Archive for January, 2011
It is no secret that both business and consumers are using mobile devices. In fact, enterprise mobility is forecasted to grow by 70% in 2011. It is also no secret that mobile device users are actually using applications. The average iPad user has over 60 apps on their device. With carriers doing away with “all you can eat” data plans, what impact will this have on enterprise mobility?
Recently, Virgin Mobilejoined the list of mobile service providers who implement restrictions on wireless data bandwidth. Virgin Mobile notified customers with its unlimited mobile data plans that there would be restrictions on bandwidth once the customer exceeds 5 Gigabits of download bandwidth in a given month. This leaves Sprint as the only wireless carrier that doesn’t currently restrict unlimited data services.
Restrictions such as this will impact enterprise mobility plans in two ways. First, they will cause a rise in the cost of providing mobile applications to workers. Second, they will limit the ability of the enterprise to innovate both for internal and customer-facing applications. Services that include video could become crippled if bandwidth isn’t available. Applications such as video conferencing, video streaming, and application sharing will become increasingly difficult (and expensive) to deliver to mobile workers.
To overcome these restrictions, developers of mobile enterprise applications for functions such as human capital management, work order management, or inventory management must make sure to build thin apps that only pull new data to the device, data that is absolutely mission critical. Enterprises will need to adopt “smart middleware” that can provision devises not only to the user level, but the application as well. The middleware will need to detect the delta between the data on the users’ device and the actionable mission critical information stored in the back office system. The business need for enterprise mobility will force companies to look for mobile solutions providers that have the capabilities to evolve with the rapidly changing landscape that is mobility. As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions not only offers prepackaged enterprise applications built thin, but the middleware that can reduce bandwidth consumption of a mobile workforce.
For More Information Check Out:
The Battle for the Mobile Wallet is On!
Data Usage Among Android Users is Much Greater than Than of iPhone Users
Tablets: Taking the Business World by Storm
Tags: AT&T, Enterprise Mobility, Human Capital Management, Mobile App Experts, Mobile Application Design, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Bandwidth Restrictions, Mobile Bandwith Usage, mobile middleware, Mobile Strategy, Smartsoft Mobile, Sprint, Thin Apps, Work Order Management
Posted in Application Development, B2B Mobile, Cloud Based Middleware, Devices, Enterprise Mobility, SAP, Tablets | 3 Comments »
For several years, augmented reality has been prevalent in mobile applications in Europe and Asia, but only recently have companies such as WAZEincorporated this technology into real-time driver generated traffic reports and mapping overlays. Waze compiles user generated driving reports to alert groups in the Waze community about traffic speeds, accidents, and police locations via a mobile application. Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.
Recently, a company called SnapShop has incorporated augmented reality into a mobile commerce application.
The firm has done a wonderful job, launching SnapShop that highlights both IKEA and Pier One Imports’ products. The user can browse furniture by category and then select a piece that the customer finds interesting. An image of the selected furniture is then displayed in perfect proportion inside the camera view of the mobile device. The user can change color swatches of the furniture in real time, while positioning the furniture around the actual room the user desires. The social networking tie-in allows the user to take a picture of the augmented reality scenario of the furniture inside the user’s location and share that image to get feedback from friends. The selected furniture looks very realistic, and would be a great trick to play on a spouse or roommate.
As this application acts as a product aggregator for several home furnishing companies, there is no direct tie in to the company’s website on a line item basis for purchase. Instead there is a redirection to the furniture company’s mobile website, where the user must find the exact product used in SnapShop again. The mobile commerce functionality obviously has room for improvement, but the use of this tool opens up the mind to the near-future in mobile commerce application design and development. Think of the value of being able to use this augmented reality feature in industries such as:
- Fine Art Sales
- Electronic Sales
- Home Repair / Home Supplies
- Car Accessories
- Clothing
- Jewelery
The ability to view a product in its natural environment instead of on a showroom floor is a powerful sales tool, one that greatly impacts customer affinity and the connection felt by not only selecting a specific product, but taking the time to see how that product would look in its intended environment. As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions is always looking for new implementations of mobile application technology.
For More Information Check Out:
Leaders in Enterprise Mobility: Typography and Why it is Important in Mobile Application Design
Leaders in Enterprise Mobility on Mashups: How Valuable Can They Be?
Smartsoft Mobile Solutions: Predictions in Enterprise Mobility Part 2
Tags: Augmented Reality, B2C, Enterprise Mobility, Leaders in Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Commerce Strategy, mobile retailing, Mobile Strategy, Product Navigation, Product Taxonomy, Smartsoft Mobile, SnapShop, Typography
Posted in Application Development, B2C Mobile, Enterprise Mobility, Mashups, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Marketing, Mobile News | 3 Comments »
Breaking down mobile application development to the bare essentials requires images and text. Images will be pushed through via web services from an organization’s content management system (CMS). However, text is all at the mercy of the mobile application developer. Typography is the art and technique of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs. In mobile application design, the art of typography is presenting extremely important. In user centric design, one must present text to the user that not only stands out on the screen but is very readable and comprehendible by the mobile application’s end user.
I was talking with PGA golf pro Dave Anderson and asked what device he has. Dave responded, “I have a Blackberry and I hate it. I can’t read the text on it as I can’t see it”. Dave hits a small white ball for a living, so if he has problems reading text on a mobile device then I am sure others have this same problem.
If a user can’t read the text or information presented within a mobile application, then how will that user take the action that the mobile application developer desires? 
Simply put, they can’t. In fact, with 10,000 baby boomers hitting the retirement age of 65 each day, typography will become even more critical in the future. Best-in-class mobile applications have the ability to enlarge or blow up text with the touch of a simple button on the screen displaying the text. Unfortunately, this feature is currently limited to text with heavy applications, such as news applications. Why would an application developer not include this feature on new apps, like a mobile commerce application when viewing product details? This would allow for all customers to view all text elements on a page without eye strain. For the business owners, think how you will increase your conversion rates by not limiting users via small unreadable text. The use of best practices in typography incorporated into mobile application design will become standard fare in next generation customer facing mobile applications.
As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions is focused on providing world class typography features into mobile application development. Using typography to enhance the user experience is a tool that will be incorporated into mobile enterprise applications.
For More Information Check Out:
Holiday Shopping Findings Show the Importance of a Cohesive Mobile Strategy Across Channels
Leadership in Enterprise Mobility: Five Tips to Improve Your Business in the New Year
Blackberry Playbook Review
Tags: Dave Anderson PGA, Dynamic Text In Mobile Apps, Leaders in Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Application Design, Mobile Application Development, Smartsoft Mobile, Typography, User Centered Design, Using Typography Best Practices
Posted in Apple, Application Development, B2C Mobile, Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Marketing, Solution Delivery | 1 Comment »
It is no secret that consumers are using barcode scanning technology on their Smartphones in record numbers. Due to the competitive nature of the retailing environment and the weak economy consumers are holding on tightly to every dollar they must spend, and seeking maximum value. The ability to scan a barcode and compare different retailers or e-tailors offerings for price and convenience of procurement is seen as the new must have for the savvy shopper.
Retailers are catching on in a major way with 87% surveyed agreeing that shoppers can find better deals via mobile. Mobile includes mobile marketing via SMS, location based mobile coupons, and of course barcode scanning. It is now surprise that retailers are now scrambling to expand their brands mobile footprint via a cohesive mobile strategy. 
Barcode scanning usage via a consumer grade mobile device increased 900% in 2010. The US is now the number one country/market in the world for barcode scanning with regards to individual scans over the last year. Implementation of barcodes in marketing campaigns will continue to excelorate the consumer demand of this mobile technology. The rapid growth of scanning technology is only expected to continue in the coming years, as consumers begin to view this mobile utility as a standard part of the shopping process. As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions is well positioned to fill the future mobile solutions needs of all retailers.
For More Information Check Out:
Tablet Usage in a Retail Environment
User Experience Was King in Black Friday 2010 Mobile Commerce Transactions
Black Friday is Here: The Leaders in Enterprise Mobility are Ready
Tags: 2010 Trends in Mobile Commerce, Barcode Scanning, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Marketing, mobile retailing, Mobile Solutions, Mobile Strategy, mobile wallet, QR Codes, Smartsoft Mobile
Posted in Application Development, B2C Mobile, Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Marketing, Tablets | No Comments »
The move to cloud-based mobile middleware for the enterprise is rapidly gaining momentum. Mobile cloud applications move computing power and data storage away from mobile phones and into the cloud, bringing apps and mobile computing not just to Smartphone users but to a wide spectrum of mobile subscribers. Add this trend to pre-packaged mobile enterprise applications such as inventory management or human capital management and you will begin to see the future of the modern mobile enterprise.
The dominant force in mobile apps is likely to be cloud computing, according to ABI Research in its recent study Mobile Cloud Computing. Cloud technologies will also make mobile apps more sophisticated and offered to a broader audience of mobile subscribers, ABI Research stated in its report. The research firm further forecasts that the number of mobile cloud computing subscribers worldwide will rise from 42.8 million in 2008, (approximately 1.1 percent of all mobile subscribers) to more than 998 million in 2014 (nearly 19 percent).
One area the report explores is cloud-based, platform-as-a-service (PaaS) companies, and why this is important to mobile applications. PaaS encompasses various services for software development and deployment, for instance those offered by Google Checkout, Amazon Web Services, and Force.com.
Another report, this one from Juniper Research, predicts a strong future for mobile cloud computing, finding that the number of enterprise customers using cloud-based mobile apps will grow to 130 million by 2014. With this growth, the need for a top-to-bottom enterprise mobility solution that is highly scalable, flexible, and intuitive to the end user (your workforce) will become critical.
When evaluating an enterprise mobility solution, a company should focus on the following:
- Affordability (SaaS model and PayGo will dictate this)
- Scalability (cloud-based mobile middleware or PaaS)
- Flexibility (can your developers write apps and build connectors on the platform rapidly)
- Deployment (are the apps pre-packaged and is there an open source mentality of the provider)
Using these three drivers and tailoring the strategy specifically to the mobile needs of the individual enterprise will help facilitate the success of the mobile enterprise campaign. As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions stays at the forefront of the mobile cloud computing revolution.
For More Info Check Out:
Cloud Based Mobile Middleware: The Future of the Modern Mobile Enterprise
Smartsoft Mobile’s Top Four Enterprise Mobility Predictions of 2011
Leadership in Enterprise Mobility: Five Tips to Improve Your Business Efficiency in the New Year
Tags: ABI Reasearch, Juniper Research, Leaders in Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Cloud Computing, Mobile Strategy, Mobile Workforce, Packaged Mobile Applications, Smartsoft Mobile, Work Order Management
Posted in Application Development, B2B Mobile, Cloud Based Middleware, Enterprise Mobility, Solution Delivery | 7 Comments »
In mobile commerce and mobile retailing, it is becoming crystal clear that retailers must enhance not only customer services, but the technology they provide their associates at the point of sale. Shoppers are currently more informed than associates. Stock-outs were a major driver in unspent dollars over the holidays. This is a problem illustrated in an annual holiday report created by Motorola Solutions, a problem that can quickly be remedied by giving customers the same real time location based inventory access as store operators. These findings further validate the business-to-everyone (B2E) approach that Smartsoft Mobile Solutions suggests to its clients.
Motorola Solutions’ annual holiday study of surveyed retail associates found that 55 percent believe that this holiday season’s shoppers were better connected to consumer information than to in-store associates.
When surveyed, shoppers who received guidance from a retail associate armed with a handheld mobile computer, over four in ten (43 percent) reported that the device improved their shopping experience. 87 percent of retailers believe that shoppers can easily find a better deal, so customer service, aided by access to real-time information, is “more important than ever.”
- 28 percent of store visits ended with an average of $132 unspent due to abandoned purchases driven by deal-habituated behavior, out-of-stocks, limited store associate assistance, and long check-out processes.
- Shoppers with Smartphones used their phones to influence 39 percent of their walk-out incidents(12 percent checked prices at other retailers online and 8 percent checked availability at other stores).
- Nearly 25 percent of surveyed shoppers said they would be very likely to take advantage of a sales associate using a handheld payment terminal to complete their purchase, compared to only 9 percent who would be very likely to use their own mobile phone to scan their items and process payment without assistance.
Research from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), the company’s global consultancy, and from Cisco’s retail marketing team, finds that retailers must respond to technology-savvy consumers by combining Web-like and in-store shopping experiences to create “mashops” in order to drive growth and build brand awareness. Mashops get their name because they “mash up” the virtual and physical worlds to create a new way to shop.
Calculating shoppers are looking for Internet-like experiences in the physical store environment and are using more technology to help them shop. By combining the two worlds, mashops encourage shoppers to upgrade their purchases and increase their shopping cart size when factors other than price influence their buying decisions.
- More than fifty-four percent wanted to try a mashop-type service in the store. The majority of these, seventy-three percent, preferred access to mashop-type services using a touch screen at the shelf edge.
- Fifty-four percent wanted product and price comparisons, and peer reviews on touch screens in the store.
- Forty-four percent wanted a virtual video adviser with Web content on a large screen or tablet service in the store.
These findings are interesting and show how technology and specific human computer interaction inside a retail enjoinment will become increasingly important in getting that valuable piece of the customer’s wallet. Interactive kiosks and devices that enable informed associates to quickly up-sale an item, then close the transaction on a mobile device will be critical. As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions will provide this cutting edge technology to today’s retail leaders.
For More Information Check Out:
User Experience Was King for Black Friday Mobile Commerce Transactions
The Battle for the Mobile Wallet is On!
Best Practices: Leadership in Enterprise Mobility Part 1
Tags: B2C, Barcode Scanning, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group, Customer Experience, Kiosks, Mashop, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Commerce, mobile payments, mobile wallet, Motorola Solutions, Motorola Solutions Annual Holiday Study, User Experience
Posted in Application Development, B2C Mobile, Enterprise Mobility, Mashups, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Marketing, Tablets | 4 Comments »
A mashup is defined as the pulling of data from multiple back office systems or other sources and combining that data to create an entirely new and useful subset of previously existing data. Mashups are currently done by connecting to back-office ERP’s via data mapping and combining the required data manually via amashupand presenting that data to employees via a web or mobile application. The power and value of a mashup is not seen by a company until mashups can be generated quickly for multiple users and purposes via a mashup engine. The mashup engine is designed through the data mapping of multiple back office systems, allowing the tool to pull data via web service calls to the back-office, all running through middleware. The administrators can create mashups rapidly through the mashup engine via a GUI that allows for a “drop and drag” interface and eliminates the need for writing code when creating a mashup.
Smartsoft Mobile Solutions has used mashups in mobile applications for our customers. 
For an example of the value created by a mashup, let’s look at a CRM iPad application. Customer data is stored inside SAP, and that data contains information like customer name, address, order history, etc. Presenting that data on in an organized manner on a mobile device is great, but when you pull in a mapping overlay with real time traffic flows from a leading provider, as well as the customer’s social media and web offerings, and mash all that data up, you now have a very useful tool. Sales reps can keep up with their customer’s marketing messaging, look at order status and history, anticipate client needs, contact the client by phone or in person, and efficiently manage their travel time to client locations.
As leaders in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions looks to incorporate mashups whenever necessary into mobile enterprise applications. As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless for mashup creation due to the sheer amount of data and data sources, and the value to the enterprise is limitless.
For More Info Check Out:
Data Usage Among Android Users Much Higher Than iPhone Users
Leaders in Enterprise Mobility: The Current State of Enterprise Mobility
Best Practices: Mobile Project Implementation
Tags: Data Mashup, Enterprise Mobility, Leaders in Enterprise Mobility, Mashup, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Business Strategy, Mobile CRM, Mobile Mashup, Mobile Strategy, Smartsoft Mobile
Posted in Application Development, B2B Mobile, Cloud Based Middleware, Enterprise Mobility, Mashups, SAP, Tablets | 1 Comment »
Cloud-based computing has been the buzz of the industry and the sweetheart of Wall Street for the past several years. Currently, cloud computing is set to take enterprise mobility to the next level. Cloud-based mobile middleware allows for B2E communications between workers via a mobile device and one or more back-office systems, presenting mission critical data as useful information for the increased productivity of the workforce. The combined consumer and enterprise market for cloud-based mobile applications is expected to rise 88% between 2009 and 2014, according to a study from Juniper Research. This report indicates that the total market for cloud-based mobile applications will rise from a little more than $400 million in 2009 to nearly $9.5 billion by 2014.
Key drivers of mobile cloud computing growth include the following elements:
- Scalability for large enterprise mobility projects: The cloud offers enterprises with the ability to deploy mobile applications and rapidly scale deployment of key/mission critical mobile applications at a cost that is greatly reduced by cloud data storage.
- SAAS licensing model with further reduce costs: Approximately 75% of this “cloud” market is represented by enterprise users, and Juniper expects revenues in both user segments to be primarily derived from time-based subscriptions. Enterprise subscriptions will allow for business stakeholders to implement mobile applications and projects with reduced up-front costs, so an enterprise is not be locked into an expensive Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAP).
- Launch of HTML5: The new HTML5 revision to the core markup language of the Worldwide Web, which is partially available to the public, offers improved data caching and reduces load demands, which will make cloud-based mobile connectivity a means of improving access in locales with poor coverage.
- Superior processing power:As individual Smartphone apps become larger and more plentiful, the superior processing power of the cloud will allow apps to be downloaded as thin clients, with most processing performed on the cloud rather than the headset.
- Cloud-enabled enterprise mobility: The cloud enables collaborative apps to be available 24/7, at any location. This freedom for the collaboration of mobile application developers will generate mobile enterprise applications with robust features, tailored to specific business processes and flows.
- End of “All you can eat” data plans:With carriers moving away from the buffet data plans, enterprise applications that require large data pulls with multiple calls to enterprise web services will become increasingly unviable due to data usage costs. The need to develop “thin” mobile applications that only pull data needed by the worker on a mobile device will further drive cloud computing growth. The heavy processing lift for data will be in the cloud, and only a small amount of data will be pushed to the mobile device using a “smart sync” of the mobile application and “Machine to Machine” (M2M) communications.
- Rapid adoption of mobile devices by employees:Mobile devices, whether it be Smartphones or Tablets, will increasingly be seen as a business necessity, not just a luxury. Equipping these consumer grade mobile devices with enterprise centric mobile applications will be a key to creating a competitive advantage. The diverse needs of the enterprise workforce will require rapid mobile application development and powerful processing of data in the cloud. Deployment of these mobile applications will use an app store approach when necessary; however, internal enterprise software release processes will still dominate most mobile enterprise application releases.
Cloud-based mobile middleware will enable small to medium size businesses the ability to have mobile enterprise offerings similar to large Fortune 500 companies. As this technology rapidly expands to all industries, look for pre-packaged mobile applications to handle standard and homogeneous business processes such as inventory inquiry, while custom development of unique mobile applications that focus on complex business processes and flows will be performed either by internal software development or mobile solutions specialists. As the leader in enterprise mobility, Smartsoft Mobile Solutions currently offers a cloud-based mobile middleware that achieves key corporate enterprise mobility objectives with a licensed SASS based model. We at Smartsoft Mobile Solutions look forward to being at the forefront of cloud-based mobile middleware, generating a rapid return on investment for our customers.
For More Information Check Out:
Data Usage Among Android Users is Much Greater Than That of iPhone Users
Leaders in Enterprise Mobility: The Current State of Enterprise Mobility
Best Practices: How Should a Retailer Select a Strategic Mobile Partner
Tags: Business Strategy, Cloud, cloud based mobile middleware, cloud mased mobile middleware, Drivers of cloud based middleware, Enterprise Mobility, Leaders in Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Application Development, Mobile Business Strategy, mobile middleware, Mobile Strategy, Smartsoft Mobile, The cloud
Posted in Application Development, B2B Mobile, B2C Mobile, Cloud Based Middleware, Devices, Enterprise Mobility, SAP, Tablets | 3 Comments »
