9 Mantras To Build A Successful Enterprise Mobility Strategy

Is executing enterprise mobility project only about evaluating and implementing technologies? Not really, says Subhamoy Chakraborti, head-mobility & cloud (GM-IT), Magma Fincorp

1.    Finding a sponsor

Enterprise mobility strategy is not just a tech initiative but a business initiative which needs to be closely woven with business strategy. This is why it is essential to identify a CXO-level sponsor within the company who could own this piece.  

2.    Priority

Enterprise IT architecture is always getting updated. Should I start the mobile initiative now or wait for things to stabilise a bit? Whatever you decide, remember to get started on mobility before your competition gets there. 

3.    Working out the total cost of ownership (TCO) and cost benefit analysis (CBA)    

       

While mapping out the enterprise mobility strategy, the TCO should be evaluated critically and the cost the business would have to incur. Under CBA, tech leaders need to identify the enterprise mobility cost heads such as device capex, app development capex, app maintenance opex, testing and infra capex, help desk opex, security capex and more. 

Besides, business should be asked to share inputs on how this investment can be translated into business benefit. Critical analysis of CBA enables in justifying the importance of the enterprise mobility project to the business. 

4.    Target users 

Are you doing the enterprise mobility project for customers (B2C), businesses (B2B) or employees (B2E)? Think about the industry vertical you are in and build an enterprise mobility strategy specific to your organisation’s business needs. 

5.    Device platform

Based on the end user and functionality requirements, understand the kind of devices that will support it. If your enterprise mobility strategy is for B2C, it has to support all devices. But if you are building it for, say, your sales force, it can be made suitable for a single kind of device. 

6.    App framework

Should the app framework be native, HTML 5 or hybrid? Should you go for MEAP or custom-built apps? The deciding factor towards an app framework choice should be the end-user profile, features and fitment into overall IT strategy and architecture. 

For instance, app for users who will work offline also on the app – native is the best solution. But if you are developing the app for people who are working online – HTML 5 is the best. If you need to incorporate some geo-tagging features and GPS along with quick development, then hybrid approach is better.  

7.    Security: 

What should the security layers be like? What is the best approach to secure the data in rest as well as in transit? Technology leaders should answer queries related to this multi-layer strategy at the very beginning rather than taking it up in a post-mortem approach.  

8.    Sourcing: 

Should I outsource any or all of the areas with respect to enterprise mobility project – development, testing, training and helpdesk? 

To answer this question, technology leaders must evaluate areas such as the variety of technologies involved in the development of the enterprise mobility solution, key skills required, availability of talent pool within the company, budget available and bandwidth to build an internal team. 

9.    Rolling-out and change management

After all the evaluation and implementation, the next big thing is change management, which involves handholding and training the end users to move from their traditional systems to the new solutions on mobile. Building this change management strategy is extremely essential in the success of any enterprise mobility project. 

Source : tecchgignews.com