PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD Mobile business intelligence is taking off. A recent Aberdeen study found that 31 percent of companies polled have a mobile BI app or dashboard, up from 23 percent in 2010. Gartner forecasts the global market for mobile BI is expected to exceed $10 billion in 2011. Despite a sluggish economy, the researcher says growth should stay close to 10 percent through 2014.
Actual numbers remain small, but are rising quickly. A big reason: the growth of iPads, smartphones and other mobile devices running new friendlier, easier-to-use mobile BI apps.
While it's tempting to dismiss such stats as market/analyst/press hype, there's no denying: More organizations are turning to business intelligence, analytics and performance management to create smarter, more agile and more efficient business. Deal with it.
Understand your choices. New mobile BI apps make it easier than ever for mobile users to reach in and perform queries, create reports and do data analysis across core business processes and databases. There are now more ways than ever to distribute intelligence.
There are three major choices for mobile BI apps. In order of complexity, they are:
● Mobile browser-rendered apps. These are Web-based, thin client apps. The can run on any mobile device. However, they are static with little data interactivity.
● Custom apps. These apps are typically reports and dashboards rendered in device-specific format.
● Mobile client apps. These apps are the most advanced and provide the highest level of interactivity with BI content.
Whatever your choice, you must proceed cautiously. It's the hoariest IT truism, but still true in mobile BI: Before investing, look carefully at your capabilities required and current environment, then choose accordingly.
There are also many potential threats with mobile BI. IT is all over mobile security, right? Wrong! A recent Ziff Davis Enterprise survey found authentication, access control and identity management topping the list of security concerns when it comes to mobile BI.
Many organizations are not even hitting mobile security basics like remote lock/wipe. Not smart. Of the many, many reasons to get your mobile device security in order, BI is at the top of the list. If you haven't done so already, create crystal clear policies for mobile devices—especially user-owned devices. Beyond platforms, make sure you spend time on user behavior training, network and authorization security.
Enlist sales. When it comes to mobile BI sales in your organization, sales is a good news/bad news story. Good news: Sales people are often eager champions of mobile BI. Bad news: They're sales people, not exactly known for being paragons of data security or device protection. Harness their natural enthusiasm by enlisting them in mobile pilots and proof of concepts. Once they're excited, wait for the right moment for training that impresses that with great mobile power comes great responsibility.
Business intelligence, mobility, social media, collaboration, cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) are all coverging. (More on this to come.) The time to smartly lay down a solid foundation that drives, not destroys, business is now.
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