A Leap Forward

Indian enterprises are matching footsteps with global standards, in terms of

providing quality communication facilities to its employees who are on the move.

As the number of mobile executives is going north, enterprises are leaving no

stone unturned to make sure the executives are available all the time, and have

access to critical data. As a result, the demand for mobile enterprise

applications and devices is going up.

An IDC study forecasts strong growth for the worldwide mobile enterprise

application (MEA) market. According to the study, the mobile enterprise

application market reached $1.2 bn in 2005. IDC forecasts that this market will

grow to $3.5 bn in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of

23%

The agency believes that various factors are driving its growth, including

varying requirements for application functionality and data based on employee

role and time criticality, ability for carriers, device manufacturers, ISVs, and

system integrators to provide packaged solutions to end-user organizations.Also,

operational efficiencies relate to mobility and horizontal deployments across

organizations that drive collaborative, customer relationship management (CRM)

applications.

The trend is catching up fast in India, as large enterprises are adopting

mobile intranet to run various applications. Mobile intranet provides users with

quick and up-to-date access to a wide variety of information resources while on

the move. At the same time, it provides the ability to share files and

communications within the organization. Information-sharing technologies are

powerfully integrated within a lowcost system, increasing productivity and

efficiency. Industry experts believe that the usage of mobile intranet will grow

by 30-40% in the next three years. The arrival of 3G services will further boost

the demand of mobile intranet applications as well as devices.

Intranet



An intranet is an external website which utilizes widely available Internet

technology to enhance the efficiency of internal exchange and distribution of

corporate information. Most companies require publication and distribution of

several types of internal documentation, such as-office and phone directories,

human resources information, company policy, manuals, expense reports,

newsletters, bulletin, memos, etc. The cost of printing, duplication and

distribution of these vital information materials can run from about $50-100 per

employee per year.

“Intranets dramatically reduce the cost and time of content development,

duplication, distribution and usage of corporate information, and in many

instances, can help large organizations save quite a bit of money in a

relatively short period,” says Ramesh Sundararaman, head, mobile computing

business, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions. A recent study conducted by

the US Computer and Sun's Intranet Commerce Group reports that web technologies

can reduce internal corporate networking costs by as much as $11 mn over four

years.

Corporate cost can be reduced precisely because the intranet relies on the

same open standards which the Internet is based upon. Web browsers used to surf

the net are platform-independent, serving to unify different systems into a

single information architecture. Documents can be created, distributed,

retrieved, and displayed on any computer regardless of the user system, and

regardless of the user system on which the document was created.

With a single user-interface for retrieving and displaying corporate data,

the task of duplication and distribution is already simplified. Enterprises no

longer have to worry about creating multiple versions of documents for different

operating systems, nor do they need to consider when to republish and

redistribute materials for specific groups. Distribution of information can be

automated, or can be viewed by individuals within a specific department through

hyperlinks on departmental web pages.

“Intranets can save large organizations quite a bit of money in a relatively short time” Ramesh Sundararaman, head, mobile computing business, Motorola Enterprise Mobility Solutions	“In the next three years, I see the level of adoption growing to 40% of smatphone users” Prabha Aithal, chief technical officer, CanvasM

The Growing Demand



The adoption level of mobile intranet based applications is increasing in

India. Not only large enterprises, but government sectors are also increasingly

showing keen interest in mobile intranet services. The India Railways is doing a

few pilot projects to start mobile ticketing in trains and coach management. The

ticket collector will be given a handheld device on which he can issue a ticket

in the train itself. Further, he would be able to check the current booking

status in the train. The device will run on intranet. Similarly, the Department

of Post in a bid to give competition to the courier operators, is also looking

forward to make its employee more efficient. Some of the big retailers, courier

service providers, and pharma companies have adopted mobile enterprise

application to match the latest global standard.

Wal-mart, Coca-Cola, and Nestle Malaysia are few of the global giants using

mobile intranet based application for better results. Vodafone Retail, last

year, revolutionized its store communications in England with an intranet

service that is accessible via its employees' mobile phones. The news and

information service enabled two-way communication between Vodafone's head office

and store retail teams in its outlets. Previously, communication with store

staff regarding sales targets, incentives, corporate announcements and HR issues

were done by making phone calls, sending faxes, and through paper bulletins.

However, with enterprise applications, shop staff started receiving and

submiting information on a range of formats, including WAP, SMS, video, and MMS.

Some the devices are compatible enough to run on 3G and 3.5G as well.

The demand for mobile enterprise applications will fuel the demand for mobile

enterprise devices as well. The global market size of mobile computing devices

is $3.5 bn. Of that, 20% would be of the Indian market. Experts see a growth

rate of 20-30% in the next three years.

“We are expecting a growth of 20-30 % in the mobile enterprise devices.

Organized retail, logistics, and transportation are some of the hot segments.

The government sector is also opening up in India. The Indian Railways, the

Department of Posts, and police are the departments looking forward to such

applications to increase their efficiency. These devices could be used for

e-government project as well” points out Sundararaman.

These devices could run on GRPS, GSM, EDGE, HSDA, and WCDMA network. The

devices are also compatible to 3G and 3.5G network.



To give operating comfort, these devices are made touch-sensitive, as keyboard
could not be used while on move.

The Bottlenecks



The adoption level for mobile enterprise applications is currently very low

in India. Out of the total number of mobile phone users in India, 10% have

smartphones, on which these applications can't be run. Of the total number of

smartphone users, only 5% use mobile intranet to access information while on

move. Industry experts believe that the market would soon catch up global trends

as enterprises are willing to spend on increasing the efficiency of their

employees, while at the same time delivering best to their customers in shortest

time. The RoI of mobile intranet is good, however, opex increases to 10% of the

overall IT budget of the company.

“The 3G spectrum auction has been announced and private players would start

the service in one year. This will increase the demand for mobile intranet based

applications as some of them could be run on 3G platforms only. In the next

three years, I see the level of adoption growing to 40% of smatphone user” says

Prabha Aithal, chief technical officer, CanvasM.

However, enterprises in India have some reservation of allowing access of

information to their employees on the move, fearing data theft. The BFSI

industry has some regulatory issues which do not allow employees to access

critical official data if they are not in office. The application devices have

to be HIPAA and PIC certified with PIC norms to be used by the BFSI industry.The

health industry has also raised its concerns about leakage of medical history of

patients.

“Every organization has a different need for usage of mobile intranet

applications. We have to first understand the need and then develop the

application, so that it could be completely and effectively utilized “ explains

Sundararaman.

The biggest challenge is to design application for devices as per the need of

customers. One has to understand the need of customers, and design products

which stand up to the desired need of an enterprise.

Akhilesh Shukla



akhileshs@cybermedia.co.in