Choosing the right mobility strategy is key for enterprises to leverage the latest technology trend and stay competitive. More often enterprise tend to either prolong the decision on mobility strategy or adopt a short sighted approach. The rapid evolution of mobile technology and its proliferation into enterprises is unprecedented, which led to many misconceptions in the mind of enterprise IT. This document clarifies the misconceptions enterprises have in mobility strategy.

1. Mowbly White Paper: Does Your
Enterprise Have A Mobility Strategy?
Top 18 misconceptions in enterprise mobility strategy
1

2. Introduction
Enterprise Mobility is one of the top strategic technology trends in 2014 for most organizations, Gartner says. What exactly is a strategic
technology? Gartner defnes it as follows,
Gartner defnes a strategic technology as one with the potential for signifcant impact on the enterprise in the next three years. Factors
that denote signifcant impact include a high potential for disruption to IT or the business, the need for a major dollar investment, or the
risk of being late to adopt.
Strategic technology could be an emerging or existing one but defnitely impacts the organization’s long term plans, programs and
initiatives. Enterprise mobility though been around a little while, is still an emerging trend posing great challenges for enterprises to
strategize on it.
At Mowbly, we have been meeting and discussing with CIOs and IT Heads from diferent domains like BFSI, Retail, Logistics,
Manufacturing etc. on their enterprise mobility strategy. Interesting patterns emerged during our conversations regarding the
implementation of mobile apps in enterprises. We also observed similar set of challenges and misconceptions across domains which
led to some enterprises focussing more on tactical wins. More often, these tactical wins morph as a mobility strategy veering the
enterprises of their mobility vision. This post summarizes the mobility misconceptions we observed in enterprises that potentially
jeopardize their mobility strategy and at worse, hold them from moving forward at all.
If you see yourself positioned in one or more of the following scenarios listed below, it is a warning sign that either you don’t have an
enterprise mobility strategy or have been a pawn of business circumstances. So, do you really have an Enterprise mobility strategy?
Read on to fnd and check if you are heading in the right path.
2

3. 1. Customer facing apps is all that is there
2. Restricting mobility to core business alone
3. Reactive mobility initiatives yielding to business pressure
4. Mobile app landscape refects backend system fragmentation
5. Mobile website is my mobility strategy
6. A Cross platform dev tool framework is the crux of the strategy
7. Delegating mobility strategy to service vendor
8. Wary of security in enterprise mobility
9. Adopting a virtualization solution
10. Assuming mobility does not concern B2B enterprises
11. Citing lack of mass mobile usage inside the enterprise
12. My users are not tech savvy to use mobile apps
13. Squeezing legacy devices into mobility strategy
14. Shying away from investing in a mobility platform
15. Dependency on software application vendors
16. Procrastination due to ongoing backend initiatives
17. Traumatized by a failed mobile initiative
18. Budget constraints holding me back
3

4. Customer facing apps is all that is there
The frst app that enterprises think of in their enterprise mobility strategy is a customer
facing app, for the very valid reason that it is an additional channel to generate
revenue. Smartphones being the most personal devices, the customer facing app will
give a greater leverage than any other investment enterprises could possibly think of.
Typically the app is built in-house or through service providers and rolled out to users
through various marketplaces. Some enterprises tend to focus more on customer
apps. This renders their mobility strategy incomplete. A balanced mobility strategy
must cover all stakeholders in the enterprise including employees, partners and
customers. The implementation of the mobility strategy can be phased, but being
contented with customer apps is not a good sign.
Balanced
mobility strategy
must cover all
stakeholders a.k.a
customers,
employees and
partners
4

5. Efective mobility
strategy must focus
on apps that provide
non tangible
benefts apart from
core business apps.
Restricting mobility to core business
alone
When it comes to internal mobile apps, it is quite natural that enterprises give
priority to the core business apps in their mobility strategy. Core business apps
quickly reward enterprises with greater business impact and competitive edge.
But if the enterprise mobility strategy is based only on apps that fall into this
category, it will prove a short sighted approach. Enterprises must look into other
possibilities such as fringe apps for business workfows, productivity apps,
employee engagement apps etc. that could provide non-tangible benefts like
productivity gains and improved employee satisfaction.
An efective mobility strategy must aim to leverage the power of smart devices of
the employees and partners to the enterprise advantage in every possible way. It
is good to start with core business apps, but enterprises must ensure that the
investment they do in this efort is strategic and enables them to roll out non-core
business apps with less overhead in future. Focusing only on core business
mobile apps or difculty in churning out new apps seamlessly means the strategy
and investment need a revival.
5

6. Reactive mobility initiatives yielding to
business pressure
Since recent years, CIOs and IT Heads increasingly are active in business decisions,
thanks to the rapid technology growth and adoption in enterprise IT. IT innovation has
changed the way enterprises conduct business and transformed them into
signifcantly more efcient companies. Enterprise IT has progressed from an entity
doing mere execution of business apps to nerve center of business driving innovation
through apps.
Enterprise mobility is a great opportunity for IT innovation if it is proactively driven by
the IT leaders in the enterprise. In the earlier stages of mobility adoption, business
demands tend to drive the mobile apps needed for the enterprise. Business invariably
would focus on the revenue points of your enterprise and hence yielding to only
business app needs proves reactive. Enterprise mobility is a wholesome strategy
targeting every possible area in enterprise, which means enterprise IT must take the
reins in its hands and drive it. Being proactive is the key to greater innovation and
successful adoption of enterprise mobility strategy.
Enterprise IT
must be proactive
in its mobile apps
strategy apart from
building apps for
business needs to
be successful
6

7. Fragmented app
landscape with
multiple apps from
multiple vendors
does not lead to
wholesome mobility
Mobile app landscape refects backend
system fragmentation
Enterprises have made substantial investments on multiple software and systems
like ERP, CRM, MIS, BI tools etc. for their core business operations. Some of
these enterprise software products updated themselves to extend support for
smartphones and tablets as mobile websites and native apps. If an enterprise
mobility strategy depends primarily on usage of such apps, it means the
enterprise is slipping into a fragmented app environment with serious challenges.
The major challenge is customization support for these mobile apps based on the
enterprise needs. Also, enterprise workfows typically need users to access or
transact with more than one enterprise system to complete a task, which is not
going to be seamless in this case resulting in poor user adoption. Depending on
fragmented mobile apps is a serious issue for a wholesome mobility strategy in
the longer run.
7

8. Mobile website is my mobility strategy
In the last decade, one of the primary investments most enterprises made is web
enabling their IT systems. This has created quite a few web apps for business
workfows in any enterprise. Internal websites became a norm for enterprises to
expose content and functionality to employees and partners. This was an important
trend in making the enterprise connected to the rest of the world.
It is highly likely an enterprise that is successful in web enabling chooses to go mobile
web only for its mobility strategy. Mobile web apps are achieved by extending the
existing web apps to mobile browsers by updating them to a responsive design.
Responsive website is touted as the most cost efective option for quicker roll out of
mobile apps.
Mobile website never can be a long term enterprise mobility strategy for many reasons
and the primary among them is that it is still not an app available on the device, hence
user experience takes a heavy toll. Leveraging native features of the device is
inevitable for high user adoption. Indeed, the smarter way is to go for a hybrid app
approach that gives you benefts of both native and responsive website. Gartner says
that by 2016, more than 50% of enterprise mobile apps deployed will be hybrid. Does
your enterprise stick to mobile website ideology still? Its time for it to revive the
mobility goals.
Mobile or
responsive website
cannot be a long
term mobility
strategy, as
leveraging native
features is critical
for high user
adoption
8

9. Cross platform
SDKs are only
development tools
and are not
adequate for a
comprehensive
mobility strategy
A Cross platform dev tool framework is
the crux of my strategy
Some enterprises adopt hybrid app development approach and use cross
platform SDKs like PhoneGap to build mobile apps. The hybrid app approach is
proved to be the most cost efective way to build enterprise mobile apps.
The key point to remember is that enterprise mobility strategy is much more than
developing apps. App development is only 15% of the real need, a typical
enterprise mobility strategy involves comprehensive deployment, security,
management and monitoring functionality without which the strategy is absolutely
not scalable and this means a need for additional investment on mobility software
products. If your enterprise assumes that adopting a cross platform SDK to solve
enterprise mobility, the journey will not take it to the right destination.
9

10. Delegating mobility strategy to service
vendor
Enterprise mobility being relatively newer than other technologies in enterprise IT, it
requires time and talent to devise and implement a successful enterprise mobility
strategy. To bridge this gap, enterprises typically engage IT service providers to help
them embark on a mobility strategy.
IT service providers with all good intentions would recommend an approach for
mobility in your enterprise, but there is a very high probability that the proposed
strategy is constrained by the service provider’s skills and capabilities. Indeed, there
are cases where enterprises that are associated with multiple service vendors for
diferent applications ended up having specifc mobile extensions based on the
vendors’ priority. This is a more serious case than the fragmented apps scenario we
discussed in the earlier part of our post.
As the owner of the mobility strategy, the onus squarely lies on enterprise IT team to
take a well informed decision on the mobility strategy that suits the enterprise and get
the IT service providers aligned to it. Delegating the enterprise mobility strategy to
service providers might have serious repercussions in the long run.
Outsourcing
strategy usually
does not work and
more so for
mobility
10

11. With new
platforms and tools
handling security in
mobility strategy is
not difcult. Non
adoption or
constrained strategy
are more riskier than
security itself
Wary of security in enterprise mobility
Many a times the primary concern that surfaces during enterprise mobility
discussions is security. Security requirements typically include authorized access
to enterprise apps, access to enterprise data, storage of data in users' devices,
enforcing corporate policies etc. With the advent of new platforms and tools,
security is no longer a bigger concern as it used be a couple of years before.
If your enterprise mobility strategy is primarily constrained by security
requirements, it is mandatory that time and again it is reviewed based on the
innovative solutions in this area to leverage the maximum out of your mobility
investment. There are instances where enterprises hold themselves from
embarking on a mobility strategy citing security constraints, which will prove to be
a greater risk of non-adoption than the security constraint itself.
The pith and core of security is that it is always a moving target, as new
technologies arrive so are the security threats. Enterprises must understand this
and implement a suitable mobility strategy for them. Non adoption of mobility or a
frozen security based strategy are not the right answers for your enterprise
mobility strategy.
11

12. Adopting a virtualization solution
One of the interesting solutions from enterprise desktop computing that made its way
into enterprise mobility is virtualization. Virtualization is touted to be a quicker way to
provide secure access and space for corporate information in employees’ devices. It
provides a secure container on the device that allows access to existing enterprise
desktop. There may be other out-of-box enterprise apps like mail, calendar etc.
bundled with the container or additional device management apps, depending on the
vendor, which would enable you to get onboard faster. Indeed, virtualization comes
with a substantial investment.
However the catch here is that virtualization primarily focusses on security and ignores
user adoption. Success of your enterprise mobility strategy squarely lies in users
adopting your apps. Apps that are made for specifc desktop OS cannot provide
seamless user experience as their counterpart built for mobile devices. Also, such
apps can’t leverage the native features of the device which users expect to have and
eventually lead to a reduced usage. If an app doesn’t qualify to be migrated to a
smartphone app, say because it is a legacy app, then virtualization could be a
solution.
Adopting
virtualization
doesn’t make
mobility strategy
complete.
12

13. Also, what virtualization fails to answer is the apps part of your enterprise mobility
strategy. The investment on virtualization can be maximized only if there is an active
road map of mobile apps. And these roadmap apps aren’t just the existing desktop
apps or document management systems but apps that you innovate for your business
workfows. Designing and developing mobile apps for business workfows spanning
multiple enterprise systems is not an easy ride if the enterprise hasn’t invested in a
mobility platform.
Hence, virtualization can only be a stopgap solution until you board on a mature
mobility strategy. Also, virtualization poses a risk of vendor lock in, which might
paralyze your mobility strategy in longer run.
Exposing
desktop apps on
mobile can only be
a stopgap solution
until you board on
a mature mobility
strategy.
13

14. Enterprise mobility
doesn’t mean only
customer facing
apps and B2B
enterprises must
embark on a mobility
strategy
Assuming mobility does not concern B2B
enterprises
Enterprises where the core business is based on B2B have a greater tendency to
relate enterprise mobility to consumer facing apps. Since B2B scenarios don’t
need customer facing apps, some of these enterprises totally ignore the need for a
mobility strategy.
The status quo in most of the B2B enterprises is business through emails or point
solution web apps. Business workfows in B2B scenarios typically span across the
value chain involving more than one enterprise and the human interface points in
these workfows are perfect candidates for mobility. Enterprise mobility for B2B
could be a greater leverage with an always on channel across the supply chain
enabling quicker decision making and improved collaboration. The benefts of a
such a mobility solution will be manifold compared to the discrete email, sms and
web solutions.
Are you a B2B enterprise and don’t have a mobility strategy yet? May be it’s time
to break the status quo and experience the advantages of enterprise mobility.
14

15. Citing lack of mass mobile usage inside the
enterprise
Another misconception some enterprises have is that enterprise mobility would not
return on the investment made if there is no large scale usage of mobile devices in the
enterprise. B2B enterprises which don’t have feld operations or customer facing apps
typically fall into this category.
Mobile apps provide non tangible benefts like productivity gains, quicker decision
making and user satisfaction which cannot be discounted based on the number of
smartphone users in your enterprise. Indeed, the strategy can be adopting a specifc
set of core business users say for example senior management executives and
enabling them to be on the latest KPIs of the business and make decisions through
mobile apps.
Bottom line is that enterprise mobility strategy must not depend on the number of
devices it serves but on the value it generates.
Enterprise
mobility strategy
must not depend
on the number of
devices it serves
but on the value it
generates
15

16. Tech savviness of
users is not a barrier
for enterprise
mobility. Indeed,
mobile apps are the
perfect ones for less
tech savvy users
My users are not tech savvy to use mobile
apps
Relating tech savviness of enterprise mobile app users to enterprise mobility
strategy is one of the serious misconceptions some enterprises have. The
misconception roots from the reality that feld level employees in many industries
are semi-professionals.
A key point that these enterprises fail to notice here is that mobile apps are very
diferent from desktop apps in gaining user adoption. Smartphones too sooner
became the most personal devices of users, which is a refection of simplicity,
user friendliness and intuitiveness of the app ecosystem on these devices.
Smartphones indeed played a major role in consumerization of IT than any other
technology you could think of, again a sign of higher user adoption.
If your enterprise mobility strategy is designed with an assumption based on tech
savviness of users, you are ignoring a potential user base that could be greatly
leveraged for your advantage. Enterprises hence should adopt mobility strategy as
their primary app delivery mode and build apps that are user friendly and intuitive.
16

17. Squeezing legacy devices into mobility
strategy
Enterprises of certain domains say for example, logistics where feld service plays a
major role in the business, might have a substantial investment done in legacy mobile
devices, if they have been in the market for a long while. Typically these enterprises try
to extend their investment on legacy devices to their current enterprise mobility
strategy along with the smartphones and tablets, which is quite valid from business
point of view.
But it happens at times that the seriousness of the constraints these legacy devices
put on your mobility strategy go unnoticed. Implementation of such a dual strategy is
doomed to fail considering the wider spectrum of devices to support with profound
diference in their capabilities. The more ideal way is to manage them as separate
strategies and eventually phase out the legacy devices support.
Hence, it makes a greater sense to decouple the legacy devices from mainstream
mobility strategy to ensure success in long run.
Mobility
strategy that treat
legacy devices and
smartphones alike
is doomed to fail
17

18. Mobility strategy
that doesn’t invest
on a mobility
platform cannot be
efective and may
fail in long run
Shying away from investing in a mobility
platform
Enterprise mobility is much more than just building apps. The ecosystem of
enterprise mobility involves multiple stakeholders - developers, IT admin and end
users. A proper implementation of enterprise mobility should ensure greater
adoption of all these stakeholders. Typical requirement of the users are,
• Developers need a robust and fexible environment to build and test apps
for a variety of devices.
• IT admin needs complete freedom and control on the mobility deployment
and seamless deployment of mobile apps coupled with security and
management.
• End users like seamless consumption of apps, greater app experience and
a non-intrusive security.
Going by the traditional way of building point based solutions will not address
these requirements and hence is a sure path to failure of your strategy. The right
approach is to choose a Mobile Application Development Platform (MADP) that
ofers you a complete system helping you in development, deployment,
management and monitoring of your apps. Hence for an efective mobility strategy
investment in a mobility platform is the key. Have you enterprise done it?
18

19. Dependency on software application
vendors
A typical enterprise IT landscape would consist of business software ranging from
legacy systems to the latest web based solutions. Enterprise mobility strategy would
need mobile apps across these software and systems. As explained in the
Fragmented Apps section earlier in this white paper, enterprises would want to
leverage the mobility ofering of these software from their vendors.
However, not every system is capable of being extended to mobile devices and even
in possible cases, the mobility road map of the vendor would not align with yours. If
your enterprise has such an IT landscape, which is very common, it is best to refrain
from depending on the application vendors for your mobility strategy. Rather, if
possible, your enterprise must demand the vendors for service interfaces for their
applications which can be used in the mobile apps to integrate back with them.
Enterprises might also need to possibly work on parallel systems to extend legacy
software onto mobility, like building abstraction layers or web enabling them.
Waiting on the application vendors for your enterprise mobility strategy is a bad sign
and you may not want to be blocked by a couple of software whose vendors have no
plans to migrated them to smartphones or tablets.
Mobility
extensions of apps
from software app
vendors can't be a
wholesome
mobility strategy
and waiting on
them puts your
enterprise in a risk
of late adoption
19

20. Tying enterprise
mobility strategy to
specifc IT initiatives
is a constrained
approach which will
delay mobility
adoption and puts
enterprise at risk of
losing competitive
edge
Procrastination due to ongoing backend
initiatives
Enterprises always have a need to keep their backend infrastructure, systems and
apps up to date. The trigger for updates could be many such as a new product
initiative, migrating to latest hardware, software upgrades and so on. Such IT
activities are a common story in many enterprises, but some enterprises tie these
IT initiatives to their enterprise mobility strategy. The unfortunate result is
postponement of enterprise mobility strategy till the IT initiative is completed and
running successful.
A proper enterprise mobility strategy must not depend on any specifc IT initiative
as the opportunity for mobile apps is across the enterprise. Any delay in enterprise
mobility strategy puts your enterprise at a risk of late adoption, a more serious
state to be in considering the competitive edge mobility can ofer.
20

21. Traumatized by a failed mobile initiative
At times a failed mobile initiative in your enterprise could become a barrier for
adopting a mobility strategy. The reasons of the failure can be many like inappropriate
timing of rollout, wrong type of app (website or native), poor choice of functionality, no
value add to user etc.
A right mobility strategy would enable you to rebound faster from such a failure
situation. Say, if you had a mobility platform in place as part of your enterprise mobility
strategy, the impact by the failure of one app will be far lesser and you can always
move on with further apps on the platform. This may not be the case if you mobile
initiative is a point solution based app.
Aright mobility
strategy with a
mobility platform in
place is essential
to rebound faster
from failed mobile
initiatives
21

22. Mobility strategy
is an absolute
necessity to be
competitive.
Enterprise IT is
responsible to
communicate the
possible ROI to
management and get
the budget
Budget constraints holding me back
Enterprise mobility as any other IT investment has its own capital expenses and
operational costs. The major entry barrier is the expense involved in procuring
devices which is mandatory as mobility strategy in an enterprise cannot be based
purely on BYOD. The cost of smartphones is drastically falling down and probably
a phased purchase of devices could help your enterprise to get onboard with little
overhead.
The other costs involved are of the mobility software and operational expenses. A
yearly budget of minimum $20K seems a typical requirement to run an active
enterprise mobility strategy sans procurement of devices. In most enterprises, this
spending can be a little part of the other expenses incurred like software licensing
cost, marketing expenses etc. And mobility is sure to provide returns to the
enterprise manifold, if a proper investment is made.
If your enterprise is held back in mobility strategy by budget constraints, it is the
responsibility of the enterprise IT to project the return on investment the mobility
strategy can ofer to the management. Considering mobility is the top trend
starting from 2014, a substantial investment on mobility strategy would help
enterprises to be more competitive.
22

23. Conclusion
Enterprise mobility started gaining ground since recent years and has evolved as a mandatory investment for enterprises in order to
leverage the latest technology trend and stay more competitive. Choosing the right mobility strategy is key for enterprises to be
successful by delivering rich user experiences to all stakeholders in the strategy. More often enterprise tend to either prolong the
decision on mobility strategy or adopt a short sighted approach. The past experiences of enterprise IT in adopting various technologies
in the last decade has a greater infuence on their decision on enterprise mobility. The rapid evolution of mobile technology and its
proliferation into enterprises is unprecedented, which led to many misconceptions in the mind of enterprise IT. The frst step is for
enterprises to clarify these misconceptions and understand the pros and cons of diferent mobility strategies before they conclude on
one that suits them.
23

24. Authors
Sathish Kumar
CoFounder – Chief Architect, Mowbly
Vignesh Swaminathan
Founder – CEO, Mowbly
About Mowbly
Mowbly is new age mobility platform that enables enterprises embark on a wholesome mobility strategy. The platform is trusted by
popular brands in BFSI, Aviation and Manufacturing domains. Mowbly helps enterprises to develop, test, deploy, manage, monitor and
analyze multiple mobile initiatives using a single solution through its cloud based and on premise ofering. With Mowbly, enterprises can
achieve a self sustained mobility strategy and extend their existing IT investments seamlessly onto mobility. Mowbly is a unique single
stack mobility solution available in the market that can get your enterprise a higher ROI and greater user adoption.
For more information, please visit www.mowbly.com and connect with Mowbly on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
© 2014 CloudPact Software, All rights reserved.
24