Johannesburg, 13 Nov 2008
There's a lot of hype around mobile business intelligence (BI) and all it promises busy executives on the move the ability to access, analyse, slice-and-dice, drill-down and report on company intelligence, all from a mobile handheld device.
But Paul Morgan, Managing Director of ASYST Intelligence, a focused provider of strategic business intelligence and data management solutions, says that it will be some time before mobile BI really takes off in South Africa.
He cites the level of BI maturity of the majority of SA businesses as one of the key factors restricting the adoption of mobile BI in this country at the moment.
“Although the opportunities for two-way dialogue with the BI environment and the ability to do high-level analysis on a mobile device are most certainly there, few companies are actually ready for the more sophisticated scenarios, either because their BI architectures are not yet mature enough to handle new mobile capabilities or because they are still getting to grips with what mobile BI can be used for in the business,” says Morgan.
He continues: “There's also a blurring between what we would get our laptop out for and what we would use a handheld device or mobile phone for. Generally speaking, people employ mobile devices for less complex tasks, a phone call, a short e-mail or an SMS. We haven't quite gotten to grips with using a handset for the real nitty-gritty. Even when it comes to browsing the Web, there are few of us who would actually choose to do it with a cellphone if our laptop was ready and able in front of us.
“Similarly, if you've got 20 minutes to spare and you are in a position to, you are in all probability still going to prefer using a laptop for BI. This is partly due to mindset but, largely it's because it's easier than manipulating the keypad on a device that's less than a tenth of the size of a normal laptop keyboard and then trying to view what's on the screen which is typically no bigger than a matchbox.
“Perhaps next generation mobile devices will be more conducive but for now mobile handsets are just too small and using them for complex tasks can be fidgety and frustrating,” says Morgan.
He lists the way in which the average business person commutes and travels in South Africa as another barrier to mobile BI adoption in this country.
“Unlike in the US and the UK where people spend hours commuting by train, most South African business-people do their own driving. With both hands on the wheel and both eyes trained on the road ahead, the opportunity to tap into the company's BI system while en route to our next meeting quite simply eludes us.”
Another obstacle hindering the wide-spread adoption of mobile BI in South Africa is poor bandwidth.
He does however add that once users get to grips with the concept and practice of mobile BI, the value is indisputable - especially in terms of fast, snapshot data.
“While it might be some time before we begin using mobile devices for in-depth information and analyses, the possibilities of mobile BI in terms of business-critical, snapshot alerts on the move are endless and, easy to implement and realise.
“In fact, mobile BI is likely to become one of the key and most effective ways of keeping employees informed while they're out in the field so that they are able to make fast and appropriate decisions based on the latest information,” quips Morgan.
“For instance, quick alerts on stock levels with links to the company ordering system can be of enormous value to sales or supply chain managers who aren't always at their desktops to access critical customer, product, ordering and stock level information. This means they can make better decisions on the spot, significantly shortening sales cycles, improving efficiencies and enhancing customer satisfaction.
“Company CEOs and executives could be hooked-up to view key company dashboards, providing them with a snapshot of key performance indicators every day, no matter where they are and, not limited to PC availability and Internet connectivity.”
Morgan says an advantage of mobile BI is that it utilises mobile technology - something that the majority of executives have long been comfortable using. The solutions available on the market today are user-friendly so end-users don't require any special training to use mobile BI. The mobile device is simply an additional delivery mechanism for them to access the BI information they are typically used to accessing from their laptop or computer every day.
He concludes: “For now the real opportunity for mobile BI lies in the distribution of quick, simple BI data via SMS alerts and notifications using the proven push-type technologies that have actually been around for a few years.
“And really, this is the best place to start anyway. Companies should only really consider introducing the more complex scenarios when they understand the business impetus for mobile BI and have a good feel for what it can be used for. They also need to be ready on the technological front. Until then, slowly does it nicely,” concludes Morgan.
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