Network of partnerships essential for building mobility business, says IDC (page 1 of 2)

According to a new IDC analysis of the enterprise mobility market environment, the complexity of most solutions is forcing participants along the mobility value chain to change the way they do business with clients and with each other.

Mobile operators in particular will need to readjust their approach to the market. According to IDC, operators will be able to apply the lessons they learned from supplying consumer content to mobility solutions. As with content, delivering services with real value will mean relying on external organizations rather than attempting to create in-house teams that do it all. Operators must recognize, however, that the type of straightforward partnerships that emerged with content providers will not apply when creating and delivering services for enterprise mobility. The value chain will be more complex, include a more diverse combination of specialists, and require a much deeper level of involvement.

"In supplying mobility solutions, operators will have to open their infrastructures much further than they have in the past," says Mohsen Malaki, Communications Program and Consulting Manager, IDC CEMA. "This means relinquishing some control and sharing revenue with application developers, network management firms, and IT services organizations that specialize in business solutions and that view mobile networks as part of a larger package designed to keep people continually connected to databases, email, and intranets. But it'll be worth it in the long run, as the alliances that emerge will be the key to future success."

As will constant access, the foundation of the mobile worker concept. It is also the force driving adoption of mobility solutions. According to IDC, organizations in CEE and ME have been quick to recognize the benefits of a mobile workforce but cautious when considering implementation. The main reason was the inability of technology to meet the expectations associated with truly mobile workers and the hype preceding 3G. That has started to change. Recently deployed mobile networks and the latest handsets, devices, and notebooks are now able to handle data-transmission rates required for mobile solutions.

"Of course it takes a lot more than state-of-the-art technology to please clients," says Malaki. "In addition to major educational campaigns, mobility alliances must establish lasting relationships with a few representative enterprises in order to create solutions that match real needs. Alliance partners must also invest in test cases that can later be used as full-blown case studies to effectively demonstrate the benefits of a given set of services."

To do this, partnerships for mobility solutions need to start in the right markets. According to IDC, some of the more mature mobile markets within the Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East regions have reached or are near saturation. Enterprises in countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, and the smaller Gulf States have already thoroughly milked voice and basic data services (mainly SMS). These markets now represent ripe environments for the rollout of wireless solutions that connect everything from email to enterprise applications.

"Rollout will only proceed smoothly if operators have taken the time to establish a solid network of partnerships and alliances," says Malaki. "By recognizing this now and getting over prejudices about sharing technology or working with former or even current competitors, mobility providers can create business models for tapping the potentially lucrative enterprise market.