According to IDC and Forrester, the number of mobile devices now outpaces humans on this planet, as it is estimated that there were 7.3 billion mobile devices in the world in 2012 (compared with just under 7 billion people, according to the World Bank) and the global mobile worker population is expected to reach 1.2 billion by the end of the year.
Today, enterprises are extending their back-office systems by utilising handhelds at the point of activity; this enables them to offer increased levels of customer service and satisfaction and employee efficiency and productivity. The number of mobile workers continues to grow daily as organisations continually look for competitive advantage.
Being able to effectively run mobile applications on handhelds has made the selection of an optimum device and partner that meets the durability, capability and stability criteria quite challenging... to do this enterprise mobility, hardware manufacturers have had to combine enterprise device functionality such as mobile voice and data, image capture, bar code reading capabilities, RFID, NFC and GPS with durability, suitability and a network of value-added business channel partners for supply, implementation and support.
"Mobility services buyers often start small with pilot projects or divisional needs. But clients increasingly find that they have broad long-term needs that span the full gamut of IT services: service inceptions to design to implementation through to deployment. With mobile services becoming a growing part of firms' technology footprint and increasingly connected to larger IT strategy, clients often need more than a point solution, so they must consider the end-to-end breadth of their mobility services' needs - including long-term support and enhancements."
"As one CIO described the relationship with mobility vendors: "We are sick of being treated like the sum of 10 000 consumers."
The sheer proliferation of mobile devices, operating systems, and platform-specific development languages means that enterprises typically lack the in-house development skills necessary to carry out their vision for mobility, and so they turn to third-party resources for help, such as value-added business channel partners.
This has meant the reshaping and redefining of roles and relationships of a wide range of industry stakeholders, from ISVs, mobile device manufacturers, and mobile operators to value-added business channel partners, system integrators, telecom hardware manufacturers, and cloud providers.
To deliver a successful mobility strategy, enterprises need a trusted adviser in the form of a value-added business channel partner offering enterprise-level support for task critical mobile users, enterprise-class devices that provide prolonged and stable life-cycles, mobile device management (MDM) and security.
Combining the need for a value-added business channel partner with the enterprise expertise and focus, Cradle Technology Services offers the following value-added services for enterprise mobility:
* Solution and product specialised hardware supplier, software and hardware integrator and services partner
* Vendor certified and competent technicians and sales executives
* MDM solution offering (Remote Device Management)
* Call centre/help desk (fully implemented electronic process, MDM control centre, call logging, hardware triage, first line software support in conjunction with ISV)
* Managed contract, warranty and repair services (back-to-back with vendors if applicable)
* Technical services (onsite support, back-to-back contract facilitation and tracking, Installation and integration, site survey, solution architecture)
* Finance offerings (opex, multiple currency billing - ZAR and USD)
* National footprint and sub-Saharan Africa via partners
Ref: IDC & Forrester
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