Deploying Effective Mobile BI in the Workplace

In laymen terms, Business Intelligence (or BI) refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, digging-out, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments and associated costs and incomes. Mobile Business Intelligence (Mobile BI) refers to the distribution of this data to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Mobile BI is gaining a lot of momentum due to the change from the ‘wired world’ to a wireless world and the advantages of smartphones and tablets which has led to a new era of mobile computing. Mobile BI can help business but it means balancing business demands for mobile flexibility with your IT environment and it must be implemented with careful planning.
Major drivers for mobile BI are increased productivity, closer customer interaction and lower costs. If implemented properly, you can: - Improve employee productivity by re-architecting processes for the mobile environment while delivering relevant and up-to-date information - Increase customer engagement with immersive yet secure mobile applications for a better customer experience - Reduce operational cost by enabling users with devices of their choice. This can mean a combination of Android, iPhones, Windows and Blackberries and different tablets depending on the business requirements - Manage risk by providing user-based, secured access to corporate assets. It is important to really understand who needs mobile BI, what information will be accessed, what will be done with that information. We can help you in maintaining the delicate balance between addressing user needs and IT capabilities by facilitating dialogue in your company to ensure that mobile initiatives truly reflect your business need. Also, we can recommend alternatives to ensure that the appropriate technology is in place to support this. A single mobile app alone cannot fulfill all business objectives and needs. Nor is it feasible to assume that an in-house enterprise application can be deployed in the mobile space without an appreciation for the smaller screen size of smartphones and tablets. Mobile initiatives today require a collaboration of strategic planning, budgeting, research, prototyping and testing. Mobile undertakings need to be iterative and agile- we can help here. We help clients to achieve Mobile BI by: - Recommending industry-standard centralized outsourcing services for virtualized environments - Assessing your legacy, primary system interfaces and integrating latest mobile technology - Securing the user, not just the device, with user authentication and biometric solutions - Providing device management options to manage, monitor, support and secure the client’s mobile device environment (comprising multiple platforms - iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone) in a cost-effective manner. It is also important to acknowledge that the user is at the heart of the solution. We ensure that only the right people access the right information, in the right way, at the right time, and at the right location. Mobile Business Intelligence is more than just accessing enterprise data remotely; you can do it now simply with direct access or secure Citrix-type services and a laptop or home computer. Offering mobile BI is providing your mobile workers with intelligent data so that they can make more informed decisions and interact better with their clients. By providing mobile BI, you are providing users a competitive edge for doing business better when mobile.