Network and Telecom Strategies Blog

Maximizing ROI for mobile applications - part 1

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Introduction

Thousands of ingenious, and sometimes frivolous, Apple iPhone applications have inspired developers to imagine new enterprise mobile applications. Inspiration is nice. But in this challenging economic environment, enterprises need to ask themselves how deployment of mobile applications will solve practical business problems and how they can maximize the return on investment (ROI) when developing mobile applications.

This post begins a three part series on maximizing ROI for mobile applications. Part 1 explains why mobile application development is so difficult and introduces three common deployment approaches. Part 2 will discuss the challenges and benefits of each approach. Finally, Part 3 will provide specific tips to help enterprises maximize mobile application ROI.

Mobile application deployment challenges

The worn out cliché that we live in a mobile world is nonetheless true. The executive road warrior, multitasking medical doctor, and airport hopping sales executive need continuous access to information. Whereas mobile workers once hoped for ubiquitous information access, they now demand it.

Unfortunately, satisfying these user demands is quite challenging. Mobile workers often need access to applications that require access to diverse back-end database systems and servers. Mobile cellular services have different throughput and latency performance characteristics that vary as the worker roams from place to place. Mobile device security and management capabilities are oftentimes insufficient to satisfy enterprise security policies. And finally, mobile device processors, form factors, graphical interfaces, operating systems, and development environments vary widely.

Thin client

There are three broadly defined approaches that enterprises commonly use to develop mobile applications. The most straightforward is the thin client approach. The thin client uses a mobile browser to access a server-resident enterprise application. The application relies upon the server’s hardware and software resources (CPU, memory, and operating system etc.). The mobile phone browser simply provides an interface to the application. The thin client requires a continuously active network connection in order to operate.

A related approach is to use a rich Internet application (RIA) framework on the mobile phone such as Java FX, Flash, mobile AJAX or Silverlight. Such frameworks provide an environment on the mobile phone within which developers can deploy more sophisticated applications. This approach blurs the distinction between a simple thin client application and a full-featured thick client application.

Thick client

The thick client approach is built upon full-featured, smartphone-resident software. The application relies upon the hardware and software resources of the mobile phone. The look and feel of the application is highly dependent upon the mobile device software development kit (SDK). The client uses the network to communicate with remotes servers and databases but it can function without a continuously active network connection using locally stored information. The enterpris must develop server side software that interacts with the smartphone resident thick client.

Enterprises develop thick client applications by using the development environment provided by mobile device manufacturers such as the RIM BlackBerry MDS, the Nokia Symbian OS, and the Apple SDK or by using mobile operating system vendors such as the Microsoft .NET CF for Windows Mobile.

Mobile middleware

The mobile middleware approach uses an abstraction layer that sits between the native mobile phone hardware/software and the enterprise application. Developers write their application using middleware application programming interfaces (APIs) instead of the native smartphone APIs. This approach improves application portability because the middleware APIs support a broad set of mobile hardware and software environments. The middleware also provides support for diverse back-end servers, databases, and communication systems.

Many of these mobile middleware solutions from companies such as Sybase iAnywhere, Dexterra, and Antenna software provide more than just an abstraction layer. They can also provide cross-platform security and device management features and may also package their own mobile applications (e.g., mobile email and instant messaging).

Next time

This post introduced three common approaches to mobile phone development. Each of the three approaches has their challenges and benefits. Part 2 of this series will analyze the challenges and benefits of each approach.

Mobile Unified Communication - part 2

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Introduction

The growth of mobile phone usage and the availability of desktop unified communication (UC) solutions has created an opportunity for vendors and service providers to introduce products and services that enable mobile users to access many of the same features that previously could only be accessed through a PC or fully-featured desktop IP telephone. These products and services enable enterprises to extend telephony features to their mobile users, while making mobile users more productive regardless of location. In part one of this blog we discussed the capabilities and issues with mobile UC products. In part two, we focus on mobile UC services.

PBX as a service

PBX as a service provides similar features as mobile extension products but are offered as hosted services that enable incoming call routing based on predefined rules. (Mobile extension products, discussed in part one, treat the mobile phone as if it were an enterprise phone extension and simply route calls to the mobile device.) Users sign up for the service, obtain telephone numbers that become their personal phone numbers, and then use web portals to manage how calls are routed.

PBX as a service solutions are telephony-system and phone independent, meaning that they can function in an enterprise environment regardless of the type of telephony system or the type of mobile phone. The value of this approach is that a customer can use a single number for all inbound calls, and the service then gives incoming callers instructions to ensure calls are routed properly to the mobile or desktop phone.

Solutions such as Grasshopper, RingCentral, VirtualPBX, and Onebox are targeted at small and medium sized businesses. They provide enterprise telephony features without the need to buy and maintain equipment and hire IT staff. Calls that use the service consume monthly minutes of use, similar to a mobile cellular plan. The Grasshopper’s high-end “Max” plan provides three toll free numbers, two local numbers and 10,000 minutes of use. This plan would enable 50 employees to consume 200 minutes of use every month.

Managed Mobile UC

Network operators have begun to offer a limited set of mobile UC managed services. Verizon’s Managed Unified Communication and Collaboration service is based on Cisco’s Unified Communications System. British Telecom (BT) has partnered with Cisco, Avaya, and OnRelay to offer several UC services. Orange’s Business Together service provides a managed Microsoft Office Communications Server plan.

Some operators provide special rate plans and call routing for mobile phones. AT&T’s OfficeReach solution can extend an enterprise dialing plan to mobile phones (e.g., four-digit dialing) and can also designate a geographical region (e.g., United States) as a single calling zone. Sprint’s Mobile Integration Service provides unlimited enterprise calling for mobile phones and can route international mobile calls through trunks off the premises-based PBX, saving per-minute international roaming costs.

Many of the network operators offer a mobile extension service (e.g., Verizon PBX mobile extension, Sprint mobile extension, and AT&T mobile extension services). These services extend the enterprises’s PBX capabilities in much the same way that PBX vendors extend their premises systems, except that the network operator manages the solution. The service is a natural extension for enterprises that already use one or more of the operator’s other managed services.

Mobile UC Issues

The challenge with mobile operator services is three-fold. First, the service is under the control of the network operator and many large enterprises will want to fully control a technology as critical as mobile UC. Secondly, recent Burton Group research found that many enterprises view network operators as unresponsive and inflexible. Lastly, many enterprises can save money by operating their own equipment because large enterprises often have the same economies of scale as network operators. 

Conclusion

Mobile unified communications (UC) products and services enable enterprises to extend the benefits of UC to mobile users. Mobile UC capabilities vary widely and are highly dependent on which product, service, and mobile phone the enterprise selects. Enterprises should carefully evaluate mobile UC products and services in order to make informed decisions as to which solutions are most appropriate for them.

Mobile Unified Communication - part 1

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Individuals increasingly work from nontraditional office environments and expect to use their mobile phones wherever they work. At the same time that the mobile workforce is growing, enterprises are deploying Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony (IPT) and unified communications (UC) solutions. IPT systems provide new capabilities to virtualize communications across the enterprise, breaking the linkage between a user and a single physical telephone. UC integrates many forms of communication such as email, voice, instant messaging, and presence across various hardware and software platforms and also integrates communication into business applications and processes. Many organizations have begun the process of integrating their various communications applications and services.

Isolated Mobile Users

Unfortunately, the mobile phone user still largely operates outside of this environment. For most people, the mobile telephone is simply a means to make and receive phone calls, nothing more.  Smartphones—such as the iPhone, BlackBerry Storm, or those based on Windows Mobile—may offer additional features such as mobile messaging and calendar synchronization, but they lack the ability to offer mobile users the same access to communications services offered by a desktop phone in their office. In effect, the mobile phone operates outside of the enterprise private branch exchange (PBX) or telephony service.

These mobile users must endure numerous inconveniences that include dependence upon two phones (desktop and mobile), two phone numbers, two voice mailboxes, and two contact directories. When a user is away from their desk, a call to the desktop phone can result in a missed call, voice mail, and caller frustration. Similarly, a call to the mobile phone when the user is busy can result in voice mail, but in a different voice mail system, frustrating both caller and user. In addition, mobile users do not have access to corporate phone directories and they must often use full 10-digit dialing when calling another employee who may only be down the hall.

Emergence of Mobile UC Products

Numerous vendors are introducing products to enable mobile users to access many of the same features and services that previously could only be accessed through a PC or fully-featured desktop IP telephone. The goal is to enable enterprises to extend telephony features to their mobile users, while making mobile users more productive regardless of location. Some products take advantage of the increasing intelligence of the mobile phone, while others insert themselves between the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and users’ various communications services.

Current product offerings in the mobile UC space are widely disparate. Some products provide a high level of integration between mobile phones and enterprise communications applications (such as presence management, voicemail, and conferencing systems), while others are simply designed to give users more options in how they receive incoming calls.

Three well-defined classes of products have emerged, though specific product capabilities within each class vary by vendor (and by mobile platform within a particular vendor’s solution). The three classes are:

• Mobile extension solutions that intercept incoming calls and route them to the preferred device. Mobile extension solutions treat the mobile device as if it were an enterprise phone extension. Examples include Avaya’s Extension to Cellular, Mitel’s Dynamic Extension, and Nortel’s Mobile Extension.
• Mobile client solutions that rely on phone-based clients to enable users to manage their personal communications services and also give the enterprise the ability to remotely manage phones. Mobile client solutions rely on an application server to act as a proxy between the client on the phone and the various enterprise communications applications. Examples include Siemens’ Openscape MobileConnect, Cicso’s Unified Mobile Communicator, and Avaya’s One-X Mobile.
• Mobile Wi-Fi solutions that rely on dual-mode phones (mobile cellular and WiFi) and phone-based clients to enable users to seamlessly roam between wireless LAN (WLAN) and cellular networks. Examples include Agito’s RoamAnywhere, and Divitas’ Mobile Unified Communication.

Mobile UC Issues

Perhaps the biggest issue is the limitations of the products themselves. Mobile extension features are limited to the routing of phone calls; they do not provide for a phone-based client that can access applications such as a visual menu of voicemail messages, nor do they give users the ability to change their presence information via the phone.

Mobile Client and Mobile Wi-Fi solutions generally provide a richer set of features, but capabilities among systems vary greatly and, perhaps more importantly, capabilities will vary based on both handset and service provider. For example, products like RIM’s Mobile Voice System Client only support BlackBerry devices.

What these limitations mean is that it is difficult for an enterprise to deliver a service that supports all handsets that employees are likely to have. Rather, the enterprise can only support a limited number of user devices, meaning that at some level, the enterprise will likely have to dictate policies for mobile telephones. This will either limit user choice or require that users with nonstandard mobile phones obtain new devices.

Conclusion

Mobile unified communication (UC) products offer enterprises the ability to integrate mobile devices with their Internet Protocol Telephony (IPT) and UC systems. These solutions give employees the ability to enjoy many of the same features on their mobile phones that previously were only available on desktop phones and softphones. Products vary greatly among vendors and mobile devices. Over time, mobile UC will become a standard feature of enterprise IPT/UC systems. Enterprises should carefully evaluate mobile UC products in order to make informed decisions as to which solutions to deploy.

Will netbooks replace laptops?

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

I think that we are seeing the emergence of a new product category that expands the market for mobile computing (i.e., netbooks & laptops coexist) rather than a new product category that replaces the laptop. Netbooks are great for mobile computing and communication but their small disk size, limited internal memory, and relatively slow processing speeds make them underpowered for many users.

Cost conscious enterprise users, that do not have heavy computing needs, will buy netbooks. We will also see enterprises move to data center computing with virtualized operating systems on netbooks as a way to provide greater control over data leakage.

Lastly, mobile power users will own a laptop, netbook, and smartphone. For short trips, the laptop will remain in the office while the netbook/smartphone travels on the road. The netbook will be used for email, web browsing, light word processing and spreadsheet manipulating. The mobile phone will primarily be used voice, IM, email, twitter.

The interesting question is whether or not the smart phone becomes powerful enough that it can replace the netbook. This might occur if projected keyboards and projected screens become popular on the smartphone. However, in the next few years, I don’t see this happening.

Click here for more information on netbooks.

iPhone 3Gs and Release 3.0 - my thoughts

posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Apple announced the iPhone 3Gs and release 3.0 today. The iPhone 3Gs will be available in about a week.The 16 GB version is $199, the 32 GB version is $299. The older iPhone 3G price drops to $99. (Note the pricing caveat at the bottom!)Release 3.0 is a free upgrade. Here is my take:

What I like :-)

Hardware encryption – Finally! An enterprise can perform iPhone encryption. Expect to see 3^rd party security applications take advantage of this capability in the near future.

Instantaneous remote-wipe – An essential capability for any enterprise. Expect to see 3^rd party management applications like Trust Digital and Credant to support this capability in the near future.

Supports HSPA+ (7.2Mpbs download) – Nice, but the REAL question is WHEN will AT&T improve overall wireless performance (Radio Access Network AND backhaul network) so that the end user experiences a significant performance boost?

iPhone tethering – This allows a laptop or PC to use the 3G network for communication. Unfortunately, AT&T is not supporting this feature!

Apps load/run 2- 3 times faster – Who doesn’t love this?

Improved battery life – WiFi-9 hrs, audio-30 hrs, video-10hrs – This is good, but 3G talk time did not improve (still 5 hours) and 2G talk time improved a little (5 to 7 hours).

Voice activated commands (includes voice activated dialing) – This is a “me too” feature that Apple has integrated into other apps (not just voice dialing).

Video camera and embedded compass – These are nice, but not really necessary for the enterprise.

Remote control of 3^rd party hardware – Release 3.0 now allows software developers to create wireless protocols that operate between the iPhone and 3rd party hardware.  At the WWDC today, Apple showed an iPhone communicating with Johnson and Johnson a heart monitor.  This capability allows enterprises to develop custom applications that integrate the iPhone with their products.

Cut and paste – Finally!

MMS – Finally! (But, AT&T will not have this capability until Fall 2009). 

What I don’t like :-(

Poor iPhone provisioning – The iPhone does not yet support real “over the air” provisioning.  If an IT department wants to provision an iPhone (3G or 3Gs), they need to email the configuration profile to the user and then the user installs the profile. Alternatively, an IT department can email /text a URL to each user and then the user needs to click on the URL to initiate profile installation.  This is kind of kludgy because it requires end user intervention. I prefer this capability to be under IT control.

No SDRAM slot – Can’t add more memory ingdings

No user-facing video camera – No video conferencing yet!

Expensive upgrade– For existing AT&T customers who want to replace an iPhone 3G, the price with a new two-year agreement is $599 (16GB), or $699 (32GB)!

All in all, this is a good step forward and will put further pressure on IT departments to support the iPhone.

Clarifying Wi-Fi Gobbledigook

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

One of the problems that enterprise customers unfortunately endure is the endless stream of vendor-invented wireless terminology. Vendors use this techno-jargon marketing-speak to differentiate themselves but oftentimes the terminology simply confuses customers. So, over the last month I’ve been working on a W-Fi lexicon with Joanie Wexler (a well known wireless journalist) and Devin Akin (CTO for the Certified Wireless Network Professional organization). The Lexicon is intended to clarify terminology using plain english and vendor-neutral descriptions.  The document is freely distributed and will be updated from time to time.

If you would like to read the document then click here: Lexicon_FINAL POST.

My wicked bad Verizon adventure

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

I normally focus my blog entries on wireless and mobility issues, but today I must digress and tell you about my wicked bad Verizon adventure. For those of you who are not from the greater Boston area, the word “wicked” is local vernacular for “very”, as in, “The new Star Trek movie was wicked good!”

My sad story begins on Wednesday when business associates began asking me, “Hey Paul, did you leave the Burton Group?” Apparently, when they dialed my business number Verizon no longer rang my phone, but instead, rang a phone at Caldwell Banker. Sure enough, when I dialed my number, I was connected to a very nice lady at Caldwell Banker (Roxanne) who had been receiving all of my phone calls. To my great surprise, Roxanne was very sympathetic and offered to refer all incoming callers to my mobile phone number. How many people would take the time to do that?

Naturally, I figured a simple call to Verizon customer support would resolve the problem. Well, I was sadly mistaken. I was informed that my phone number had been transferred to another telecommunications carrier! “But who authorized that action, I asked?” They did not know. All they knew was that someone authorized the transfer and therefore they disconnected my phone service.

I was stunned. How could this happen? Who was responsible? Who was going to take ownership of this problem and resolve it? The response:
“Mr. DeBeasi, it will take us 8 business days to restore your service”. This was totally unacceptable. I receive phone calls on that number throughout the day. I told Verizon that I need my service reactivated within hours, not days or weeks.

During the next 1 ½ hours on the phone, Verizon had me re-apply for phone service (including a new credit check) as if I was a totally new customer. After waiting on hold for what seemed like eternity, they assured me that everything would be copacetic by the following day (Thursday). Ok, I could live with that.

Unfortunately, Thursday came and went and the phone service was still not active! On Friday morning I called Verizon again. Of course, I had to navigate through five minutes of questions from a hyper-friendly automated attendant before I was connected to a living human being. Naturally, there was no record of my previous conversation so I had to explain the entire situation over again. Arrrg! Finally, after a lengthy wait on hold, the customer service representative informed me the repair work could not be completed until June 12.

“What! That is 1 month from now”, I said. The very friendly representative said he would see what he could do and would call me back. At this point I was ready to blow a gasket. This situation was going from bad to worse. I then contemplated a call to the Massachusetts Public Utility Commission, the Better Business Bureau, and the Massachusetts Attorney General.

However, to my surprise, I received a call from Roxanne at Caldwell Banker again. She told me that Verizon had just called her to say that they figured out how to solve the problem with my phone service. I guess that was good news. Shouldn’t Verizon have called me? Whatever! All I really cared about was that they activate my service. Well, to my surprise, Verizon activated my phone service early Friday afternoon and all was happy again in the Beantown suburb of Milford.

As I contemplated the previous three days, I asked myself if I had learned anything from this experience. Well, I learned how dependent I am on my traditional landline phone service. Although I have a mobile phone, many of my incoming calls still go to my landline phone. Secondly, I realized that subconsciously I felt ownership toward “my” phone number. I was appalled that Verizon gave my number to another telecommunications carrier! Lastly, I learned that a simple friendly gesture can mean a lot.

Thank you Roxanne. You made my day!

Enterprise mobile messaging services

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Occasionally I am asked the question “Do you know of any enterprise SMS text messaging services?” Or, “Should I build my own SMS text messaging system? ”Well, the short answers are “yes” and “no”. There are many SMS text-messaging services available. Some are small web-based SMS resellers, others are telecom carrier solutions, and finally there are enterprise-oriented solutions.

Questions

When looking for enterprise SMS text messaging service providers you should ask the following questions:

• Enterprise clients – Can the company demonstrate that they have large corporate clients? Better yet, do they have first responder clients such as police, fire, and ambulance clients? If so, they are likely to be able to provide scalable and reliable service.
• Service level agreements – Does the company provide service level agreements? Will they provide you a written refund guarantee in the event of missed delivery?
• Audit trail reporting – Will the company provide delivery-tracking reports for every message sent and received?
• Customer support – Does the company provide 24 hour, seven day per week, 365 day per year telephone support?

Features

There are several important features that many enterprises should consider:

• Application programming interface (API) – An API will allow you to integrate the text messaging system with enterprise applications or even with your own custom application.
• Eco-system of partners – An ecosystem of partners can provide you with access to off-the-shelf applications that work with the text messaging API, as well as development partners that can assist you with custom API development.
• Marketing campaign management - If you plan to use the text messaging system for marketing campaigns than you want to be sure that the service provide can offer features such as short code support, keyword management, opt in and opt out support, and detailed campaign reporting, etc.

Enterprise service providers

The list below provides a partial list of enterprise oriented SMS text messaging service providers. Readers should use this list as a starting point for their research to find the service provider that best meets their needs.

mBlox www.mblox.com

MessageMedia – www.message-media.com

Sybase 365 – http://www.sybase.com/365

Air2Web – www.air2web.com

Clickatell – www.clickatell.com

Text Messaging Center – www.tmcsms.com

Are your wireless engineers certified?

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Yesterday Xirrus announced that they have adopted the Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) training and certification program offered by CWNP. This is a smart move by Xirrus and I wish more enterprises would encourage their network engineers to become certified using CWNP. I am currently working my way through the CWNA study guide. The self study guide is excellent.

Every network engineer would be well advised to get certified. Even experienced network engineers may have "holes" in their knowledge base. In addition, the cost for this vendor-neutral training is very reasonable (only $200 for the study guide, online practice test, and voucher for the on-site certification).

I frequently talk with large enterprises that are willing to invest million of dollars in wireless equipment but never consider an investment in the people that need to maintain that equipment. So, don't forget to invest in your network engineers. As your enterprise becomes more reliant on a wireless infrastructure, it will also become more reliant on your network engineers. An investment in training and certification will payoff the first time you have a WLAN problem.

Mobility generational gap

Posted by: Paul DeBeasi

Younger workers are pushing many enterprises to embrace mobility solutions. These younger workers are often referred to as Gen-Y. However, since there is no precise definition for the Gen-Y cohort, I simply use the term “younger workers” in this post. Younger workers prefer instant/text messaging instead of e-mail, and they frequently use social networking services like Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster. They often prefer to use personal, consumer-oriented, devices (both laptops and handhelds) in the work environment and they adapt quickly to new technology.

In contrast, enterprises often describe how their older workers are sometimes slow to accept mobility solutions and how they rely almost entirely upon voice communications and e-mail. These workers often don’t see the benefit of instant messaging, and social networking. Interestingly, older workers are often in positions of authority that control staffing and budget, and they can therefore greatly influence mobility policy.

These different points of view between younger and older workers have created a mobility generational gap. Older workers sometimes see younger workers as being “spoiled” or “entitled”. Conversely, younger workers sometimes see older workers as a barrier to progress.

Enterprises should recognize the fact that a mobility generational gap can exist even between groups of younger workers, where there is as little as 5 years difference in age. This is because the Internet, mobile cellular services, mobile devices, social networking, wireless technology, and online usage norms, have evolved rapidly over the last 5 – 10 years. This can lead to a situation where some workers become “mobility laggards” while an advanced group of workers become “mobility leaders”.

It is not surprising that younger workers are more likely to take advantage of mobile services since they grew up in a world of pervasive mobile communication. However, it is interesting to see the degree to which age-based differences in mobility usage, proficiency, and expectations can create problems within the enterprise. In my discussions with enterprises I sense frustration and even shielded animosity that some employees have toward their co-workers.

Two distinct groups characterize the mobility generational gap. One group is comfortable with mobile technology, and uses that technology to integrate work and professional lives. The other group is less comfortable with the technology and tends to compartmentalize work and professional lives. As more mobile-savvy younger workers enter the workforce, the mobility generational gap will widen. As it widens, both groups may become more disconnected and distrusting of each other.

Enterprises should consider the following recommendations:

• Recognize the extent to which a mobility generational gap exists in their workplace, and then put programs in place, such as mobility training, to help employees become proficient with mobile technology and services.

• Re-think device use policies and take into consideration the expectations of younger workers for ubiquitous information access, collaboration services, and personal device usage within the enterprise.

• Learn to manage and secure sensitive data on personal, consumer-oriented, devices. Carefully evaluate risk tolerance for each consumer device under consideration.