Mobile technology trends
Several recent technology developments and mobility trends are also helping to redefine what an application is and what it can do, as follows:

• Real-time mobile communications and presence technologies (i.e., knowledge of where people in work groups are and the ability to communicate with them instantly)
• Composite applications that enable the automatic update of disparate information and disparate data stores, based on a certain transaction by a mobile user
• Location-based services, allowing presence and location to be layered in along with some sort of context within mobile applications
• The ability to accelerate or improve business processes (i.e., the ability to automate order-to-cash or an invoicing cycle, sales fulfillment or ordering of inventory)

The Mobile Bang Theory describes the kind of explosive impact that context-aware mobile composite applications and composite transactions can have on business processes. It is based on the notion that one mobile action can spawn myriad business reactions — yielding returns exponentially higher than the initial mobile investment. Some organizations are reporting payback of the initial mobile investment in less than six months.

The value of mobility soars, however, when the mobile app transcends the boundaries of the enterprise to provide a user experience that combines real-time interaction with relevant, accurate and timely information. This accelerates business processes, which impacts sales cycles and service response times; and it integrates social networking and location-based technologies to build a real feeling of being connected and empowered. Business value increases exponentially when companies implement mobility strategically across an entire organization, rather than as a one-off or point solution.

The cascading effect of mobility in the enterprise
Already companies have achieved many highly successful examples of Mobile Bang — one action spawning multiple reactions and improving productivity, efficiency and control, dramatically.

For example, at DIRECTV, Inc., after a meeting with a prospect, a sales rep uses a BlackBerry to input a meeting note into the CRM system, which automatically triggers a thank you e-mail to be sent with relevant collateral attached. It eliminates the sales rep having to contact several constituents throughout the enterprise to cobble together all the follow-up actions. Five or 10 minutes after the sales rep leaves, the prospect receives a letter with actions coming out of the meeting; it creates an impression that is proving to have great returns. By outfitting its national sales force with an easy, secure way to access vital sales information while in the field, the project has resulted in a 432 percent ROI and full project payback within 2.6 months.

In another example, the service team repairing HVAC equipment in a large retailer's facilities must discard the refrigerant in compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations. They close out of a trouble ticket using a mobile app; and the system automatically creates information used for compliance reporting to the EPA, handles inventory and warranty issues regarding the equipment and handles time-and-expense reporting. Information is updated once, and it automatically updates several other systems.

Pitney Bowes' field service engineers repair office equipment. Their mobile application takes parts ordering to the next level, taking advantage of a composite transaction and automatic event trigger. They use Siebel Field Service and set minimum/maximum inventory levels for each service rep's trunk or truck inventory of parts. As soon as a rep uses a part and enters it on the mobile application, the system automatically orders new parts and sends them to the rep if the inventory drops below the minimum level. The rep does not even need to think about ordering parts.

Clearly, the business case for mobility has been proven many times over for specific workgroups, namely field service and field sales. But we are now experiencing the cascading effect of Mobile Bang, whereby other departments and/or other geographies of an organization are seeing firsthand the value of better visibility and the ability to share information in real time, regardless of location. As such, companies are experiencing a groundswell of demand for mobility from department to department, rippling throughout the organization. Companies are also hyper-aware of the need to develop mobile applications for services that serve as competitive differentiators.

Taking this up a level, Mobile Bang is causing CIOs and IT organizations to realize that the impact of mobility throughout an enterprise over the foreseeable future will be profound. In the past six to 12 months, we have noted a tipping point. CIOs are moving away from tactical, point solutions, recognizing that to drive business benefits across the entire organization and to be truly cost-effective, they must centralize and implement mobility strategically. They are coming to companies like Antenna Software saying they have a number of constituents they need to satisfy and are interested in a platform approach to achieving that.

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