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Why You Need a Mobile Center of ExcellenceWhy You Need a Mobile Center of Excellence

Tune in to our latest No Jitter On Air podcast episode for expert insight on why enterprises fail on mobility, and how to get it right.

Beth Schultz

June 5, 2017

3 Min Read
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If I were to tell you that your enterprise must have a mobility strategy in place in order to be competitive, you wouldn't bat an eye. After talking about the possibility for years, the ability for employees to be able to communicate at any time, from anywhere, and whether using smartphone, tablet, or laptop, is at long last, here in mid-2017, a critical corporate success factor.

That said, ask an enterprise its priority for mobility, and chances are you'll hear about creating some sort of mobile app rather than about facilitating communications and collaboration for the mobile workforce. As Tony Rizzo, enterprise mobility specialist with Blue Hill Research, a research and advisory firm, explained in our most recent No Jitter On Air podcast episode: "It's often the case that enterprises have this understanding that they need to be mobile but they haven't figured out what it means to be mobile. What are the benefits? It's not just my reaching out to that person out in the field and having that person reach back to me, it's the ability to collaborate with many people in real time to solve real-world problems as they emerge."

What a failure to see the big picture means, he added, is that rather than hitting the "sweet spot," many enterprises end up with the "kiss of death."

When it comes to mobility, enterprises tend to fall into pilot projects -- i.e., some line-of-business manager has an idea, and IT then spends the next two years seeing if that idea will pan out. But, as Rizzo said of today's competitive demands, "there's no such thing as being able to spend a couple of years on a mobile project." Rather, "you have to be able to deliver that project in 60 days, or 90 days, and do it again and again and again until your entire workforce is really delivering on those promises of mobility."

To be successful, enterprises need what Rizzo called a "game plan of holistic mobility" that offers good enough security, ease of use, and a frictionless user experience. "Users need to be able to simply use a smartphone or laptop or other device in a way that is a natural function of what they do every day without them having to think about it. These are things people need to understand as they embrace mobility -- not just that, 'Oh, let's build a mobile app!' That's the last thing that a company needs to think about first."

Click on the player below to hear Rizzo's advice on how enterprises can best move forward in creating winning mobile strategies. You'll learn why:

  • IT, the line of business, and finance all need to be involved in enterprise mobility planning from the get-go

  • The push for enterprise mobility needs to come from the top down, and not the bottom up

  • A focus on communications and collaboration is so important

  • Your organization needs a "mobility center of excellence

Catch up with No Jitter On Air here, and hear expert discussions on topics such a cloud communications architectures, communications APIs, and cloud video services. A few of our listener favorites include:

  • "UCaaS Scorecard: Rating the Market Leaders," with Diane Myers of HIS Markit

  • "Cloud Contact Center: The New Normal?" with Sheila McGee-Smith of McGee-Smith Analytics

  • "SBC ABCs... & Then Some," with Andrew Prokop, of Arrow Systems Integration

And stay tuned for our next episode, when we'll be talking with Hyoun Park, founder of Amalgam Insight, on the latest in telecom expense management.

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About the Author

Beth Schultz

In her role at Metrigy, Beth Schultz manages research operations, conducts primary research and analysis to provide metrics-based guidance for IT, customer experience, and business decision makers. Additionally, Beth manages the firm’s multimedia thought leadership content.

With more than 30 years in the IT media and events business, Beth is a well-known industry influencer, speaker, and creator of compelling content. She brings to Metrigy a wealth of industry knowledge from her more than three decades of coverage of the rapidly changing areas of digital transformation and the digital workplace.

Most recently, Beth was with Informa Tech, where for seven years she served as program co-chair for Enterprise Connect, the leading independent conference and exhibition for the unified communications and customer experience industries, and editor in chief of the companion No Jitter media site. While with Informa Tech, Beth also oversaw the development and launch of WorkSpace Connect, a multidisciplinary media site providing thought leadership for IT, HR, and facilities/real estate managers responsible for creating collaborative, connected workplaces.

Over the years, Beth has worked at a number of other technology news organizations, including All Analytics, Network World, CommunicationsWeek, and Telephony Magazine. In these positions, she has earned more than a dozen national and regional editorial excellence awards from American Business Media, American Society of Business Press Editors, Folio.net, and others.

Beth has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and lives in Chicago.