If you think the Internet was revolutionary, just wait to see how mobile technology will change the world.

You won’t have to wait long, said Alex Bratton, founder of Lextech Global Services and Lextech Labs.

Bratton outlined the changes mobile technology has made — and has the potential to make — to nearly 250 students and professionals interested in developing applications for smartphones and other mobile devices.

Read the full story at The News-Gazette.

CommScope is a Fortune 1000 company that has played a role in virtually all the world’s best communication networks. Their portfolio of end-to-end solutions includes critical infrastructure to build high-performing wired and wireless networks, like the network set up for the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

Problem

The CommScope sales force needed a way to show off their network infrastructure solutions at industry events and sales meetings, without carrying around bulky AV equipment or heavy product catalogs. They also wanted to increase sales by making it easy for prospects to see how individual products fit together to create a complete solution.

Solution

The cSolutions℠ app for iPad® arms the CommScope team with an easy-to-use, attractive tool to demonstrate and explain products to prospects. The app also serves as a reference for field service employees to look up detailed product information while performing installations at customer locations.

Some app features include 360° interactive product views, rich media galleries and interior product views.

Client Feedback

“The app has been very well received within our organization. It has the ‘WOW’ factor. In working with Lextech, we didn’t just get a great app. We got a partner to help educate our team about the mobile app design and development process.”

-  Bob Vonderheide, Manager of Web Development at CommScope

 

The weekly show hosted by Nancy Munro and Allison Black of KnowledgeShift (a technology learning firm) covers tools and techniques used for corporate training and education projects.

During the show, Alex will be taking calls from listeners with questions about the role mobile plays in training and the enterprise. Have a question? Call 917-889-2833 during the show tomorrow.

Tune in!

In 2012:

Focus on Device Security, Whereabouts, Replenishment, Rollout, Configuration, etc.:
Now that a number of large enterprise organizations have had a chance to experiment, select their preferred MDM / MAM partner and even perhaps release a few internal applications into the wild, we believe more attention will be paid to locking down devices, minimizing loss / theft and accelerating the speed in which replacement devices are configured, provisioned and distributed to end users. Look for this in warehouse / inventory settings, retail stores and any other location that might introduce an element of theft / loss for expensive and shiny toys like the iPad.

More Advanced Planning of Voice Control Capabilities:
We are already starting to see this but predict a much bigger jump in conversation, planning and go-forward adoption of voice control in the enterprise. While we don’t imagine this replacing any touch and/or cursor-oriented navigation and interface control in 2012, we definitely envision it being added as an additional option within applications intended to accelerate navigation, provide for an additional vehicle for data entry and encourage less-savvy users with convenience and control via voice.

Location-Centric Functionality for Global Users: A majority of the enterprise applications we’ve been privy to focus on the U.S. business user, first. We see this changing rapidly soon after organizations release their first application iterations. With the potential for workforce impact so high, there will be no choice but to expend time and energy working towards locale-specific presentation optimizations as well as regional and/or user-specific features.

Increased Use of Video Collaboration:
Much like Siri, a number of enterprises thirst for video collaboration and conferencing capabilities within custom business applications. Irrespective of the underlying technology solution, organizations are dreaming of ways to extend their workforce presence visually for more effective communication with fellow field colleagues, clients and partners.

Mobile as a Replacement for Existing Systems, Apps and Legacy Processes:
This may be the most challenging of the bunch but it is indeed inevitable for a majority of the business community. Mobile has an interesting way of bringing stakeholders together and forcing uncomfortable discussions, ultimately resulting in the resolution of flawed processes, questioning and/or improvement of historical processes and leading the business towards more profitable IT and technology endeavors. While this will take time, effort, cultivation and growth — we anticipate 2012 to be the year where all bets are off and everything is up for discussion and potential improvement / re-think.

Mobile-First Application Design in the Enterprise:
A refreshingly new trend that we’re beginning to see is the interest in focusing on the mobile business use case first, rather than as an afterthought.

Other suggested reading:

GigaOM: ‘year in mobile apps’ retrospective
TabTimes: Steven Lang: In the enteprise, tablets are opening eyes and furrowing eyebrows

Jonathan Ozeran
Mobile Technology Strategist, Lextech Global Services
@jozeran

In 2011:

The Continued Rise of MDM & MAM:
Mobile device and application management have begun in earnest to shape conversations happening at the enterprise IT water cooler. From distribution methods to data security to replenishing lost/stolen/misplaced devices, the prevalence of modern smartphones and tablets available as a tool is growing rapidly. The much-deserved credit goes to friends at organizations like AirWatch, MobileIron, JAMF Software and Apperian for making this a simpler feat than it would be in their absence.

Employee Demand for Access to Apps In The Workplace:
Last year, we noticed a strong interest in simply having access to existing App Store apps in a workplace environment. Rather than use personal credentials and work through the hassle of expensing App Store purchases, the workforce is looking to IT for a solution that will help them acquire, manage and maintain their application licenses. Fortunately, download and redemption capabilities are becoming more common in device and application management service offerings.

Developing Applications with the Intent to Go Globally:
For organizations with global operations, content localization within applications was often treated as a nice-to-have feature and de-prioritized for a future iteration. We’re eager to hear more about localization becoming commonplace within business & enterprise applications, which should ultimately drive an increase in the number of end users adopting these applications in the workforce.

Gaining an Understanding of Voice Control / Siri:
Since the release of Siri on iOS, business users and technical users alike have asked when they might be able to take advantage of this new capability within custom apps. While no one knows the answer to that question, the interest is present in the enterprise and the curiosity to experiment with Siri as-is is still exciting and new to a large segment of the workforce. We are eager to see a shift from mere personal productivity enhancer to more efficient data capture capabilities in business apps.

Apps that Augment Existing Systems:
Rather than start down the path of replacing existing desktop, browser-based and even mainframe clients, we observed quite a bit of focus on adding mobile applications into the mix. Often times they were offered as an additional data entry or data retrieval method, rather than a replacement to existing legacy and/or antiquated processes.

Mobile Product Design Based Upon Existing Apps (Read: “Me Too” App Design):
Unfortunately, we also noticed an ugly trend in which there was interest in merely developing a mobile app product for the sake of having something in-hand. An overwhelming trend towards developing and releasing something fast, often times against an arbitrary release date, necessitated the need for concessions on user experience, application functionality and value. Here’s to hoping this changes in ’12!

Clearly, there’s a substantial amount of opportunity in the enterprise and I’m eager to see how far we progress by this time next year. Check back tomorrow for another post with my mobile enterprise predictions for 2012.

Jonathan Ozeran
Mobile Technology Strategist, Lextech Global Services
@jozeran