interview with Julie Purves Managing Director of B2M Solutions
How will mprodigy meet the needs of the market over the next three years?
I believe that organisations have only just begun to understand the potential of the mobile enterprise – for years they have been able to monitor their processes within the walls of the organisation, be that an office, depot or store. However, once their workers were out “on the road” it was impossible to obtain that critical information.
Now all that is changing. The enterprise is being extended to the point of contact with their Customers. This brings with it an enormous opportunity to take advantage of the information that can be extracted from the mobile devices and used to make informed decisions within the business.
Once an organisation has full management of their mobile devices and has complete visibility of their mobile operation, they can then look at the exciting area of business process improvements.
With mprodigy, you can monitor all aspects of how individuals are using a mobile application on a day by day basis. This means you can capture vital information on how business processes are being undertaken. This process-level information can then be interpreted and enhancements made within a matter of days.
This is a very exciting area. Those managing the mobile operation will have the ability to have a huge impact on improving the effectiveness and customer service within their businesses.
How do you see the market developing over the next three years?
When personal computers first arrived on everyone’s desk, they were stand alone devices that used perhaps just one or two applications such as word processing or spreadsheets. To keep them in good working order, the IT manager would visit each PC and install software and hardware updates when required.
Today, the PC can run dozens of applications that are designed specifically for the needs of the business user. The IT department now maintains these computers on a network and is able to check the hardware configuration and remotely update the software from the IT operational centre.
This same revolution is taking place in the mobile space. In the business arena, we currently have mobile computing devices with one or two applications. But in the near future, these devices will be far more multifunctional. There will also be a need to support devices from a range of different hardware suppliers. Consequently, the IT department will need a comprehensive range of tools such as mprodigy to ensure the hardware and software on these devices is managed effectively.
What is unique about B2M Solutions and the mprodigy product suite?
We are totally focused on the management of mobile computing devices in the business arena. We have the experience, the personal talent and the financial stability to ensure that we can meet the demands of the market.
B2M also provides flexibility since we are independent of the hardware suppliers and application developers. The mprodigy product suite is designed to work on Microsoft technology and in particular on devices running Windows CE based operating systems.
Furthermore, there is no complicated integration process - mprodigy sits alongside a company’s mobile application(s). It can be added to almost any Windows-based system without the need for additional hardware or software.
We see mobile management as being about a great deal more than just managing hardware devices. For organisations to get the best from their mobile enterprise they will need the management information to tell them what is happening across the enterprise. Initially this may be information on the performance of the devices, networks, etc. Ultimately the value will come from a deep understanding of how the mobile business processes are being enacted. This will make it possible to quickly make improvements to these processes which will deliver huge improvements to the bottom line.
We recognise that organisations will want to take these benefits on board at their own pace – so mprodigy is designed to be implemented in modules, each of which can deliver a different part of the overall management solution.
