SAP Mobility Whitepaper 2011

SAP White Paper

Mobility – A technology on the moveA mobility survey among Belgian companies

whitepaper.indd 1 12-05-11 15:54


3SAP White Paper – Mobility – A technology on the move

Index

5 Why this study today?

6 Tackling the mobility challenges

7 SAP and mobility

8 Mobility study of Belgian companies

9 How mobile-enabled are Belgian employees?

11 Mobile Enterprise Applications: fact or fiction?

13 How mobile is the future of Belgian firms?

15 Conclusions


The mobile ‘revolution’ is happening faster than anyone had expected. The idea that you could download a proposal in a café before your next meeting or consult stock levels at your customer’s premises would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. Now it’s part of everyday business. The mobile developments are transforming the way we live. And they radically impact how companies are run today – and how business will be done in the future.

Are Belgian companies aware of these fast-moving trends? Where are they on the mobility adoption curve? What drives them (not) to go mobile?

To find out, SAP gave the research agency iVOX the task of assessing the state of technological mobility in Belgium. We discuss the conclusions of this survey in this whitepaper.

+ 1 billion

+ 1 billion individuals use mobile devices to connect to the Internet, worldwide. Industry analysts predict continued and explosive growth in the future. According to IDC1, by 2013, more than 1.19 billion workers worldwide will be using mobile technology, accounting for 34.9% of the workforce.

1 “Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2009-2013 Forecast” (IDC, 2009)


SAP White Paper – Mobility – A technology on the move 5

Why this study today?

The days of pagers and brick-size mobile phones are long gone. In 2011, professionals and consumers alike carry intelligent, multifunctional mobile devices like smartphones and computer tablets. The availability of these devices and of worldwide digital networks is making the world truly mobile – much faster than anyone could have expected!

THE BuSinESS iMPACT of MoBiliTy

At SAP, we firmly believe that the entire world is going mobile. In fact, Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the “BRIC” countries) may well take the lead in adopting and innovating mobile technology.

The explosive growth of mobile applications is bound to affect how we live, work and do business. Business processes - both internal operations and business-to-consumer relationships - will change significantly, in every industry.

EMPloyEE ProduCTiviTy And CuSToMEr EngAgEMEnT

Enterprise mobile strategies, these days, mainly focus on boosting employee productivity. In the near future, however, it will be equally important to foster customer engagement. After all, customers are taking the power: they want to do business on their own terms, at any hour of the day and at any location. To cater to their needs, enterprises will need to install mobile B2B procure-to-pay and vendor relation processes, as well as mobile B2C order fulfillment and customer loyalty programs.

Here are a few examples of emerging trends that will radically redefine how we do business:

• location-based services and augmented reality help retailers push targeted messages to shoppers passing by their stores. Or allow people to point the camera on their mobile at a street corner and see information about nearby businesses.

• greater price transparency – Shoppers can examine a product at one location, use their smartphone to compare prices from multiple vendors, and then purchase the product at another retailer’s website or mobile application. This will force every business to implement dynamic price-setting and work as cost-effectively as possible.

• using mobile devices like cash – Instead of paying with cash or credit cards, people will be able to use their mobile phone for payments.

Sounds futuristic? It’s not. These developments are being introduced right now and will become common technology very soon. That’s why SAP has carried out this survey NOW: it is high time for organizations to leverage these evolving technologies, by providing their internal workforces with mobile tools and redefining their business-to-consumer models. If they are able to do that, they will be in a powerful position to improve employee efficiency, influence consumer behavior and gain a competitive edge.

“The technological advances in mobility are being introduced right now. That’s why SAP has carried out this survey NOW: it is high time for organizations to leverage mobile technology and gain a competitive edge.”


Tackling the mobility challenges

It is easy to identify the benefits of a mobile workforce. As employees are able to easily check approvals, file time sheets and travel expenses from their phones, worker efficiency and productivity improve. In addition, easy remote access to data like a real-time shipping status, stock levels or sales figures helps field staff, like sales reps, drive customer satisfaction. So why isn’t every company going mobile right away? There are challenges to mobility too, in the fields of security, data latency and device proliferation.

SECuriTy for MoBiliTy

An increase in off-site work can cause problems for corporate IT security – in three areas:

• network – Wireless email can pose a threat. A virus from an unsecured personal device behind the enterprise firewall can infect the network and both the wired and wireless end points.

• device – Enterprise data on personal devices is vulnerable to theft or other loss.

• identity – Personal information exposed during network access and mobile application use must be protected from snooping. Like the PC environment of the late 1990s, viruses are likely to multiply as mobile-based commerce, banking and social activities continue to expand.

EnHAnCing THE dATA dElivEry lATEnCy

Data latency is another – and often overlooked – issue. Workforces who access data from back-end systems or consumers who look up data on their mobile phone, don’t want to wait for the information to be downloaded. They want it right away. And yet, downloading large amounts of data can be pretty time-intensive. New and enhanced protocols are therefore needed.

vAriETy in dEviCES And PlATforMS

Gartner notes that by 2013, a typical Fortune 1000 company that deploys business-employee or business-to-consumer mobile applications will use at least six different combinations of mobile platform, architecture and development tools1. This explosion of different devices, applications and even connectivity providers makes the mobile landscape very complex.

End-To-End STrATEgy To unWirE THE EnTErPriSE

Security, latency and device/ platform proliferation are three key challenges that CIOs are facing. These challenges are bound to continue as the pace of mobile evolution accelerates over the next five years. If they consider mobility crucial for running their businesses better, CIOs will need to develop an end-to-end strategy and thread mobility into their core IT processes. They need the right vision, strategy and applications to unwire their enterprises for today and establish a solid foundation for the future of mobility.

“Due to the sharp increase in enterprise mobility, organizations are vulnerable to new security, latency and proliferation challenges. If they consider mobility crucial for running their businesses better, CIOs will need to develop an end-to-end strategy and build mobility into their core IT processes.”

1 Put an Integrated Mobile Strategy in Place, or Face In-creased Costs Later,” Gartner, July 6, 2010, ID: G00201262.



SAP and mobility

While mobility emerged, initially, as a consumer technology, it is now gaining a steady foothold in companies too. This development is bringing software ven-dors like SAP into some very interesting new waters. As a global market leader in enterprise software, we are determined to strengthen our foothold in the field of mobile applications. SAP is ready to help companies run better by going mobile.

four ’CS‘ of ProfESSionAl MoBiliTy

SAP has developed a comprehensive mobility strategy for enterprises, com-posed of an IT and a business focus. The strategy addresses what we call the four ‘Cs’ of mobility: create, connect, control and consume.

The IT focus includes:• Create – empowers customers to

build compelling mobile apps using standard, integrated development environments (Eclipse and Visual Studio)

• Control – allows businesses to manage and secure mobile devices in full confidence

The business focus includes:• Connect – enables users to commu-

nicate and interface with any SAP or non-SAP data source and applications

• Consume – allows users to use the mobile applications from the device of their choice

CoMBining THE PoWEr of TWo

SAP’s mobile software offering includes solutions that enable companies to ad-dress the four Cs of mobility. To develop and deliver these solutions, we combine our extensive knowledge of business processes with the know-how of Sybase, a recognized leader in mobility software that we acquired in 2010. Together we offer a comprehensive suite of mobility solutions that provide secure access to business processes any time, anywhere and on any device.


Mobility study of Belgian companies

Which mobile devices and tools are Belgian companies using? How many employees have access to mobile enterprise applications, and to which applications in particular? What is the managers’ view on mobility in 2012? And what is it that drives them (not) to go mobile?

To find an answer to these questions, SAP commissioned research agency iVOX to conduct a survey on mobility trends within Belgian companies. 506 companies took part in the online survey, involving multiple-choice questions, which was carried out in April

2011. The respondents were managers from different types of companies: young (<10 years) firms, companies between 10 and 19 years in existence, or long-established businesses (over 20 years), representative of a variety of industries. As for company size, the businesses in the respondent group varied from small to large, which makes the sample immediately relevant statistically.

iVOX is an interdisciplinary research and consultancy agency that has close links with K.U. Leuven (Catholic University Leuven). The agency has particular expertise in researching e-government, general communication campaigns, politics and media and the adoption, use and impact of new technologies. iVOX has previously been commissioned by SAP to survey 1,000 professionally active Belgians on the use of the electronic identity card (eID) at work and on their sustainability initiatives.

60% “Our people don’t have the access and ability to use mobile enterprise applications.”

83% “We’re not offering access to mobile applications today and will definitely or probably not do so in the next 12 months.”

51% “Our workers access mobile enterprise applications from private devices.”

77% “Mobile data communications are expensive.”

73% “Mobile applications are the future of business.”



How mobile-enabled are Belgian employees?

You read it, see it, hear it everywhere: there’s a mobile ‘revolution’ going on. It is happening faster than anyone had expected and it will undoubtedly impact the way we live, work and do business. But what’s the state of play today in Belgian companies? In the first part of the survey, we gauged which mobile devices Belgian firms provide to their employees, distinguishing between companies in terms of size and industry sector. Particular attention was given to companies employing field staff, i.e. persons who often work outside the of-fice like sales reps, support and maintenance staff, etc. (67% of the respondents).

MoBilE = MoBilE PHonE And lAPToP

Belgian enterprises have embraced mobile technology. Or at least, partly. The mobile technology currently available at Belgian firms is still mostly ‘basic’. Two thirds of the companies sur-veyed indicated that some or all of their employees have been issued a company mobile phone. 58% provide some or all of their staff with a laptop and 49% al-low (part of) their people to work from home, occasionally. In the latter case, 38% of the respondents pay their work-ers’ Internet access invoice (see figure 1).

Unsurprisingly, companies that employ field staff score highest with regard to offering mobile tools. They reported that most of their people in the field have a mobile phone (91%), a laptop (85%), the ability to work at home (81%) and an Internet connection paid for by the com-pany (78%), which is far more than in other companies (see figure 2).

What is striking from the survey, is that mainly younger companies (<10 years) and services companies invest in mobile devices. Ca. 31% of services companies stated that they pay the home Internet invoice for some or all of their employ-ees, against almost 14% in trade. (see figure 3 on page 10).

Mobile from work

Laptop from work

Possibility to work from home

Internet access at home paid by the employer

Read emails on the mobile/smartphone

Access the Internet on the mobile/smartphone

Smartphone from work

Tablet PC from work (iPAD/ HP/ …)

SoM

15% 24% 38%

9% 29% 37%

10% 27% 37%

7% 25% 32%

4% 10% 14%

18% 32% 49%

19% 39% 58%

24% 43% 66%Offered to all employees Offered to some of the staff

use figure 1Current situation

Which of the following does your company/the company where you work offer to its staff?

Mobile from work

Laptop from work

Possibility to work from home

Internet access at home paid by the employer

Read emails on the mobile/smartphone

Access the Internet on the mobile/smartphone

Smartphone from work

Tablet PC from work (iPAD/ HP/ …)

91%

85%

81%

78%

65%

71%

69%

55%

38%

30%

27%

21%

16%

16%

12%

6%

Field staffgeneral

Field staff Figure 2Current situation

Which of the following resources are available to field staff, to help them do their jobs?Ca. which percentage of the employees gets these resources?


SMArTPHonES And TABlETS: groWing ouT of THEir infAnCy

This gap between younger and older enterprises and different sectors seems to widen even more when it comes to new technologies like smartphones and tablets, and mobile access to enterprise applications. 32% of the Belgian compa-nies surveyed indicated that some or all of their staff have a smartphone, and 37% indicated that (part of) their em-ployees have Internet access and can check their mailbox on their mobile or smartphone. 14% indicated that at least one tablet PC is deployed in the organi-

zation. Services companies have the greatest number of smartphone users: 17.39% against 5.64% in trade. Once again, field staff is equipped with the most innovative solutions: 69% have a smartphone, 71% can check their mail-box on the move and 65% have Internet access on their mobile.

youngEr gEnErATionS Pulling MoBilE APPliCATionS inTo THE BuSinESS World

In young companies, the number of employees using a smartphone rises to 23.21%, against 7.76% in firms over 20

years in existence. We might therefore conclude that young companies are more involved with the latest technolo-gies and/or employ more people who have grown up with new technologies and want a mobile experience in their professional environments that’s similar to the one they enjoy in their personal and consumer lives. Both aspects might move the firms’ mobility agenda forward.

Core activity

industry Trade Services others

(A) (B) (C) (C)

internet access at home paid by the employer

16,98 13,99 30,58 6,03

laptop from work 26,82 24,72 36,26 22,69

Mobile phone from work 36,51 35,03 44,14 26,92

Smartphone from work 8,95 5,64 17,39 6,53

Tablet PC from work (iPAd/ HP/ ...)

4,95 4,45 7,79 1,78

internet access on the mobile/smartphone

15,94 9,67 20,65 7,60

read emails on the mobile/smartphone

14,58 9,16 20,97 9,06

Possibility to work at home 20,16 19,05 34,3 21,17

use figure 3Current situation

In which industries are the mentioned resources more frequent?


SAP White Paper – Mobility – A technology on the move 11

Mobile Enterprise Applications: fact or fiction?

Bringing in mobile devices is a first step. True enterprise mobility, however, is about providing access to enterprise applications via those devices. Email was the first true mobile application and the one most frequently used today. Did Belgian companies take it a step further already, providing access to their back-office applications in real time, regard-less of the workers’ location or the device being used? And why are they going fully mobile, or not at all?

60% ProvidE no MoBilE ACCESS To EnTErPriSE APPliCATionS

Perhaps one of the most startling results of the survey was that almost two thirds of all respondents (60%) said they don’t provide any mobile access at all. Only in 10% of the firms surveyed, can every employee consult enterprise applications remotely (see figure 4).

As for the mobile applications used, basic applications like email and Internet are most common. Once again, these tools are used by the majority of field staff: 71% of sales reps, operational teams, support staff, etc. can check their mailboxes on the move and 65% have mobile Internet access.

Access to enterprise applications also offers more advanced options such as approval requests, i.e. approvals for holidays, purchases, travel, etc., through a mobile device (69% of all companies offering mobile applications), consulting the sales system (37%), registering working times (34%), and consulting inventory levels (26%) on the go.

no nEEd for MoBilE APPliCATionS

We asked the companies that offer no mobile access why they haven’t made that move yet. 37% of the respondents reported that they don’t need mobile applications right now, while 29% said the technology does not apply to their type of company. A much lower number (13%) indicated that they don’t believe that mobile applications can raise the company’s efficiency or profitability levels.

60%

no employee

24%

Some employees

10%

Everyone

6%

Only field staff

Mobile enterprise applications figure 4Current situation

Do the employees in your company have the possibility to consult mobile enterprise applications?


uSErS rESoluTEly ConfirM: inCrEASEd MoBiliTy rAiSES EffiCiEnCy

The companies that do have mobile workers, however, confirmed that mobile enterprise applications truly increase efficiency and productivity (63%)

and/or that they really need the mobile access (60%). 20% also added that this new way of working fits the company’s image (see figure 5). When asked for the main reason to go mobile, however, ‘company image’ (3%) ranks far behind other grounds such as ‘efficiency’ (44%) and ’we need it’ (32%).

bring your own: opportunity or threAt?

‘Consumerization’ is a much-discussed trend that largely impacts mobile technol-ogy today: employees are choosing their mobile devices – even maybe platforms – based on a blend of personal and busi-ness needs and ‘bring their own’ to the company.

Our survey revealed that this is a trend in Belgian enterprises too: 51% of emplo-yees using mobile enterprise applications have mobile access via their own devices. 4 out of 10 companies, however, reported their skepticism in relation to this trend (see figure 6).

51% 10% 39%

yes no, but that would be welcome

no, and we don’t want this

Mobile enterprise applciations figure 6Private devices

Does your staff have access to the corporate IT network via private devices?

Mobile enterprise applications figure 5Reasons for partial use

What are the reasons why at least part of the staff is able to consult mobile enterprise applications?

Mobile enterprise applications improve the efficiency and/or profitability of our company

Our company/the company where I work needs these applications

Mobile enterprise applications offer our company high added value

Companies cannot afford to lag behind

This fits with the image of our company

Our company/the company where I work wishes to be a pioneer in this field

Other

63%

60%

27%

26%

20%

10%

7%


How mobile is the future of Belgian firms?

As the whole world claims to be going mobile, are Belgian companies ready to position themselves on always connect-ed online communication platforms? When asked about their ICT expenditure and the adoption of ICT in general, only 11% of the respondents call themselves pioneers in buying new applications. That conservatism is underpinned by the figures for adopting mobile enter-prise applications. Nevertheless, an overwhelming majority did state that mobile business is the future and that they want their workers to have remote access to enterprise applications.

Holding BACk WidESPrEAd MoBilE iMPlEMEnTATionS …

Among the respondents who are cur-rently not providing any mobile access, 83% stated they will definitely or proba-bly not go mobile in the first 12 months (see figure 6). Meanwhile, companies of-fering some mobile applications, wish to expand their options in the future, with mobile access to approvals (51%), mo-bile sales/CRM (40%), the remote input of working times (37%), and mobile ac-cess to inventory data (33%).

… EvEn THougH THEy ArE THE fuTurE

In the last part of the survey, we pre-sented the respondents with a series of affirmations on mobile business, asking them to indicate to what extent they agreed. Surprisingly, the answers given greatly contradicted the above figures: 73% of Belgian enterprises confirmed that mobile enterprise applications are the future of business and admitted that remote access to company data can de-liver true added value. In addition, 63% indicated that they find mobility very im-portant. What’s more, 57% revealed that they want their staff to be able to work from any place, at any time (see figure 7).

Holding back widespread mobile implementations … figure 7Expectations

To what extent do you think your company will start using mobile applications within the next 12 months?

Definitely not

Probably not

Yes, probably

Definitely

40%

13%

4%

43%

13


Strongly disagree

Disagree Tend to disagree

Tend to agree

Agree Strongly agree

Our employees should be able to work from anywhere

Our company needs more information on the possibilities of mobile applications

Mobile enterprise applications are not powerful enough to use in business

Our company has no faith in mobile enterprise applications

Mobile enterprise applications figure 8Statements

To what extent do you agree with the following statements:

top

23%

57%

29%

43%

18% 13% 13% 16%20%21%

20% 19% 18% 5%11%27%

12% 24% 36% 5%5%18%

26% 29% 23% 4%5%13%

Mobile data communications are too expensive (e.g. the subscription with the provider, etc.)

It provides substantial added value if you can remotely check corporate data files or databases

Mobile enterprise communications are the future of business

The mobility of our staff is crucial to our company

63%

77%

73%

73%

5% 5% 14% 25%24%28%

9% 6% 12% 18%24%31%

6% 6% 15% 13%22%38%

15% 10% 12% 17%21%25%

MoBilE dATA CoMMuniCATionS ArE ExPEnSivE

As shown in the figure 7 on the previous page, the reasons given for not progressing to mobile business include a lack of know-how and confidence and doubts about as to its efficiency. However, answers given regarding the price of mobile data communications paint a different and maybe truer picture of the issue: 77% of the companies surveyed stated that mobile data access is expensive, with 49% even claiming that it is too expensive (see figure 8).


Conclusions

Our survey revealed that mobile busi-ness is still in its infancy in the majority of Belgian enterprises. Two out of three companies indicated that they offer a mobile phone to (part of) their staff and almost 50% reported that laptops and the possibility to work at home are some of their employees’ benefit package. However, the implementation of ‘newer’ mobile technology like smartphones and tablet PCs, remains rather restricted.

When asked if their workers have mobile access to enterprise applications, 60% of the Belgian enterprises surveyed re-sponded they don’t offer any mobile ac-cess at all. While the lack of know-how and low confidence are mentioned as reasons, the top obstacle to going mo-bile is the conviction that the company doesn’t need mobile applications. What’s more, 83% of the managers in companies without any mobile applica-tions reported that the chances that they will adopt mobile enterprise appli-

cations within the first 12 months are low (43%) to non-existent (40%).

Unsurprisingly, companies with field staff – sales, operational services, sup-port, etc. – are the frontrunners in adopting advanced mobile business ap-plications. In addition, younger compa-nies and firms in the services industry tend to adopt new mobile technologies faster. More than email and Internet ac-cess, the most popular mobile applica-tions are mobile approvals (42%), sales and customer relationship management (37%), work time registration (34%) and checking stock levels (26%). Satis-faction amongst the users of such appli-cations is high: a resounding majority are confident that these tools do drive efficiency and profitability (63%) and that they really need them (60%).

Finally, in spite of the limited growth in mobile work predicted, the Belgian busi-ness and IT decision makers surveyed see a need to support mobile platforms

in the future as part of their strategies. Over 7 out of 10 found that mobility is the future of business and confirmed that remote access to enterprise appli-cations can bring added value. The cost of mobile data access, however, might hamper high adoption rates: 77% think that mobile data access is expensive, 49% of which even think it is too expensive.

Consequently, we would conclude that all Belgian companies who have already experienced the benefits of mobile working practices are confident that it helps them leverage their company per-formance. Still, many others prefer to adopt a more cautious stance. Lower data transfer costs, increased aware-ness and best practices might convince more Belgian companies to implement mobile enterprise applications, as they increasingly realize that the future is in-deed mobile.

15


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Documents

SAP Mobility Whitepaper 2011