The Actual Implementation of Mobility

One of the challenges of working in the technology industry is being enveloped in the skewed perspective that everyone takes your technology as seriously as you do. I’ve spent years working with (among other things) mobile technology, and its use is so pervasive within that sub-domain, that the assumption is every other company in every other domain is taking it as seriously.

The truth is that mobile technology is still in a state of relative youth (not infancy, but not yet pubescent). As you would expect, some sectors have adopted and deployed very rapidly, some are being cautious, and others are clueless or indifferent. So here is the problem; even in those sectors with rapid adoption, the actual deployment is still not driven by the right perspective. There is so much noise in the media on mobile technology that is creates a sense of urgency without a clear understanding of the motivations—“Quick! Act now before it’s too late!” — Everyone jumps, but no one ask how exactly, or more importantly, why?

There is a rush in the B2C space to move to all things mobile (App or HTML5? Geo-location data? What about Behavioral Targeting? Which browser? etc.). The fundamental question should be “How will this technology accelerate our existing business initiatives?” Assuming a big, well-run company to begin with, how does the extension of a mobile channel affect the core business model? One of the challenges with this is there is not much historical or anecdotal evidence to fall back on, everyone is figuring this out as they go along. This is not necessarily bad, we did the same thing a few years earlier when the world wide web suddenly became friendly thanks to Mosaic, and eventually things settled and new ecosystems sprung up. It did take about 10-12 years for the market to stabilize, and that is likely to be the case here.

While mobile technology has been around for quite a while, mobile data (as in smart phones) is a lot more recent, so the expectation that current mobile technology will have an immediate and positive impact on business operations is misplaced. It will have some positive effect, as people exploit the convenience of mobility, but to leverage the truly transformation aspects of mobility will take time, since it requires a fundamental and long-term shift in underlying business models. This is not something that happens quickly in larger companies, regardless of adoption rates or media hype. It is, however, a given that this technology is now permanent and embedded, so it will require all business to rethink the fundamental nature of how they work day to day; mobility is not a strategic imperative anymore, it is, in fact, quite tactical, which makes it far more important.