Missed Opportunity

Missing out on the Mobile Opportunity

And yet many organizations aren’t capturing those enterprise mobility opportunities. Not because they don’t want to, but because it’s too complex and they don’t have the tactical or strategic vision to do it. Getting all that hardware and software to “play well” with existing enterprise solutions is one of a CIO’s most significant challenges in this age of unified commerce. For many companies, there simply is not enough money and digital talent available to keep the mobile ecosystem and the enterprise architecture in sync.

Unfortunately, that’s the dirty little secret of enterprise mobility technologies: Due to increasing complexity and limitations on IT resources, too many organizations are unable to take advantage of the incredible opportunities that such solutions can provide.

As they push to transform their business, organizations need to start from where they are. And with mobile technologies, that typically means ad-hoc systems built up over years. Systems that can be rigid and expensive to manage, liable to security risks, and resistant to future expansion. Retailers often find their IT staffs, the resource they used to roll out

to increasing complexity and limitations on IT resources, too many organizations are unable to take advantage of the incredible opportunities that such solutions can provide.

What is your biggest hurdle to effective enterprise mobility?

Lack of resources (Staff & Budget)
Integration with enterprise architecture
Mobile complexity and pace of change

little time to roll out subsequent mobile initiatives.

For years, organizations have often added new mobile technologies as needs arose. One platform and solution for POS scanners. A different platform and application for receiving inventory. A third platform for managing shipments and printing labels. Over time, these DIY enterprise mobile components take up more time and IT resources, becoming more complex and requiring more management overhead just to keep the status quo.

Mobility Challenges including:

A plethora of hardware -There’s a wide range of hardware operating in retail organizations — e.g. tablets, smartphones, rugged devices, wearables, headsets, bar code readers, scanners, and payment sleds. Across the retail enterprise, employees use different devices to get their jobs done. Even employees with identical devices often use them differently. This end-user focus complicates every phase of enterprise mobility, from configuration and deployment to training and support.

Support challenges - Mobile devices are matched to users based on achieving ease of use when accomplishing the tasks at hand. End-user training thus covers not just operational knowledge specific to the device but also detailed “how to” instructions tailored to the user’s job role and function. Support requires that same level of detailed knowledge. This highly personalized model differs greatly from the standard IT-provided desktop and laptop support, which covers only a handful of desktop and laptop types

(most of which are used during working hours). Mobile support must be available 24x7x365 and provided by agents who are knowledgeable about the specific device in use as well as the organizational responsibility of the user calling for assistance.

End-of-life issues - Many of the rugged devices retailers depend on are at their end of life. They break down frequently, compromising productivity and sending support costs spiraling upward. Retail organizations often opt to put off replacing aging devices to hold down costs and avoid migration-related downtime. While it may seem counterintuitive, replacing end-of-life devices not only lowers their total cost of ownership but can also decrease support expenses as well. However, few retail IT organizations have the staff to quickly and efficiently replace an entire category of mobile devices at once.

Lifecycle issues - Mobile devices require ongoing management throughout their lifecycle. After the devices are rolled out to users, retailers must maintain spare pool inventories of each device type in the enterprise to enable rapid repair and return of inoperable devices. Many of the devices that are returned often turn out to bein the “no fault found” category, which means mobile technicians could not identify a problem because the device worked perfectly. Even so, these repair-related instances must be documented to keep warranties in effect. Cradle-to-grave management of mobile devices demands a staff of skilled

maintenance and repair technicians to be on the ready every day a device is in use. While some organizations try to ‘do it themselves’ , most don’t want to — there are simply more effective uses for their limited IT resources than mobile device lifecycle management.

Loss, theft, and downtime - Mobile device replacement is about to become an even bigger challenge as retailers roll out racks of handheld scanners for customers to use to select and scan desired products. Those scanners will need to be configured, supported, repaired, maintained, and retired just as mobile

devices are now. Today, 10% of shoppers are already using these devices to scan desired products in grocery stores and other retail outlets, and an additional 65% said they would be willing to use the handheld scanners. Downtime, theft, and location-tracking expenses likely will skyrocket as this application of enterprise mobility takes hold.

So, if organizations can’t get there from here — if they don’t have the IT resources or vision — how can they possibly take advantage of all the enterprise mobility opportunities?