Why having a mobile strategy is important

Do you remember how it used be? The digital revolution used to end at your workplace. And your workplace, that was the desk on which your PC stood. When you were at your PC you were online, and everywhere else you were offline. Whoever had the job of picking goods in the warehouse, moved mostly outside of digital processes. The result: delayed feedback, a high level of manual effort and the latent risk of making mistakes. The problem: there has not been much progress in this regard in many medium-sized companies. For example, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) recently found that on average only 21 per cent of medium-sized enterprises equipped their employees with mobile devices. If you subtract the share of companies that only implement "Bring Your Own Device" plans, the result is likely to be much lower. Few companies provide their own apps or mobile web portals; even fewer have something like a mobile strategy.

Mobile is becoming even more efficient

According to an IDG study, mobile devices, such as tablets, increase efficiency and collaboration by 63 percent and productivity by as much as 66 percent. The reason: The digital revolution does not take place exclusively at your desk, it is becoming a constant companion. Mobile dashboards provide information about processes and business data - anywhere and in real-time. Speech recognition and eyeglasses with augmented reality can also provide support in situations where even smartphones and tablets would be impractical, such as in machine maintenance.

The platform is crucial

A major reason that companies are reluctant to introduce mobile solutions is that their ERP systems are outdated. For many small and medium-sized enterprises, mobility is only of secondary importance.  The modernization of the company software has priority. So mobility is far, far off. However, business solutions are currently undergoing a change: If ERP systems have dominated companies’ software landscapes so far, today different technologies are used according to the best-of-breed principle, which are interlinked on common platforms: Software, cloud services, IoT sensors or even mobile solutions. This changes the requirements. Until now, mobility was more an after-thought in existing ERP and CRM systems. In future, much more flexibility will be required. This is because relevant information comes from various sources. Solutions are required which, depending on the role of the user, can be inserted at the correct point in the value creation process, retrieve information or make mobile data collection possible. This might be in the form of an app or a mobile interface for a web portal. Anyone who invests in an ERP system today is not just choosing a piece of software. It is a choice - consciously or unconsciously - also of a specific platform. How flexible the company will be able to be in the future in terms of market agility and how secure the investment is, is above all a question of the platform. Because in the future everything will be networked, investment decisions should be well thought-out. Without a mobile strategy, this is hardly possible.

 

We are happy to support you when it comes to developing a long-term mobile strategy. Just call us or send us an e-mail. Then we can discuss how your company can benefit from mobile solutions.