The Disconnect Between Enterprise 2.0 and Mobililty

Yesterday I attended a session titled Integrating the Mobile Worker and was disappointd by what I heard from the panelists representing Nokia, Motorola, RIM, and Antenna Software. To them, "mobility" apparently means "voice, email, and client/server applications". Thud.

To me, "Enterprise 2.0" means "Web 2.0 in the enterprise". Enterprise applications vendors have spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars web-enabling their applications and are now hard at work further enhancing them with Web 2.0 technologies and concepts. But mobile devices are notoriously awful web clients, and the notion of trying to fix that, let alone making them viable Web 2.0 devices, didn't even come up in the session yesterday.

Virtually every application I use in my business is web-based. I want to be able to access those applications from my mobile device in exactly the same way I do from my laptop. Apparently Motorola, RIM, and Nokia won't help me do that. Luckily though, Apple will:

Apple today announced that its revolutionary iPhone will run applications created with Web 2.0 Internet standards when it begins shipping on June 29. Developers can create Web 2.0 applications which look and behave just like the applications built into iPhone, and which can seamlessly access iPhone’s services, including making a phone call, sending an email and displaying a location in Google Maps. Third-party applications created using Web 2.0 standards can extend iPhone’s capabilities without compromising its reliability or security.

It's no small irony that Apple—a consumer-oriented company—may wind up being the leader in Enterprise 2.0 mobility.

Comments

[Josie Pearson]

I can't understand why you got the impression that Antenna Software only deals with voice, email and client/server applications, when it does in fact provide a direct interface between mobile devices and more than 40 enterprise applications including SAP, Siebel and NetSuite. Large enterprises are actively using Antenna Software's mobility platform to extend core business applications to sales and service staff at the point of contact with their customers. For example, Pitney Bowes UK is currently using Antenna's mobility platform to enable field service engineers in 6 different countries to deliver Siebel AND SAP applications, directly to and from the engineers' XDA and Pocket PC devices, with the interface to this mobile composite application presented in their local language. If this is not true enterprise mobility, I would struggle to find another example.

[Charlie Wood]

Josie,

If it's a "direct interface", why do I need Antenna Software? If my app already has a web interface, I want to be able to use that exact interface--with no middleman--from my mobile device. If this is the approach Antenna is taking, please let me know because that's not the impression I got.

Regards,
Charlie

[Movero Technology]

We totally agree, Web 2.0 in the enterprise is a huge opportunity and not enough attention is being paid to the market. More and more companies and consumers alike are in demand of the services and applications, but don't have the necessary means to do so. Companies taking the initiative in the enterprise mobility market will continue to grow and be in high demand.