Technology has transformed drastically and became a part of our everyday lives. Mobility? It has transformed at a rapid rate in just 5-7 years.
I was attending a Google Partner event just yesterday and they were sharing with us in regards to the transformation of technology as a whole. It is very important for anybody to be able to keep up with the technological trend, especially when it has pretty much taken over our lives.
I've done several research on each technological era and how it benefited Enterprises. Let's begin the journey, shall we? It will be brief, I promise.
Mainframe/Mini Era (1960s)
I wasn't fortunate enough to be born in the 1960s'. However, a brief Google search practically sums up on how Mainframe Era benefited humanity. In fact, I came across an article which says mainframes are still pretty relevant today because of the Cloud.
Traditionally, and even today, mainframes take up a lot of space. That is why it is really expensive to invest in.
I believe that mainframe era taught us to think simple, especially for programmers. The KISS principle, known as "Keep It Simple, Stupid", is still a useful principle for programming. Why I say that? Mainframe developers are taught to follow workflow processes in order to build a successful application. Because of this tedious process, you have to keep the process simple.
PC Era (1980s)
Here comes the boom of IBM, Apple and Microsoft etc. The PC era was huge, because for the first time ever, computers are affordable to people. This improved our work productivity, moving operations to digital, even though we went through Command Line Interface (CLI) till Steve Jobs and Bill Gates introduced Macintosh and Windows respectively, where the Graphical User Interface (GUI) surfaced to ease IT users and consumers in their daily activities.
Internet Era (1990s)
Internet was used by the military to transmit top secret code. Then came the revolution in late 80s' and early 90s' where it was introduced to consumers via electronic mail, World Wide Web (WWW) etc.
You have to agree with me, the Internet has impacted our everyday lives. It has feed us with so many information via different means; be it personal computers, smartphones, smartwatch, household appliances etc. That's where the Internet of Things (IoT) has been the up-and-coming trend for IT. I'll cover IoT in my next portion.
Mobile Era (2000s)
Mobile phones were one of the game changers in communication. The early days when Motorola and Nokia were one of the few leaders in device manufacturing, it is a simple and straightforward device, you make and receive calls. Then it evolves into text messaging, MMS, web browsing, instant messaging and the list goes on. Then we have tablets coming into the picture to enhance work productivity even more.
Our smartphones are our life, if we step out of the house, and forgot to bring our phones along, then we will turn back to get it. That is how important smartphones are these days. Another little experiment, just go to any restaurant, take a look at the tables around you, who isn't on their smartphone?
I have fear that smartphones will take over our social life one day (or even rule us just like Terminators).
The present day Enterprise Mobility, an inspirational article entitled "
Mobile and the IT Time Machine" written by Vittorio Viarengo, MobileIron's VP of Product and Marketing. He gently wrote how he wish he could travel 5 years back in time to embrace the Internet Revolution in 1995 if he were to know that Internet is huge in any enterprise today. Then of course, he shared his experiences in the IT business and how enterprises should prepare their mobility strategy for the next 5 years.
Mobility can be in many forms, ruggedized, smartphones, tablets, household appliances, smartwatch etc. As long as it is accessible via a portable device or you could carry around easily, then it is mobile, or should I say, mobile-friendly. We just saw Amazon released the Amazon Echo, latest cloud-powered external speaker, which was pretty cool. I do wish they could learn their lessons from the Amazon Fire Phone and market the Echo properly.
Who would have thought that mobility could become such an important and powerful element in enterprise today? If you ask any organization 5 years ago that everyone will go mobile in their daily operational activities, then I'm sure you would be laughed at. But it is true, the truth hurts.
Microsoft just announced the Office365 is free for iPhones, iPads and Android (
http://for.tn/1qtHawa). Another move which I strongly support Satya Nadella in his attempt to further establish Microsoft's mobility landscape. Enterprises would love this! I mean, who wouldn't? Get an iPad, which costs far lesser than a laptop, and equip it with Microsoft Office365. You would save a lot of money. I meant a lot! Bad news for those who have purchases previously though.
Mobility is huge today for enterprises!
So what's in it for the future? Who knows! It could even happen tomorrow. The transformation is so fast that we cannot even predict what would happen. Mobility may transform into you, probably wearing a mini device, and able to communicate to people easily with the functionality of all the smart devices into just one super gadget. Or maybe hologram? No one knows what would happen.
But you can prepare for it.
As advised by Vittorio in his article, he pointed out key transformation plan for any organization in the next 5 years for mobility strategy:
1. Build a Mobile IT Centre of Excellence
2. Hire Mobile App Developers
3. Re-implement Business Processes as Mobile Apps
4. Embrace the New Mobile Security and Management Paradigm
Just follow the above, and you will be moving in par with the mobile transformation.
Start building your organizations into a
Mobile First organization today!
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