What will drive use of mobile devices – new research says - business applications

Mobile Access to Business Applications Will Drive the Next Wave of User Adoption

Increasing Customer Engagement, Satisfaction and Loyalty with Mobility

According to a recent report by Forrester Research, only 1/3 of businesses have a clearly defined mobile strategy.  However, the research also showed that 70 percent of firms will increase their mobile budget in 2011, with one in four companies doubling or tripling their mobile budget.

Firms said mobility is seen as a way to increase customer engagement, satisfaction and loyalty, not generate direct revenues. Over half (52 percent of firms) see increasing customer engagement as their number one mobile goal.

So what is going to drive the take up of mobile solutions in 2011 and beyond?

Research suggests that giving users access to business applications and business processes is the key area that will drive adoption of mobile devices inside small and medium businesses – this is really when the next wave of adoption will be seen.

Mobile email and calendaring is already the no 1 usage of mobile devices but once end users have access to their line of business applications such as those from SAP, businesses will really begin to see the return on investment from equipping their people with iPads and iPhones as well as other mobile devices from vendors such as Microsoft and RIM.

Already users of the SAP solution for small and midsize businesses, SAP Business One, can have access to these solutions with SAP offering the mobile application for SAP Business One as a free download from the Apple App Store for professional users of SAP Business One.

Access to workflow approvals, customer and inventory information as well as rich graphical reporting from Crystal Reports are all features of the new mobile application and when paired with the mobile business intelligence tools from SAP stablemate BusinessObjects, small and midsize organisations can really begin to profit from these devices.

For more information about SAP Business One and the mobile application, please contact Alenu IT at +65 6884 5030 or email info@alenu-it.com.