“It’s not about the technology… It’s about your business…” Not something you’ll hear many MDM vendors saying, as they busily point out how quickly you can remote control your devices and fix them when they break down. But start probing a little deeper and it’s clear that this focus on technology might not be the best approach. At B2M we’re seeing customer success stories with the companies we work with benefiting hugely from our business-focussed approach to mobility.
A key aspect of this collaborative approach is helping them understand the possibilities around measuring and analysing the effectiveness of their business process in the context of the mobile environment in which they operate. This innovative approach in enterprise mobility is made possible by the bringing together of the Mobility Intelligence capabilities within mprodigy coupled with a change in the approach to managing mobile devices. Whilst devices are still fixed as quickly as possible, we encourage the introduction of a level of control and auditability which enables the collection of vital data on the nature of failures and the steps taken to fix the issue. This data is blended with device analytics such as battery level, signal strength, memory status and many more giving a unique and hugely powerful view of their mobile estate.
The structured engagement we have with our customers and partners enables us to translate their business ‘needs’ into real information that has a direct impact on business performance and the ROI of their mobile projects. I wrote earlier in the year about light bulb moments and in a way these customers are having more of those, but it’s also like removing their blinkers, expanding their vision from a narrow technology view of their mobile deployment to a wide, strategic, business-focussed view.
It’s becoming clearer to me that much of the success we are seeing is actually about providing the framework in which our customers can flourish. It’s about explaining what’s possible and how they can start to unlock the full potential of their investment in mobility. It’s about showing examples of others who are already doing it. We’re creating an environment of co-innovation where 1+1 really does equal more than 2.
There are a few things that we take very seriously at B2M and "no undiscussables" is one of them. As you develop a company from a small team to a much larger one there are lots of growing pains along the way. One thing that we learnt at the very beginning is that it’s essential for everyone in the team to be able to raise any concerns they have and for these to be dealt with in an open and respectful way – that’s why we say “no undiscussables”.
If there’s something that is not working as it should or someone who is feeling disgruntled about the way a colleague is behaving then it’s a B2M imperative that we should discuss it and deal with it – whoever and whatever it is. Of course it takes a bit of getting used to when people are pointing out your little foibles to you or questioning whether a decision you have taken was correct. But once you get used to that way of working it’s so refreshing to find that energy is not wasted on internal politics and hidden agendas. These days it’s always interesting when new people join us and you see them embracing this way of working – maybe a bit hesitant to begin with but soon getting the hang of it. I really hope we can keep this as a core part of our culture – it’s served us well so far. Long may it last!
Having been involved in the world of mobility for over 12 years now it’s been incredible to see the amount of change that has happened. Our early projects were with companies like Lynx Express – a parcel carrier who was looking to implement their first mobile solution. I shall always be grateful to Mike Fitzgerald, their IT Director, who put his faith in B2M and gave us our first large project. I’m pleased to say that we didn’t let him down – he told me soon after the rollout that he had paid for mprodigy as soon as he had completed one software deployment to his 40+ depots (it took less than a day over-the-air when previously it had taken around 3 weeks to visit all the depots and manually update the devices).
Now the rate of change has accelerated. We see our Partners looking to deliver a comprehensive set of solutions and services and finding it difficult to develop the new skills (technical, sales, delivery) that they need. We pride ourselves on being able to help with this transition and we recognise that it’s not an easy path to travel. Change is always a challenge but beyond the pain is a whole set of opportunities around new and innovative service offerings. This includes such things as proactively reporting on issues with asset utilisation, identifying best practise in a mobile business process, …the possibilities and the opportunities are endless.
The next couple of years are going to be an exciting time for both the providers of mobile managed services and their customers – and the pain will have been worth it.
“Once it’s out there, we have no visibility of what’s going on!”
It’s amazing how often we hear this from enterprises operating complex projects and supporting thousands of mobile workers. These enterprises often don’t know what’s working well and what aspects of the solution are underperforming. They don’t know what needs to change to make things better. They don’t understand the impact one aspect of the solution is having on the others. There are no metrics. They can’t make informed decisions. They are working in the dark and this means they’re missing out on significant costs savings, efficiency gains and ROI improvements.
So why is this happening? Why are enterprises not demanding visibility of key performance metrics in the mobile space as they do in the traditional, wired, environment? Why do they roll out projects with no ability to measure key mobility performance indicators such as
I’m not sure why... But the good news is that it’s beginning to change.
We are working on Mobility Intelligence projects with a lot of companies and, whenever we present them with these metrics, they grab it with both hands. They are ready for it. They see the benefits immediately: intelligence, insight, visibility, informed decision making, knowledge and confidence. This set of words is not normally associated with mobility projects - we need to change that.
I read Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software (published 13 April) with interest. Their conclusions include a recommendation that customers should not underestimate reporting, which will be a “critical component” and one that many MDM vendors do not have at all.
I think this is a good observation, but one which really misses the point. The real value of a management platform comes when the information that is gathered is not a “bottom up” device centric view, but one which looks “top down” on all the players in the mobile ecosystem to provide the end user with a comprehensive view of what is happening across their mobile enterprise. The Gartner view of the evolution of mobility management comes from the time when most procurement decisions were initially focused on the device (because it was the most expensive element of the solution) – this has led to a fragmented, device centric approach.
We need to move on from this point to understand that what really matters is ensuring that a mobile solution is able to deliver or exceed the anticipated ROI, through improving the efficiency of the mobile business processes and maximising workforce productivity.
This has been B2M’s vision since the formation of the company in 2002 and we have architected mprodigy from day one to deliver true Mobility Intelligence based on a comprehensive open platform which collects and aggregates information from all the mobile players – applications, users, help desks, networks and devices.
A device centric set of reports is not the answer – true Mobility Intelligence is what is required and what will really enable mobile solutions to deliver the value that is possible.
I think it’s time that the bar was raised on customer’s expectations of what can be achieved through their mobile solutions, so that they are no longer looking only at the management of the underlying technology, but extending their reach to measurement and improvement of their complete mobile ecosystem.
A very exciting day for B2M today as we launch our new website and I'm delighted that we are also able to announce our partnership with BT.
This is a real example of the way that we work with our strategic partners to ensure that they are able to deliver real added value services to their customers. This is not a "me too" game - it's about being able to offer real diffentiation and to build a portfolio of Mobility Services that are unique in the market. And it's also about working closely together to ensure that all the support is in place to deliver the new services in a professional and scaleable way. I am certain that this is the way foward - continuous learning and innovation of new Mobility Intelligence services based on close partnership between the software provider and the service delivery partner. Today we have another important step in endorsing this way of working.
I’ve been thinking about my first blog for some time and this seems like a good place to start. We had lots of light bulb moments in the early days of B2M, when we realised that there was a huge need for mobile users to be able to manage and measure the performance of their mobile enterprise. A lot has happened since then – now it’s our customers who are having the light bulb moments and it’s great to see it happening. It goes something like this – customer sees our analytics and realises that 30% of their workforce aren’t charging their devices overnight so they start the new working day on the back foot – light bulb moment. Engineers are hugely frustrated with the mobile application and no-one knows why – so they take a look at the analytics and, surprise, surprise, some devices are being re-booted 40+ times per week because the application is running out of memory – light bulb moment. A Project Manager in Germany is rolling out devices around the world, including the US and Philippines, and is struggling to see positive results – we show them some analytics and they can see that devices in the US are only being 20% utilised – light bulb moment. Sometimes I have the pleasure of seeing these moments for myself and sometimes I have to wait for one of our team to come back from a customer meeting and tell me about them. Either way, it’s great to see the lights going on!