customer relationship management system, from the field and share with other employees including management and leadership teams. These senior employees are enabled with real time information about business operations and can make educated decisions at any time.

When a mobile device security and management system is in place, an enterprise organization is equipped to play their best offensive game.

It is a new year and a new beginning for us all. Many of us use the start of a New Year as an opportunity to make New Year’s resolutions for ourselves. Resolutions that we often set as individuals include self betterment, losing weight, controlling finances, and so on. For many businesses January is the beginning of a new fiscal year and organizations set goals to overcome their every day challenges.

Skeptics may argue that resolutions more often than not broken because we are creatures of habit and are likely to return to our own ways. To make changes that will last habits must be broken. For a business to alter their behavior they must transform their enterprise and such a transformation is possible with mobility.

Businesses can better themselves with mobility. Enterprises can provide their employees with instant access to business critical information through mobilized processes and operations. With mobility businesses are equipped to deploy secure and managed enterprise applications to mobile devices and tablets. With mobility, the familiar excuse of “I’ll do it when I get back to the office” will no longer exist because employees using mobile applications on their devices and tablets are empowered to collect, access, share, manage and secure data at anytime, anywhere. Mobilizing business workflows allows the enterprise to maintain their velocity when employees are travelling, working in remote locations, and out of the office. This results in improved productivity which allows for better work-life balance and reduced stress.

Businesses can lose weight with mobility. Task and information workers carry laptops with them every day that weigh between 5 to 12lbs. Businesses can ditch these cumbersome units for light weight mobile devices and tablets. This enterprise weight lose program is already in place for many organizations and employees are driving the change. Employees and corporations continue to support the proliferation of mobile devices. Employees are bringing their preferred devices, i.e. iPhones and Androids, into the enterprise and have the expectation that they can use such devices for business operations. The same holds true for tablet devices. 2010 was a year of massive tablet adoption and 2011 is likely to be a year of continued adoption and new releases to compete with Apple iPad and Android OS tablets. This weight loss program is fool proof, does not require a gym membership, and can be achieved quickly.

Businesses can improve finances with mobility. Mobilizing business processes saves both time and resources. Workflows including travel and expenses are simplified with mobility because requestors and approvals can take action instantly from their mobile devices. Employees are therefore able to lock in the best rates and receive compensation quickly. Mobile CRM systems support sales representatives to spend more time selling because they are able to access, update, and share customer information, opportunities, and forecasts at any time and from anywhere using their mobile device. Sales representatives are empowered by mobility to increase their revenue efforts and results. Many forms of financial information can be constantly updated with mobile enterprise applications. This allows the enterprise to make faster and smarter business decisions which results in reduced costs and increased revenue.

Mobility transforms the enterprise because it allows businesses to improve worker productivity, enable employees to easily access information, and make more strategic decisions. Use this New Year as an opportunity to set resolutions that will transform your business.