Many of us have spent years (some of us decades) working on enterprise mobility designs, development and implementations. These projects, for the most part, started as tactical implementations for specific LOBs (lines of business). They involved usually one app, connected to a specific back end system and database. Over the years these projects evolved to include multiple data sources and business processes. Today, CIOs and IT departments are being tasked with mobilizing the entire enterprise IT environment. This task, I propose, requires a new way of looking at enterprise mobility.
Earlier this month (December 2013) I spoke on a panel with Forrester Research’s John McCarthy in London. We were discussing the current and future state of enterprise mobility. McCarthy stated that 2014 would be the year of “complex mobility” and would cause “Y2K-like” events in the enterprise. He predicted it was time for a “mobile-first” approach where complex and mission critical processes were mobilized. He added that ERP like investments may be required in many enterprises. Herein lies the challenge.