Civica Success

by Korina Glass 4. February 2010 14:52

igroup exhibited on stand 40 at the Civica show, which proved a huge success. igroup would like to thank everyone who came especially to visit us and to all other delegates who we spoke to. Civica, who specialise in consultancy and software held their annual conference on the 27-28 January 2010, where igroup launched Dynamics Forms 2010 and talked to key members of the public sector on enterprise mobility. The Conference brought together customers and experts from across the many sectors, which provided a forum to share knowledge and ideas and to learn about how to successfully balanc the demands of service delivery and efficiency to their employees'.

Mobile Device Transition

by Korina Glass 27. January 2010 16:42

2010 will be a key transition year at the start of the mobile decade — not only will we start moving toward more mainstream mobile services audiences but a strategic shift will also take place. Companies of all shapes and sizes as well as governments and local authorities will start integrating mobile into their overall approach, rather than simply launching a few mobile initiatives. Expect new application stores and mobile payment solutions, significant innovation in the mobile social and location spaces, and another round of interest in mobile TV for the FIFA World Cup. One big question will remain: Will fragmentation be reduced? Unfortunately, the answer is no: It is here to stay. That's why everyone needs a mobile strategy in 2010.

Enterprise Mobility Accelerates

by Korina Glass 7. January 2010 15:38

Forrester have announced what mobility trends can we expect to see in 2010.Forrester, believe that 4G networks will continue to grow, along with the deployment of mobile apps. Devices based on Google's Android operating system may capture up to 10 percent market share. Employees will pressure IT departments to support their personal smartphones and other devices for business use. In addition, cloud-based apps that support the mobile workforce will become more popular.

In 2009, most companies reduced new technology investments in response to the uncertain global economic recession. However, the enterprise mobility picture was more positive as many firms continued to pursue mobility solutions to help them cut costs, improve worker productivity, and enhance business process efficiencies. We predict a more stable economic environment in 2010 and expect mobile network operators to implement programs to drive application development for fourth-generation (4G) and long-term evolution (LTE) networks not only for consumers but also for business. In addition, expect increased vendor and service provider focus on offering machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions to improve business process efficiencies in specific industries (e.g., healthcare, utilities, and the supply chain). More employees will also bring personally selected and purchased mobile devices (e.g., Android smartphones) into the office and use them for work-related mobile applications.

So 2010 is set to be a good year for paper forms to be brought into the new decade by being used electronically.

Best Practice in Mobile IT Strategy

by Korina Glass 19. November 2009 16:52

Best practice: Holistic approach

By 2010, 50% of enterprises will have migrated away from tactical mobile application silos (supporting a single application) to strategic platforms capable of supporting multiple applications, managing devices, and securing data and transport.

Gartner, 2007

          Faster development – A platform approach gets applications into users hands faster, delivering value quicker

          Shared costs – for mobile infrastructure, development components, and devices

          Focus on users & processes – remove technology concerns from the hands of the business

Best practice: Measure, Measure, Measure

 Failure to measure benefits and impacts is one of the most commonly seen points of failure in mobile projects

          The highest performing organisations are ones that focus on measuring their performance

          Mobile solutions are complex – without the right measurement approach you won’t know what works and what doesn’t

        Especially for pilots, set aside time to fully analyse results and outcomes

          It’s easy to fall into a trap where you just become very good at measuring things and generating KPIs

        Look for “leading indicators” to reduce measurement overhead

Best practice: Human factors & adoption

          Technology is a tool, not an end in itself

          Demystify the technology, but hide the complexity

          The importance of training

          Workers are influenced by their peers

          Bad news travels fast

IT in Housing

by Korina Glass 19. November 2009 15:32

igroup had a successful had a successful exhibition at IT in housing 2009 at Olympia, London. IT in Housing Conference and Exhibition is the UK’s premier IT event in the social housing sector, which offered an unparalleled opportunity for igroup to get in front IT and ICT directors and managers from the housing sector to help increase their efficiency and maximise mobile IT investments through showcasing Dynamic Forms, which proved to be a huge success.

Mobile IT Strategy

by Korina Glass 2. November 2009 16:37

}  The use of mobile devices is growing exponentially as companies look for new ways to support a workforce that requires easy, wireless access to forms and other documents in the field.

}  Without a solid investment in current business technologies, you can’t compete effectively in a global marketplace. }  Companies struggle to define a mobile IT strategy. }  They also find it difficult to identifying the right set of tools for managing mobile IT (MDM).}  Companies tend to start with the technology and work backwards from there, trying to solve business problems.

}  Finding the right option is imperative.

}  We are in an ‘info-centric’ era as we focus our IT plans and strategies around information rather than the computer.

What should a Mobile IT strategy look like?

}  Mobility should be at the core of any and all IT strategies going forward.

}   Increasingly distributed operations.

}   Hopefully Reduce legacy infrastructure costs.

}  Think through operational issues before finalising a strategy - management, support, security.

}  Pick the best toolset for the job, but keep growth in mind.

}  Handhelds will replace PCs for many but expect continuing evolution for the foreseeable future.

}  Build teams regardless of the physical distance between team members. 

Competitive Advantage from Strategy

}  The theme is one of continuous connectivity, where we can access data anywhere.

}  The main competitive advantage remaining today for any business, irrespective of industry, is the ability to obtain and act on information ahead of your competition.

}  Your ability to get information into the hands of people who need that information, and enable them to act on and interact with that information before the competition does, is what's going to make a difference in terms of business success.

Overview

}  The value that mobility brings to an enterprise is well known. It's difficult to imagine how an enterprise cannot benefit from access to information at any location at any time.

}  The company should ensure investments in mobile IT fulfil the desired objective of contributing to evolving the IT infrastructure to higher levels of enterprise mobility.

}  An enterprise mobile strategy should ensure that:

}  The fast-changing technology landscape does not result in investments becoming redundant.

}  The existing IT infrastructure can be leveraged to provide mobile solutions.

}  Implementation of mobility does not affect the performance and functionality of existing critical enterprise IT systems.  

The Competitive advantage of Mobile IT

by Korina Glass 25. October 2009 22:18

The only competitive advantage remaining today for any business, irrespective of what industry you’re in, irrespective of where you reside on this planet, is the ability to obtain and act on information ahead of your competition. No matter what business you’re in, whether it's oil and gas, whether you’re in healthcare, whether you’re a logistics company, it doesn’t make any difference. Your ability to get information into the hands of people who need that information, and enable them to act on and interact with that information before the competition can is what's going to make a difference in terms of business success.  So that should be a good motivator for you to start thinking about mobilising people. If they are out and about, working with customers directly involved in business activities, they need access to your network, they need access to IT resources, and they need to do it faster than the competition can. 

Core Objectives for Contemporary Mobility

 Minimise, if not eliminate, the behavioural and performance differences that exist between wire line and wireless capabilities: 

• Throughput

• Reliability/Availability

• Access to applications and data  

Wireless can do anything that wire can do, and without the need to find a place to plug in: 

• Location-independence, virtual office

Any application Extending mobile user base beyond service, sales, vertical markets, etc. 

The Future of IT…is in mobility 

• Mobilising all enterprise IT services and capabilities

• Wireless as the default or even primary vehicle

• Advances in technologies, standards, networks, devices

• As with wire (and just about everything else in business), the key is management

Maximise productivity – ease of use, transparency

Reduce costs – time saving, administration costs etc.