Syed Ahmed Mohiuddin, CEO, MD and chief architect, BITS Consultancy Services, will be presenting at the ITWeb Enterprise Mobility 2017 summit on 30 August, at Summer Place, Hyde Park. 

Mobile devices can be found everywhere and enterprises have a hard time trying to find the answers to questions such as: what mobility strategy best fits my business goals? Should I be a mobile first enterprise? And how will this impact my business?

Mohiuddin will unpack why, as with any corporate initiative, the key to success is defining an evolving mobility strategy, but not just any one-size-fits-all, out-of-the-box strategy, it needs to be unique to the business.

ITWeb: Can you provide me with your overall opinion on enterprise mobility in South Africa?

Mohiuddin: In South Africa enterprise mobility adoption is still in an early phase, even though many enterprises have developed mobile apps, very few enterprises feel that they are prepared for the mobility changes that are coming. Moreover the capabilities of the latest devices far exceed the basic potential that is used, especially in the enterprise context. The reason for this discrepancy is that most enterprises do not articulate the right mobile strategy and approach. Most of them have adopted an ad-hoc approach to digital and mobility, geared at solving an individual problem rather than taking a holistic approach that quickly moves forward their journey to becoming a mobile first enterprise.

ITWeb: What are the biggest considerations for an evolving mobility strategy in Africa?

Mohiuddin: A mobile enterprise is an ongoing process that constantly adjusts and grows over time. The mobility strategy needs to reflect these ongoing changes and continuously evolve and should focus on major themes that can help set overall direction. The strategy should be flexible enough to allow for new innovation and technology changes as the market changes and matures.

These are the biggest considerations while evolving the mobility strategy; organisation values, business processes, issues of consumerisation of IT and bring your own device (BYOD), speed of execution. One also needs to consider enterprise mobility management (EMM) and the mobile device fragmentation and management (MDM), mobile application management (MAM) and mobile content management (MCM) as well as the user (customer and employee) experience.

ITWeb: What are the top three key benefits that organisations look forward to if they go mobile?

Mohiuddin: Businesses can evolve the business to maximise the new opportunities created by mobility. They can increase the number of loyal customers by providing a more personalised customer experience. They increase employee productivity by providing anytime, anywhere access to information and they simplify the user experience and IT operations.

ITWeb: What key points do you want the delegates to take away with them from your presentation at the event?

Mohiuddin: I want the delegates to leave with an understanding of the fundamental business need for enabling mobility across the enterprise. They need to know what the pre-requisites are for successful mobility strategy development. They will learn the techniques of creating an evolving mobility strategy that works and I want them to be able to identify the key challenges and security risks of implementing the evolving mobility strategy.