Brett Looney's keynote address for the BigTech13 conference on Enterprise Mobility. (WA State Theatre - 17th October, 2013)

1. Big Tech
2013
What Makes a
Mobile-Enabled
Business Tick?
Brett Looney

2. 20+ Year
“Veteran”
(Scary I know)
Have seen many
companies and
technologies
“come and go”
Remembers the
beginnings of
mobile data
(2G anyone?)
Me

3. Worked for IT
integrators
(started one, in fact)
and service
providers
Me
Now at Amcom –
who delivers
(amongst other things)
IP telephony and
mobile
Always looking
for the best
ways to use new
technology

4. Mobility
What Does That Mean?

5. Anyone
Any Device
Anywhere
Any Time

6. Well, duh.

7. What do you
need to do?

8. What do you
need to do?

9. What do you
need to do?
Internal
External
Customers
Varied

10. What type of interaction do you need?
Logistics
Support
CRM
Ordering
Manufacturing
Sales

11. What to do?

12. How Do You Do This?
Software
Now better known as “apps”
But is it really
that simple?
Can you find one
software package
that can do everything?

13. Software Strategies
› Buy
› Find the software you need
› Make sure it all works together
• Because finding one package is impossible
› Could be quite expensive
› Will need to compromise
› And getting software vendors to
interoperate is difficult

14. Software Strategies
› Build
› Design and write everything you need
› No compromise required
• Except on price
• And time
› Don’t forget budget to
maintain your creation

15. Software Strategies
› Connect
› Buy the simplest tools that deliver
appropriate point solutions
› Make sure everything is “open”
› That is, can be connected to by anything else
› Write the bits that connect
everything together
› This is the basis of Web 2.0
› Mashups!
› And the key term is “API”

16. That’s great – but
what about the
users?

17. What Do The Users Get?
Start with a web application
› Be generic as possible
› That is, don’t just support
Internet Explorer

18. What Do The Users Get?
Start with the basic functions
› Enhance over time
› But have an idea of what your
end-goal is

19. What Do The Users Get?
Maybe enhance with a
platform-specific app
› Delivers better user experience
› But increases cost to develop
and support

20. The Problem With Apps
Apps for a platform are
great
› Best user experience
› Deliver greatest control

21. The Problem With Apps
But what platform will you support?
›
›
›
›
›
Apple mobile ecosystem
Apple OS-X
Android
Microsoft Windows Mobile
Microsoft Windows

22. The Problem With Apps
And what about different
form factors?
› Screen size
› Resolution
› Aspect ratio

23. Who Will Do This?
Software development
› Will become (or is!) a core function of IT
› IT becomes a core function of your business
› Could be internal
› If you’re big enough
› Or external
› Leverage from a development
company’s experience

24. Other Considerations
› Don’t forget about security
› Ongoing maintenance
› Still need to budget for this
› Enhancements
› Scalability
› What happens if you are
amazingly popular?

25. Other Considerations
› Cloud
› This is to your advantage
› Bandwidth is not infinite
› Network coverage is
not complete

26. How Is This Relevant?
What does this have to
do with me?

27. You need to enable
your users
Internal &
External
They will
be mobile
Make information and
processes available to
everyone who needs
them

28. Takeaways
› Mobile technology isn’t going away
› It will be integral to your business
› IT is crucial to your business
› It isn’t just a cost centre
› Software development is ongoing
› Necessary to ensure your business stays relevant