Apps

The Second Wave of IT Consumerization

A Practical Strategy for IT Departments Seeking Greater Relevance in the Face of Rapid Consumerization of Everything

By Bill French

Smart mobile devices and the app market model have combined to produce a seriously compelling value proposition for consumers and business organizations. This paper provides insights into the emerging app-centric world and how this trend will inuence and integrate with an increasingly mobile workforce. A unique opportunity to embrace the second wave of consumerization is waiting for IT organizations globally.

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

APPS: THE SECOND WAVE OF IT CONSUMERIZATION

INTRODUCTION
In an age of mobility, enterprises are changing in profound ways. In a recent corporate brieng to a mid-sized healthcare enterprise, the issue of app selection naturally surfaced in the Q&A session. This is not uncommon - my strategic briengs concerning the app-centric enterprise always evoke questions from executives and business managers who want to know which apps are best. What wasn't a common occurrence in these briengs was the obvious discomfort shown by members of the IT group who were vocally concerned about the freedom that mobile workers have been given in deciding which [consumer] apps they choose. While there's little debate that provisioning of enterprise mobile devices has decidedly shifted in favor of consumer products, the debate concerning mobile apps hasn't even begun. However, the consumerization of apps - indeed software chosen by workers, not the enterprise, and certainly not IT - is likely to create a much larger impact across organizations than anyone realizes. The consumerization of apps in business is already occurring and for the most part, the trend is undetectable because apps are considered personal choices for doing personal tasks. Unlike enterprise applications, apps are typically regarded as small, insignicant bundles of simplied functionality that are rarely, if ever, used for business, let alone mission-critical tasks. The reality is that apps are increasingly being purchased and installed on mobile devices to address important business objectives for mobile workers. Many organizations are simply out of touch with this trend. Globally, apps are sneaking up on companies much the way unsanctioned desktop applications wormed their way onto PCs in the early 80s.

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

THE LEADING EDGE OF CONSUMERIZATION

The rst wave of the Consumerization of IT, the one getting the most media coverage, involves hardware, mobile devices and typically cloud services that are sweeping up portions of the application stack. The continuous onslaught of personally provisioned mobile devices represents the leading edge of the consumerization process of IT. This trend accelerated in 2007 with the release of iPhone [1]. However, as you may recall and perhaps you were one of them, enterprise workers started carrying two phones in the mid-2000s, a clear indicator that employees were dissatised with ITs idea of useful smartphones for business and personal use. Certainly some employees were required to refrain from using corporate devices when conducting personal business, but the general sentiment concerning IT mandates for corporate sanctioned devices was negative and growing more so as the decade wore on. And now iPad is accelerating this trend to the point where most organizations have accepted the idea that employees have some say in what they use for mobile work. And it just so happens that many consumer devices are actually better for getting work done than devices designed solely for business purposes. Any company that continues to resist this trend probably has a CEO that hasnt used an iPhone or iPad.

THE TRAILING EDGE OF CONSUMERIZATION

The second phase of consumerization, which runs slightly behind but along side the leading edge of this trend, involves a fundamental shift of business requirements for software solutions. This trend shows a clear shift away from monolithic desktop applications to discrete task-based mobile apps. Workers are quick to reach for their smart phones or tablets Workers are quick to reach to check their calendar even while sitting in front of a desktop computer for their smart phones or with a 27" monitor. Indeed, the apptablets to check their centric enterprise is calendar even while sitting in emerging and consumercentric mobile devices are front of a desktop computer the cause.

with a 27" monitor.

Workers have discovered that they can accomplish more with consumer apps than they can with desktops and laptops for certain tasks. This realization has naturally
Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO 4

washed over to their professional lives. If you can make a dinner reservation for you and your spouse in 20 seconds using a mobile app, logically, you can also make a business lunch reservation just as easily. Mobile apps are designed with economy of motion and simplicity of process and workers are quick to adopt apps that help them achieve progress personally and professionally. And so, the rationalization for using apps [intended for consumers], to solve business problems, begins but never stops. Apps initially intended for consumers or small business owners are nding their way into enterprise work scenarios because they provide good value and theyre always available, regardless of mobile context. The trailing edge of IT consumerization has broad implications. Like the wake of an ocean liner, the ripples extend far in every direction.

APPS: POINT-SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYONE AND EVERY TASK

Through its consumer campaigns, Apple has cemented the idea that theres an app for that and by that, Apple means just about anything you can imagine. This positioning is taking hold in business, government, religion and everyday lives of individuals across the globe as the popularity of iPhone, iPodTouch, and now iPad, has grown rapidly and pervasively since iPhones debut in mid-2007. Conceptually and literally, this positioning has also Apps have become a spilled over to non-Apple environments such as Android-based phones and meaningful abbreviation for devices. App stores are popping up for software that just works. every viable smart-device platform and operating system. Apps have become a meaningful abbreviation for software that just works. Apps provide a common and easily understood idea that has been widely accepted as a solution indeed a means to get stuff done quickly and effectively. Humans across the globe see apps as the pathway to achieving objectives, whether simple tasks or complex processes, and theyve begun to vote on this model [quite literally] with gestures of resounding approval. Good apps create and sustain long-lasting relationships with users and they nd their way into prominent visibility on their mobile devices. When an app reaches the home screen of an iPhone or iPad, it represents a huge vote of condence for that software -

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

it is considered the best of the best. Bad apps are quickly tossed aside as users exercise real-time [natural] selection for solutions that make tasks seem more like fun and less like work. Apps designed for customers are quickly becoming the life-link between them and businesses and brands they care about they represent the brand equity of that relationship and similar afnities develop between mobile workers and enterpriseprovisioned apps. The app market model is a key driver that has created user agility to test, experiment, and determine what's best and what works, without signicant risk. Workers can quickly acquire and assess the benets of an app at relatively low costs which also encourages this behavior to occur unfettered across the organization. Consumers and workers are thrilled with the App Market Model, and therein lies the problem for enterprise IT.

ARE ENTERPRISE APPS THE ANSWER?

Its not uncommon for business leaders to jump to the conclusion that the best way to throttle the consumerization of business apps is to build their own enterprise apps, a strategy that will likely fail. The adoption of consumer-intended mobile apps for business use are already ooding the enterprise. Enterprise equivalents of these apps typically aren't developed internally, nor are they provisioned by the enterprise -- and for good reason. What sense does it make for a company to build its own PDF viewer if a $2.99, off-the-shelf product meets the business requirements? There is also increasing evidence that IT is simply unprepared to deal with the rapid increase in demand for mobile apps. A June 2010 IDC-Unisys survey of 560 IT managers and 2,660 employees and executives at large companies showed that IT underestimates signicantly1 the number of employees using laptops, mobiles devices and tablets, and that IT is unable to support those consumer devices. Further, IT lacks the resources necessary to address the granularity required to build apps that serve as discrete point solutions, many of which are chosen based on the role a mobile app user plays in a company.

A Consumer Revolution in the Enterprise

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

APP MARKET MODEL

The app market model emerged when Apple rst released iPhone in 2007. Steve Jobs vision assumed that consumers and developers would benet most from a powerful mobile web browser that pervasively supported open web standards. However, developers had different ideas; they wanted direct access to native elements of An increasingly mobile workforce the device through an SDK will rapidly embrace the app (software development kit) market model. The app-centric and rightly so. Even today, Web enterprise will soon become the standards and dominant model for getting stuff browser technology doesnt done. Bill French, Founder and Sr Editor, mix all that well with native iPadCTO device and deep hardware features for many reasons including but not limited to security challenges. With the advent of iPhone (generation 1), developers desperately wanted the ability to create optimized apps that performed as well as Apples own preinstalled [native] apps. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Inc. agreed and went above and beyond the developers call for more device-level access. Apple provided comprehensive programming access to iPhone and its wealth of hardware capabilities, but on one condition all apps would be reviewed for quality of experience and the distribution and sale of apps would go through iTunes the App Store was born. As global mobile industry analyst Ralf Gordon Jahns describes it in a recent report, The first six months in 2008, after the launch of the Apple App Store, proved to be an Eldorado for developers who quickly jumped on the band-wagon, realizing amazing downloads numbers for, generally speaking, very simple applications. In 2009 the market swelled with tens of thousands of new apps, making it more and more difficult for individual apps not to be lost in the long tail. Nonetheless the mass of developers adhere to IOS as their preferred mobile development and distribution platform.

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

In 2011, the app market model is now at full throttle with likely many years of growth ahead. Mobile vendors have joined the app market model without hesitation. But this success has little to do with Apple or its vision, and everything to do with what customers and business users want simple, focused, point solutions that just work. And apps need to work across two critical dimensions; (i) the ability to purchase and install apps without friction and, (ii) tness-of-purpose.

THE APP-CENTRIC ENTERPRISE

Theres no doubt that the app market model will continue to provide new and innovative ways for businesses and large organizations to advance the science of computing. The innovation cycle has been greatly shortened in this new model, making it more likely that companies can avoid IT project failures. At the heart of this emerging trend is the notion that apps are relevant only in a mobile context when workers are away from the ofce. If you take a few minutes to observe your own behavior with mobile devices, including the somewhat mobile iPad, youll discover that youre actually [increasingly] using your iPad and smart phone at your desk. Its obvious that youre already depending on it while roaming through the building, in ad-hoc and casual meetings, at lunch (in the building) and certainly in conference rooms. Apps are becoming increasingly important in non-mobile and quasi-mobile contexts. App-centricity in mobile and non-mobile contexts is already an important aspect of everyday business, and its about to ow back across your desktop and laptop. Ross Rubin recently penned Switched On: The iPadication of Mac OS where he observed, Apples new MacBook Air was cited as taking on traits associated with the iPad such as thinness, flash storage, longer battery life, and instant on. But it is the changes coming in Lion that are inspired by the iPads user interface that will have broader ramifications for the future of all Macs, even desktops.

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

THE NEW DEFINITION OF MOBILE WORKER

Donald Farmer, former business intelligence visionary At Microsoft and currently product evangelist at mobile business intelligence company QlikTech, has this to say about mobile workers. you dont have to be a mobile worker to need mobility. Donald is not alone in this assertion; the denition of mobile worker has been transformed in the last decade. Mobile employees are found in the company cafeteria eating lunch while reviewing performance data, in the hallway having an impromptu sales conversation, and in conference rooms two doors down, or across town, or in a different country. The geo-location of a worker has no relationship to the denition of mobile work. At no other time in the history of computing has the availability of truly portable and highly useful personal computing devices been pervasively available and at relatively low cost. Predictably, the denition of mobile worker has changed because the nature of modern mobile devices has changed2 .

EMBRACING THE APP-CENTRIC TREND

Organizations must act quickly to shape their business strategies to accommodate the emerging app market model. Mobile app trends are dramatically impacting customers and workers, necessitating stringent evaluation of internal and external opportunities. Internally, businesses can begin by reassessing the effect mobile devices are presently having on its workforce and identify key process areas that can leverage this trend for greater business benet. Enterprises must consider how inuential an Apple-inclusive mobile device strategy can be to its workforce and its customer base. Embracing the fun side of mobile computing is a sure success path to creating an enterprise environment thats seen as perhaps forward thinking, lighthearted, and more likely to be a creative and enjoyable place to work. A progressive mobile device policy has been proven to sway recruitment success as well as employee retention goals.

Mobile Worker The Denition Has Changed But Not for the Reasons You Think

Apps: The Second Wave of IT Consumerization - Copyright (c) 2011 - iPad CTO

THE DARK SIDE OF APP CONSUMERIZATION

While the trend toward device consumerization seems big, it pales in comparison to apps. For every consumer device in the enterprise, there is likely to be 30 or more apps that workers have selected to depend on from time-to-time. A smaller number, of course, are used on a fairly regular basis. For enterprise workers to get to this level of app adoption requires Imagine an enterprise of 300 that each of them discover, mobile workers each deciding experiment with, and determine through trial-and-error, which apps which of thirty-plus apps they are business-worthy in their should acquire and use. respective roles. Imagine an enterprise of 300 mobile workers each deciding which of thirty-plus apps they should acquire and use. The scenario is as easy to predict as it is to understand. Thousands of enterprise employees foraging for apps for their shiny new iOS devices. Each spending hours searching, researching, testing, failing, deleting, organizing, managing, collaborating on app recommendations and experiences and doing so individually and outside the scope of their jobs and purview of their IT groups. iOS-toting workers are ofcially off the reservation and IT sanctioned use of their devices is giving them plenty of means and incentive to go rogue. Enterprise App Chaos, A Simple Scenario Lets look at the numbers. Imagine a sales team of 64 reps each receiving a magical tablet and a basic mandate from their manager: Use the iPad to enhance your sales presentations, manage email more efciently, and carry loads of spec sheets with you. Feel free to use this in place of your laptop if you prefer. Lets also assume that each sales person is going to spend about three hours getting to know iPad and downloading some games before searching for useful business apps. We can safely assume that the group responsible for distributing the devices has
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also recommended some apps for presentations (such as Keynote) and maybe theyve provided recommendations for PDF viewers. They may have even gone so far as to gift specic apps to these employees. But even with a generalized effort to provide app selection guidance, unless youre one of the unlucky few that dont have an iPad yet, you know what lay ahead when iPad app exploration begins. Its a huge distraction. If each app (on average) requires only a half hour to locate, review user-generated feedback, download, and learn, our example sales team will spend about 1,900 hours establishing fully congured iPad devices to help them get stuff done. Assume a 20% savings if most of them collaborate on app selection and crowdsourced training and support, and you still have an investment north of 1,520 hours. At a very conservative, fully burdened cost of $75/hour, the price tag for this activity approaches nearly $120,000. Is that in your IT budget? At least 63/64ths of varying parts of this effort is overlap and redundant effort. Almost all of it could be avoided. And if this inefcient use of salespeoples time isnt a little worrisome, consider whats over the horizon. You now have a team that has adopted a variety of apps that are unlikely to factor in the IT climate and infrastructure of the organization. They have settled in to use apps that probably dont work well together, and have a high incidence of document formatting, workow discontinuities, and collaboration anomalies. Whats the solution? Enterprise App Resource Planning - ERP for mobile apps that factor in the role of each worker, their mobility, the IT climate, document app requirements and integration with operational workows.

GUIDEPOSTS FOR ENTERPRISE RESOURCE APP PLANNING

For IT groups to remain relevant in the second wave of consumerization, app planning and guidance must be institutionalized. Establishing best practices in app selection and integration with mobile work requires an investment in framing the problem domain and identifying processes that are simple for app users to follow. One approach for strategic mobile app planning is to establish a framework for measuring app benets based on mobile tasks, processes, and organizational roles. While the topology for each business and its various departments may vary, the general approach for identifying and selecting apps has similar attributes. An example
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topology for selecting apps might slice across expected mobile work activities instead of app features. Using an approach that focuses on general task areas may help your workers achieve much more with a smaller number of apps. Creating a foundation of commonly needed apps that work well within the existing IT climate, will pay big dividends to every organization. Additional benets accrue to the organization when this process is orchestrated in ways that support discrete processes and mobile work requirements. Consider dividing your app requirements based on classes of mobile work activities and in the context of specic roles or categories of mobile workers. These dimensions capture the essential granularity necessary to identify the best apps for workers. Mobile Work Activities Most common in mobile work activities include such things as email communications, document collaboration, capturing notes in a meeting. These are core tasks nearly every mobile worker encounters on a daily basis. Arguably, six key task areas cover most of the things mobile workers are faced with each day. Enlighten apps that create situational awareness, alerting, and enlightening workers. Connect apps that improve communication. These apps provide seamless ways to streamline and accelerate the ow of Capture apps that streamline the acquisition of information, data, and knowledge. Organize apps that help employees improve their ability to nd stuff wherever they may happen to be. Collaborate apps that make it easier to annotate and share knowledge, institutionalize ideas, and work toward a single goal. Present apps that help workers use their devices to make a compelling point, gain collective support of new ideas and develop new business.

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Once key app classes have been determined, any app being considered for business use should also be mapped into the role of specic users or denitive categories of mobile workers. Mobile Worker Categories Depending on your business focus and organization, a simplied example of mobile worker categories might include: Executives Business Development Sales Marketing Product Management

Its important to recognize that careful classication of apps and roles across both dimensions will lead to the most ideal selection of apps. The importance of formulating a selection process that considers both dimensions can be better understood with these real-world scenarios. A note-taking app for an executive may require very different features than a note-taking app for a product manager. For legal purposes, the executive may need to record each meeting and tag the audio with index tabs that allow review and tracking. In contract, a product manager might nd design and drawing features exceedingly important. A C-level executive would typically use presentation apps for large audiences, whereas, a sales executive who engages predominantly in one-on-one situations requires a far different app to make a point. A product manager who spends signicant amount of time in conference rooms and engineering may need to connect to her desktop using iPad. A sales executive who travels a third of the time must also use remote desktop connectivity from his iPad. However, security requirements are different for each role. The sales exec is typically connecting through open networks, whereas the product manager is typically inside the corporate network to begin with. App selection for remote desktop access is inuenced by these requirements.

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While the work activity and worker role play important parts in good app selection, there are other dimensions that may require additional consideration. Broadening your app resource planning process to factor in these additional dimensions should not be ruled out. IT Climate App selection is greatly inuenced by the IT climate. An enterprise with a signicant investment in Windows will require a decided bias toward apps that work well with not only the Windows operating system, but applications as well. Microsoft Ofce compatible apps will perform far better than apps designed without the inuence of Ofce document types. Network Climate The network environment may impact app selection. Environments where bandwidth is constrained or cloud services are prominent, certain apps will perform better than others. An emerging trend in app design it to allow them to read and write directly with cloud services. Issues concerning security and other conguration attributes arise in the context of apps. Mobile Climate Some workers are more mobile than others. A sales executive may nd herself on the road 150 days a year. A product manager, while still a very mobile role in many organizations, may be out of ofce 75 days a year with half of them down the hall but in the building. In each case they have different mobility footprints and this can alter app selection signicantly.

THE IT OPPORTUNITY
It's important for IT groups to separate the leading and trailing edges of consumerization. Doing so helps us visualize the business drivers more clearly, and understand the impact on the organization in more vivid ways. The leading edge of IT consumerization is best managed with mobile device management (MDM) products and solutions, whereas, the consumerization of business applications (the trailing edge) is far more complex and may impact the enterprise in potentially unexpected positive and negative ways. It is at this nexus of app consumerization where a huge opportunity exists for IT organizations to reinvent themselves as a strategic corporate resource.

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Today, the information technology department is in an ideal position to fulll the need for expert mobile app coaching through role-based policy setting and new resource planning solutions designed to guide workers concerning their app choices. This is the emerging arena of a new type of ERP practice shaped specically to avoid enterprise app chaos. Certainly, the emergence and rapid adoption of consumer devices has already changed IT forever. The more important issue concerns the future can IT groups recognize where this is heading and establish themselves as a key strategic resource that helps workers make good app choices?

HOW I CAN HELP

Feel free to call me to chat about your enterprise app strategy. I like to get feedback from the trenches and an understanding of your real-world challenges. You can reach me via email (bill.french@ipadcto.com) or call me at 970.205.9121. Contact me today to arrange for a condential customized strategic brieng. iPadCTO is an advisory portal that covers breaking stories, opinions, and technology advisories for executives that are adopting iPad in their organizations. Our consulting engagements bring expertise into your organization and provide timely iPad market intelligence. iPadCTO provides a broad array of resources to help executives develop iPad strategies. Mobile Apps: Native or Web? guides your team through cross-platform issues, and The App-centric Enterprise provides a fresh perspective concerning the future of apps in the enterprise. [learn more]

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