The following video, taken from a Mobile fact-finding expedition between myself and @whereisciao, illustrates the need for mobile applications that goes beyond a revenue model based on the App Store. In it, a business owner talks about having a need for data that is location based and the streamlined cost of supplying that data to users with a mobile device but more specifically . . . a mobile device his company doesn’t have to pay for.
Why aren’t more businesses doing this today? Why haven’t companies caught up to the revolution happening in the consumer marketplace?
Traditionally, companies make decisions for their employees about what devices they’ll support and applications they should use. The mobile device revolution is making companies think differently. According to a recent Forrester report, in nearly one-third of all firms, over 50% of employees use a mobile phone for work. IT could never keep up with the research necessary to be able to choose which devices to support.
That isn’t stopping them from trying. In some good news, according to the same Forrester report, more companies are beginning to include end-users in their decision making process.
In these type of applications businesses hope to use capabilities already existing on current devices and use them in, but most importantly FOR the Enterprise. As he illustrates, the accuracy of data can increase from a space around 10 meters to a few centi-meters.
I speculate that the demand for this type of accuracy will only grow. As demand grows, companies will be shifting their decision making process from more of a “command and control” paradigm to something a bit more centralized.
Enjoy the video.
