Mobile Strategies Require Careful Thought

The incidence of mobile computing is pushing companies to relook at their business models. For instance, while the right BYOD strategy can offer benefits such as improved productivity and cost savings, it can also open the door for risks to corporate data security and protection. Navigating to the optimal approach will capitalize on these benefits while reducing the potential business risks of BYOD. With a very fine line differentiating the personal and business spaces within the device, ambiguities are bound to arise.

TG Dhandapani, CIO, TVS Motors

TG Dhandapani, CIO, TVS Motors says, “Deployment of mobility solution is not just providing laptop or extending e mail system in smart phones. It is something substantially more than that. It also includes enabling IT solutions in mobile devices that are not provided in existing IT solutions as well. It is innovative outcome of digitizing business solutions using mobility which otherwise not deployed due to cost or convenience factors or compromised. Enterprisemobility implementation is not just BYOD. It is applications and security solutions implementation on mobile devices whether owned by the company or employee. Dealers were given dashboards to monitor business metrics without even visiting office.”

Jayanta Prabhu, CIO, Essar feels this question is not theoretical because enterprise mobility itself will remain ambiguous if we fail in figuring out what mobility means for our business which he considers to be the most important point.

Jayanta Prabhu, CIO, Essar

Lot of ambiguities are around supporting mobility while at the same time keeping data safe and secure is daunting and requires new approaches. Not everything that is possible on a desktop application or on a web site must be on a mobile device, but the user experience must be pleasing and consistent. The same underlying business process must be exposed in an appropriate way.

But the skepticism is less among some young IT managers when it comes to ambiguities.

Sahil Sagar, Head-IS, Aditi Technologies, feels there is no ambiguity on the fact the enterprise mobility is the need of day and very soon the IT fraternity will be moving towards it.

Sahil Sagar, Head-IS, Aditi Technologies

But Ravi Prakash, Assistant General Manager – IT Infrastructure, Himatsingka Seide differs with Sahil. He outlines privacy as the utmost ambiguity, liability of device and cost being the additional two.Ravihas recently upgraded the corporate website to a responsive website to suit the mobile audience. The challenge they faced was they got to asses if the present infrastructure and the security is ready for the deployment.

Prakash says, “Users feel that the mobile is personal to them and monitoring, tracking of the device is an intrusion to their private space which may not go well. Then comes the liability factor. Who’s liable if the device is stolen and third interesting point is the cost. 80 per cent of leaders and 83 per cent of professionals claim the end user pays for all or a portion of the expenses associated with their device.”

Ravi Prakash, AGM – IT Infrastructure, Himatsingka Seide

Steps that IT Managers need to adopt to eliminate these ambiguities

• The first and most crucial step is to look at how enterprise mobility fits within overall strategic direction and define the core reasons for adoption
• Look at the business’ current state and assess Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), upfront investment for BYOD and ongoing operating costs

• Calculate the potential savings and generate an estimated ROI

• Assess the compatibility of applications across various platforms. For example, may be new screens have to be developed to fit into the screen. Portals should be made reactive websites to auto fit into the screen

• Extending IT solutions through mobile increases productivity and ensure information security
• Information can be served contextually to enable faster decision
• High degree of user friendly applications
• Understanding the short to mid-term targets in terms of number of apps, downloads, end users etc.
• Comprehending the business objectives behind mobility – customer service, operational efficiency improvement, revenue/profitability enhancement, lead generation etc.

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