Enterprise mobility often means different things to different organisations, with one organisation considering the use of mobile e-mail as a mobility initiative, while another expects this by default.
This is the view of Peet Viviers, senior manager at KPMG, who will speak at ITWeb's two-day MobileBiz 2010 conference on 28 and 29 July at Vodaworld, Midrand. The event focuses on the finance, security, IT and workforce perspectives of a mobile business strategy.
Regarding the adoption of business mobility, Viviers says: “there has been high uptake in using mobile technologies within selected services and business processes for many of our clients, but few organisations have embarked on end-to-end mobility initiatives.
“Cost savings differ across different clients, industries, as well as business processes,” says Viviers. He notes that in best-case scenarios, organisations can experience full payback on their investment within six to eight months.
“In other instances, mobility solutions have not delivered the anticipated cost savings for various reasons, although cost savings is often the key driver for these projects.”
He highlights other indirect drivers include: improved customer satisfaction, time savings, improved speed in terms of reaching and responding to customers, as well as the ability to move into new markets quickly.
risks when migrating to enterprise mobility. “Solutions are technology- and vendor-driven without considering the business case, and expected benefits are not defined upfront, making it difficult to determine the project's success upon completion.”
He highlights that information loss, theft, and privacy issues may occur as a result of poor information security with mobile solutions.
“Supporting multiple mobile platforms and technologies may turn out to be more costly than anticipated, and mobilising your workforce could change your organisational culture, making your existing management approach ineffective.”
He adds that traditional business performance measurements and metrics may not be suitable for mobile workforces.
“Business mobility solutions do have a degree of scalability, possibly making them suitable for SMEs.” He concludes by recommending that any organisation, regardless of size, should invest in preparing a solid business case before making a decision regarding the viability or feasibility of business mobility.
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