Mobile applications tops IT strategies

Why Your Chief Executive Needs to Embrace Enterprise Mobility

Patricia Coffey, President of the Society for Information Management (SIM) in the USA shared some of her views on IT strategies recently at a SIM conference. She sees mobile applications as being high on the priority list for IT organisations in the coming year, and further believes that the noise around Cloud Computing is exactly that - hype (in her words).

Like a previous waves of interest, she sees cloud computing merely as an alternative approach to existing IT strategies (she cites offshore is another recent example - just an alternative approach to outsourcing).

Patricia sees the priority and focus swing much more toward mobile application enabling as a major contributor to the way to transform business. In her words "It's pretty easy to do, it's relatively cheap. We skipped pretty quickly to business on mobile. What we haven't done is taken advantage of it."

Over the last year we have seen some powerful examples of projects in local government, improving productivity in particular areas. Lets reflect teh headings for past stories as follows:

• September 2010 - Capita selects NetMotion Wireless
• May 2010 - Derby Homes implements NetMotion Mobility XE
• February 2010 - Westminster City Council Parking Enforcement gets all-in-one Mobile Computers
• December 2009 - Wolverhamption City Council - Why Mobile Working really matters in social care
• June 2009 - Birmingham City Council selects NetMotion Wireless as the standard for Mobile Working
• May 2009 - Durham County Council  achieve compliance with GSI
• October 2008 - Oxfordshire County Council save 25 man hours per week with mobile library.

What is not always evident is these projects being executed as part of a cross-functional mobility team within an organization, emphasising the need for executive support from the very top for these initiatives. If you are enabling mobility one application silo at a time, it's time to take it one step further. It's not just about executive support, but executive stewardship of mobility. The Chief Executive of your organization needs to not only appreciate, but understand and DRIVE the mobile strategy of his/her organization. The Chief Executive of the future MUST be persuaded of the power of mobility to transform the organisation of the future.

So a question for you is this. Does your senior executive understand mobility, its impact on and potential for transforming your business?

Click on this link for ideas on Mobilising Public Service to help inform your senior executive and support your plans for 2011.