In the strict classification of B2B and B2C, mobile service is often categorized as a pure B2C (consumer)
service. Why is it featured here then, along with other services targeted at corporate and enterprise customers?

The reason is simple. The ‘consumers’ of mobile services also happen to be the customers, employees or partners of the enterprises. Their mobile devices—so far more or less synonymous with mobile phones—make it possible to access useful information anytime, anywhere from an enterprise. In some cases, it is also possible to perform certain ‘tasks’ that involve pure flow of information, such as bill payment or account transfer.

The best way, then, to categorize what enterprises can do through mobile is to look at it from the point of view of users and their needs. In that respect, it can be classified as follows:

n Business to Employee: By far the most tangible returns have come from these applications. This, in simple words, is extending the intranet to be accessed from mobile devices. These can be further subdivided into two categories. One, personal productivity such as mobile organizers, closed user group chat, e-mail, and Internet access. Two, business process enablement such as sales force automation, other online updation and retrieval of information.

n Business to Consumer: This, though in infancy, is supposed to be the next big thing. As more people start accessing information from their mobile devices, the potential of this channel is touted to be immense. On one hand, it could be a personal communication channel like the telephone; on the other hand, a ‘class’ if not a mass media like print or television.

Again, the applications can be broadly divided in two categories. One, applications for existing customers such as customer support, commonly enveloped in the phrase CRM. Two, applications targeted at potential customers like advertising and marketing and mobile transactions such as m-commerce, commonly called mobile marketing.

n Business to Business: This is another area where a lot of action is happening on the ground. This, in reality, is extending a company’s extranet to be accessed from mobile devices. Common examples include applications for insurance agents, and various supply chain applications like shipment tracking.

Return on Investment
Return on investments in a mobile enterprise is realized in terms of the following:

n Improved Individual Employee Performance: Boosting productivity by leveraging enterprise applications, corporate data, and e-mail for mobile workers.

n More Efficient Business Processes: By allowing access to information anytime, anywhere, employees and partners (depending on application) are enabled to take decisions on the spot, thus reducing turnaround time. Also, the enterprise database is updated on a real time. Both these contribute to process efficiency.

n Better Partner Loyalty: By giving the business partners like distribution channels access to information, anytime, anywhere, a company can not only increase the efficiency of the process, but keep them too. In highly channel-oriented industries, this is a huge advantage.

n Reduced Costs: Accessing information via mobile reduces costs by providing a less expensive means to interact with both employees and customers.

n Customer Acquisition and Retention: Acquiring customers by reaching a wider audience unconstrained by time and place. Retaining customers by providing service on their terms, anytime they want.

n Increased Competitive Advantage: Increasing market share by heightening product awareness through innovative marketing campaigns.

n Revenue Generation: Increasing revenue by selling the right product to the right customer at the right time for the right price, as a mobile is with the customers/potential customers all the times. Location-based services have magnified the scope of this opportunities manifold.

Who Should M-enable?
The decision to go wireless is one that every company will have to face at some point of time. Most of the businesses already understand the value of wireless connectivity to their employees and are confident that the technology is maturing. A good
candidate for m-enabling would meet the following criteria: