Just when you thought digital technology’s business impact couldn’t get any bigger, along came the ‘Next Mobile Economy’ which finds most organizations in Canada unprepared for what’s coming.
“All signs point to a huge transformation,” says DJ Koh, president of Samsung Electronics. Currently, 1.87 billion people, or almost half of the global workforce, use mobile devices for business. According to Boston Consulting Group, 42 per cent of the world’s leading business innovators are prioritizing mobile capabilities to incorporate technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the Internet of Things. It’s all about to be turbocharged with the introduction 5G wireless technology, which will be faster than today’s wired networks. It means that organizations will be able to rely on remote equipment like drones or robots in ways they never could before.
“We are no longer just reacting to new mobile technologies as they appear,” says Koh. “Today, all the great ideas are born mobile. We recognize that while it offers tremendous opportunity, there is also potential for serious risk and disruption.”
The key to prosperity, and indeed, survival, says Koh, will be to seize the moment.
Four things you need to do to now
To stay competitive and grow in the Next Mobile Economy, business leaders need to build mobile strategies into every level of their organizations. There are four key steps to unlock the potential of mobile platforms:
Open up and collaborate
The closed and proprietary systems of the past no longer work. Today’s workers expect their technology to be connected and, increasingly, collaborative. A study by the Future Laboratory shows that 87 per cent of today’s business leaders believe collaborative mobile tools will unlock much-needed flexibility and productivity advantages.
For example, law enforcement agencies are starting to see the advantages of using mobile devices in the field to be able to quickly share highly sensitive information. Officers with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police recently started carrying Samsung mobile devices equipped with a platform called SceneDoc. The application allows officers to capture evidence and share it in real-time and in a searchable format. The force estimates that it frees up an hour a day for each officer to devote to public safety, instead of paper work.
At the IACP 2017 conference, Mobile Innovations announced the availability of its solution for secure mobile data in the form of a fully-loaded Darta Fleet Solutions Dodge Enforcer featuring Samsung DeX Station with USB, HDMI and Ethernet connections. In this concept cruiser, Mobile Innovations leveraged the affordability and functionality of DeX Station by adding a ruggedized 12.1-inch monitor and keyboard, thus turning a Samsung Galaxy Note8 or Galaxy S8 or S8+ into an end-to-end mobile data access solution.
Get off the shelf and customize
Consumers expect businesses to deliver tailored experiences, but for the most part, internal and B2B technologies have remained “off-the-shelf.” Increasingly, these one-size-fits-all solutions are no longer meeting today’s business needs. Modern companies should work with mobile and software partners to explore customized open systems to ensure they work across all devices. As an example, it’s anticipated that mobile virtual reality will become a major platform for businesses for training, product simulations, health care therapy, and other applications. This type of customized offering is also a way to differentiate a company’s services in the market.
Be open, yet controlled
In the Next Mobile Economy, information will be transferred through mobile devices with speed and ease. But organizations must ensure mobile empowerment doesn’t come at the expense of control.
The need to provide simultaneous openness and control will require businesses to adopt a new generation of Enterprise Mobile Management. These systems will enable IT managers to configure, update, and control any device remotely. This would allow them to wipe the data off a device that has been lost or stolen.
“CIOs will demand software and systems that are open but which also provide total assurance,” says Terry Halvorsen, Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President, IT and Mobile Business to Business, Samsung Electronics.
Be open, yet more secure
Similarly, in a connected and open world, companies will need to be more vigilant to protect their data. Enterprises should look to mobile partners to provide an all-in-one solution that provides defence-grade security. In the Next Mobile Economy, the ability to containerize information on devices to separate the business from the personal will add an additional layer of control, as will advances in biometric security using fingerprints and facial recognition. The Future Laboratory survey found that a majority of business leaders believe it is possible for a business to use open systems while protecting its information.
Mobilizing for success
According to the Future Laboratory survey, eight of 10 business leaders say mobile will create future opportunities for their company to lead in their sector.
Companies that succeed in the Next Mobile Economy will do so by building trusting relationships with technology partners who can help them unleash the true power of mobile technology. Koh expects the scale of the mobile revolution to be greater than any previous technological shift. He says the choice is clear: “In this new era, it is as simple as: Disrupt or be disrupted.”
