Have you been to a McDonalds or a Barista outlet lately? If yes, you must surely have noticed the way the person takes the order, entering your requirements on a small PDA that immediately updates the screen on the cash counter, ensuring that by the time you reach the counter, your order is waiting for you. Its a very simple example of how mobile application can be used to speed up the process. Here, at McDonalds, the customer is happy because s/he doesnt have to waste time in a queue and the company is happy because it has a much faster turnaround and hence greater profits.

Yet, the enterprise mobile applications market is just picking up, as the companies that have invested heavily into IT systems examine the way to integrate mobile devices into their environment. The market for mobile applications is estimated to be growing at 20-30% annually.

Indian corporates havent really woken up to the benefits of mobile applications. While some have put in a few pilot projects, a lot many are still dithering on their commitments. According to an international survey conducted recently, business productivity improved by over 60% through the use of mobile applications, especially mobile email. In fact, according to the same study, there was an average gain of 59 minutes per employee by using mobile email applications like Blackberry services.

Not only that, customer service also improves quite substantially when mobiles are utilized in an organized manner. According to a research finding, customer service improves by 36% based on more responsive support, and the entire company operates 20% more efficiently due to smooth flow of latest information and real-time communications.

Globally, the mobile applications space is really exploding in terms of innovations and market size. Multinational companies are using the power of mobiles to automate their sales force or do real-time tracking of goods and products. As a matter of fact, many companies are marrying RFID-based applications with cellular technology, and making them more effective.

Even the Asia Pacific market is increasing quite dramatically. According to estimates, the mobile enterprise market is currently estimated to be worth around $23 bn and would grow to around $30 bn by 2010.

Much of the action though is happening in our friendly neighborhood. China accounts for around 50% of this market, with the manufacturing sector using mobile applications extensively. A lot of it is also driven by MNCs that bring along applications that have been developed in the US and Europe. Australia and Korea also account for quite a percentage in terms of market share. In contrast, the Indian mobile enterprise market is worth only around Rs 220 crore as of now and is growing at around 30% annually.

Email: the Killer App?
Globally, email is the most popular application, and business executives have taken up to email like nothing else. The ability to check, send emails, and be connected all the time has empowered the workforce. And the undisputed leader in this domain is Research In Motion (RIM), the provider of Blackberry. Over the last few years, Blackberry has completely dominated the space in the mobile email segment.

According to the data available, RIM accounts for close to 69% of the mobile email market segment. As of April 2007, there were over 8 mn Blackberry users worldwide. But its leadership is under threat from multiple quartersHP, Nokia, and others launching a slew of PDA phones.

As per the estimates, the global addressable market for enterprise mobile email would be around 260 mn subscriptions, while global mobile operator revenues from mobile email and personal information management are expected to surpass $600 mn by 2009, over three times those of 2005.

Indian companies are using a variety of methods to let its employees connect to the mail server. Blackberry is a popular method, but a lot of others are also opting for other GPRS-based push email services. Yet, without an iota of doubt, mobile email happens to be the most popular enterprise application, even in India.

Applications Galore
The insurance and pharma sectors have been the first to adopt mobile applications. A lot of companies have gone in for ERP-centric applications like order management and claim settlement. Companies like Tata AIG and GlaxoSmithKline have used mobile phones in a big way. In fact, ValueFirst, an enterprise mobile solutions vendor, has worked in close coordination with a plethora of companies from the same vertical.

SFA (sales force automation) is another buzzword among corporates. Using mobile devices, they can empower their field associates and ensure flow of information in real-time manner over the company networks and the connected mobile device. For companies, the most favored way is to integrate SMS-based applications with the ERP, and ensure that order management and inventory management is done in real-time.

Companies use mobile applications extensively for customer care or customer relationship management.

What is ironical is that any application that is used by a company in a PC environment can be shifted on a mobile platform and integrated with the company infrastructure and yet many companies are either completely unaware of this or scared to make use of the mobile platform.

Many applications of account receivables, vendor management, human resources, etc can be accessed over mobile phones. According to experts, once the word spreads on this ability, companies would eagerly make their customized applications more mobile.

Also, many experts point out that while creating a mobile application and running it is important to measure productivity. The success of a mobile application can only be judged by how smooth and easy it makes the process. While it may always be possible to justify mobility investments with an RoI argument, investments need to be justified on the basis of business value versus cost issue.

For instance, a big organization that deals with scores of vendors and multiple customers, having a large sales team on the ground, is a right case for SFA applications as it reduces downtime considerably. With IT budgets shrinking, an understanding of what enterprise mobility applications can realistically deliver on ground has become very critical. So it is important to understand where it can optimize the bottomline. With this in mind, CIOs need to set their expectations of the challenges that they are trying to overcome and the business benefits they are trying to achieve. This, in effect, becomes the measure for RoI and productivity in the future. But for an SMB, it needs to carefully consider what the optimum solution is; rather than just going ahead and implementing solutions.

Many companies are now able to easily provide mobile email services to their employeesit also makes sense to do so. But even while doing so, they need to ensure that better security and backup procedures are in place. Recently, when there was an outage at Research in Motion (the company that runs Blackberry) in the US, thousands of executives were caught off-guard and were not able to cope. This kind of scenario is quite possible in India, considering the network bandwidth, etc. Thus, a CIO needs to pay attention to prepare for an outage of mobile services as well.

Major application developers in the Indian market are ValueFirst, Air2Web, ACL Wireless, Cellnext, MobileOne, Base, Jataayu, Jopasana, and others.

The future seems bright for mobile applications, as the awareness will increase with the time to come. GPS and GIS could provide a major thrust to the market. Enterprises need to realize that opportunities are endless and at times when companies need to tighten their belts, mobile applications can increase productivity manifold.

Shashwat DC
Shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in

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