ENTERPRISE: Get Infopower on the Fly

MARKET INFORMATION

All mobile service providers offer mobile applications for enterprises, albeit half-heartedly. However, it is a segment that cannot be ignored any more and therefore sooner than later we are going to see mobile operators making concerted efforts to woo the mobile enterprise customers. However, the desire to m-enable enterprises lies purely on enterprises because operator focus is still basically on voice revenues. Most applications are being provided on a case-to-case basis with little aggression in pitching for accounts.

A huge potentially untapped market is the enterprise to consumer space where we see sporadic initiatives been taken by media companies like NDTV and ESPN. There is a huge scope for utilizing response-based programmes in India, which is an effective marketing tool, very popular in the Nordic countries. Reliance Infocomm is seriously developing mobile applications for enterprises, which will force GSM operators also to take the challenge seriously.

MVASPs are at the concept stage today with a handful of serious players like PervasiveOne, Air2web, Mobingo, Cellnext and Lifetree Convergence. Others like ACL Wireless, a player in the peer-to-peer space is positioning as a MVASP. Operators pledge that 2004 will be a different year with many specific initiatives being rolled out to woo the enterprise customer.

Experts Panel

Atanu Mandal, president and COO, ACL

Nilanjan Mukherjee, VP-marketing, Idea Cellular

Vijay Shekar, CEO, Mobingo

Vijay Shukla, country head and director, PervasiveOne