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Enterprises from across the verticals are embracing the idea of adopting diverse mobile applications that offer tangible benefits like cost savings, making mobile applications an integral part of their communications strategy. Increasing demands have led enterprises to a process of adding applications and moving toward a sophisticated mobile strategy for fully integrating workforce with various back-end systems.

Till some time back, email and browsing were the only applications popular among enterprises. But increasing competition and dynamic business environment have fast changed the scenario. Where earlier the services offered by service providers were few, today there is a bouquet of mobile applications for enterprise customers. In other words, there are considerable opportunities for mobile operators to find ways through the complexity of enterprise mobility, and offer solutions ranging from voice to email to mobilization.

But, the enterprise mobile applications industry is still in its nascent stage and mobile applications users are yet to mature. Also, service providers have to gear up to offer innovative solutions to meet the increasing technological demands of enterprises.

Mobility Apps & Enterprises
Mobility demands differ from industry to industry, and the segments really driving mobility are retail and finance. The requirements of the retail industry are such that mobile applications play a critical role in inventory management.

According to Arun Gupta, group CTO, Shoppers Stop, “We have deployed mobile applications at our stores and distribution centers for inventory management on specialized mobile hardware from Motorola. The application is used for receiving goods at the warehouse and stores, and then put away or move to shelf respectively. Using the mobile device allows for data entry at the first point of transaction and reduces the time cycle to complete the activity by 30%. It also reduces the possibility of errors during data entry, as the current application accepts data via barcode scanning. The device is also used for inventory reconciliation within the store.”

Apart from the above, Shoppers Stop has also deployed Windows Mobile and BlackBerry as messaging tools for its customers.

“We don't have much applications on mobiles for our industry (BFSI) because one cannot do investments on mobile. At this point of time, we are only using the SMS gateway for our customer. But we are in the process of evaluating more and more. We need applications, which are very simple to use,” says CTO of ING Investment, Tarun Pandey.

Talking about the latest technology deployment, Suresh A Shanmugam, national head, Business Information Technology Solutions (BITS) and CIO, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services, says, “Being a non-banking financial company (NBFC), which works in a customer-driven market, expectations from the customer in rural markets from mobility is more. Further, mobility applications to confirm pull-push information for both internal and external customers in terms of business are an ongoing task. We have deployed hand-held device to get operated both online and offline at all rural outlets through the MFConnect 3000 project, which serves as a mini-branch between customers and executives.”

He adds, “we have also deployed LAN-based hand-held device which requires customer information to be given to the customers without any dependency on infrastructure for 8 hrs, and is chargeable within 2 hrs. This has reduced a lot of frustration for direct visit customers. Once we receive the EMI for even rural customers, the device sends an auto acknowledgement about the payment details on the customer cell.”

A majority of the information captured and transformed through customers is on mobility applications. Over a period of time all the applications related to customers will have the mobility-based solutions.

Zameer Syed, VP, IT, HDFC Bank, says, “Presently, we are using mobile applications like m-banking options check statements and money transfer. Besides, we are also using some mobile applications like booking and selling tickets, buying flowers, etc. We are in the process of exploring maximum benefits by using these mobile enterprise applications.

Arun Gupta, group CTO, Shoppers Stop	Tarun Pandey, CTO, ING Investment management

Enterprise Demands
In the current scenario, enterprises are looking for three basic things from mobile applications-high quality, reliability and availability. Commenting on the demands, Gupta of Shoppers Stop says, “We are now exploring voice over Wi-Fi as an add-on applications at our locations. The vision is to use devices at the warehouse for all the activities carried out effectively, thereby reducing the need to use multiple computing devices and applications.

He adds, “Our wish-list includes improved screen size and resolution, an industry standards browser, faster processor and longer battery life. Applications can be easily developed and deployed using multiple mobile frameworks available. Some standardized offerings from ERP vendors will help reduce the cost of development and maintenance”.

There is an increased demand for simple-to-use applications from the enterprise segment. Apart from that the segment is also looking at applications that are secure and reliable and give confidence to end-users to carry out transactions on mobile.

“The most urgent need is unity among service providers. Easy to use applications and good network are some other major demands. But above all, the most important requirement, especially for financial sector is security built up. Applications should be secure and data confidential. In this context, BlackBerry is a very good example. It has a good service and strong encryption. So, basically we need applications with security features. Accuracy of information at shortest possible time is also a very crucial prerequisite. This accuracy of information is not present in India but we have to look forward for this,” says Pandey of ING Investments.

“More VAS services should be available for customers, so that they don't have to come to banks for small banking needs. Applications available today are OK for general use but there are no enhanced applications. There are lots of regulatory issues in India as compared to other foreign countries. Infrastructure is not strong, and customers are yet to experience substantial benefits of using these applications,” says Syed of HDFC Bank.

Commenting on this issue, Udesh Dassani, CFO, Apollo Hospital Enterprises said, “Right now we are not using any of the mobile applications. But we are planning to develop by our requirements. In future, we plan to use mostly instant messaging for patient status. We are planning to have mobile ticketing (A process whereby patients can book, pay for, obtain, and validate bed tickets), easy profile management, and adaptive network environment. We would also like to have remote access to our available resources with the help of mobile applications.”

“On our front, we need full, end-to-end transactions. But as part of a bank, security is a major concern and is an integral part of enterprise mobility solutions. It should be ensured that all transactions are secured. So, we need handsets enabled with such security applications. Only then can we ensure customer confidence and satisfaction,” says Syed.

Pankaj Sethi, president, Value Added Services, Enterprise Market Planning, Tata Teleservice, says, “While our focus will certainly be on new VAS applications in the current environment, mobile Internet and mobile TV are the key driving forces that are gaining immense popularity among consumers. We are also looking forward to developing VAS for 3G applications for end-users.”

While video telephony is going to be important for consumers, it would be interesting to see how operators succeed in this area, especially keeping in mind that utilizing spectrum efficiently is a big challenge in itself.

Shanmugam of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services says, “Mobility application is nothing but to reach the customer at his interest. Further, customers in today's scenario want mobility to be an instrument to be used when he is in need for anything, irrespective of the time. This demands vast options of providing the taste of interest at the level of comfort, which is set by the customer.”

He says, “In the current business dynamics, inflow and outflow of information should be positioned to mobility and be prepared for the change. To provide information in multi-language, especially for our rural customers, there should be applications using voice in local language. It will have a major impact when our ISPs have more visibility in rural areas for mobility transactions.”

Major Concerns
In any industry, to reach customers, mobile applications are a very cost-effective and successful medium. It is one of the hottest segments and companies are increasingly adopting enterprise applications for their core business activities. But, there are lots of concerns regarding the mass deployment of different mobile applications.

Shanmugam says, “Reach and speed is the driving factor for today's business to survive, and if the information or the design doesn't support this then we cannot beat competition. Technology that ensures transparency, non-dependency, timeliness, accuracy, and empowerment through processes will have huge impact on mobility. Besides, another major concern regarding mobility in remote locations is availability and serviceability.

The finance sector believes that service providers are unable to provide good network necessary for these kinds of applications. “Today most mobile applications are for the retail sector. These applications completely depend on the network, and no service provider is providing a good network,” says Pandey.

Sayed echoes a similar view, “Robustness of network is one of the primary requirement. In the future, customers will want to use mobile as ATMs. Hacking and sufficient bandwidth are also major concerns. These problems should be worked out.”

According to Udesh Dassani, one of the major concerns at present is that the data transfer speed is very slow and these applications will require high-speed data transmission. With the launch of 3G iPhone and further enhanced server and network we hope all will be possible in the near future.

Future Plans
The first wave of mobile applications during 2002-04 failed to take off due to hardware limitations, especially on consumer-owned devices. Over the last 2-3 yrs, enterprises have recognized the value of mobile data and computing on the go. This is also evident from the number of vendors in the market offering solutions for this growing segment. In the coming future, mobile application usage will become mainstream for most companies rather than an option. The ability to capture data at source and with agility brings significant advantage to any enterprise.

Gupta of Shoppers Stop says, “We are developing additional applications that will help us improve processes within the store back office as well as in our interactions with the customer. With customer service being the key differentiator, we believe it will give us an advantage in the short-term in engaging with our customer.

The demand is certainly increasing for enterprise mobile applications and service providers need to come out with innovative and industry-specific solutions to capture a maximum share of this burgeoning market.

“Mobile applications are very critical for every enterprise. As customer base is growing, people want to use mobile for banking facilities. So, in the future, we would like to exploit all available and upcoming mobile technologies to satisfy customer demand,” says Sayed.

Talking about future plans, Shanmugam says, “It is very clear that any communication which drives business verticals has to rely on mobility. As a business requirement, our enterprise is already geared up toward mobility. We believe in using the people process technology with the right mobility solutions to build a strong relation and competition, to ensure doorstep services to our customers. ”

He also says, “All our executives and customers have already started demanding information and their pays through locally available mobility models. As a business strategy, mobility is a proven differentiator at different parts of collection. Business task will reach more people with new methods of mobility.”

Converged communication should be further customized for the common man according to his needs, making transparency, accuracy, timeliness, and reach required features to drive mobility.

In a nutshell, mobility in enterprise is a growing market and is expected to reach all corners of the country. Enterprise mobile applications can keep cost under control. Realizing its true potential, enterprises and service providers are putting in their best effort to deploy more and more mobile applications and have started to experience the difference.

Arpita Prem
arpitap@cybermedia.co.in