Mobile strategy: Using the IBRS Whitepaper to cut through the noise
The impact of increased mobility from smart devices is a big thing. It has been listed as one of the four “nexus of forces” affecting business today, the other three being information, cloud, and social. In addition to business efficiencies and marketing potential, the mobility movement has also created a huge market for those offering or promoting “mobile strategies”.
Understanding the need for mobile strategy
Having been involved in an industry offering mobility solutions for the past several years, I ask what exactly does it mean to have a dedicated “mobile strategy”? Organisations can find it difficult to articulate an overall strategy, and recent research shows only 52% of CEOs have a digital strategy. Many are now feeling the pressure to define a separate mobile strategy.
Indeed, some say your company needs a mobile strategy yesterday because today is too late, and apply a double negative to say it is not OK to not have a mobile strategy. Inc. lists six reasons why you need a mobile strategy and LinkedIn posts ask whether you have a mobile strategy to accelerate growth. No industry is spared from the need for a mobile strategy, including banking, manufacturing, and logistics.
There are summits on mobile strategy, blogs on mobile strategy, and more blogs on mobile strategy. If words are too complicated, then Google images, Tumblr, and Pinterest all have pictures about mobile strategies, many in the form of infographs that clearly explain why you need a mobile strategy and what one looks like.
Much of this material is developed by those who can help you with such endeavours, including IBM, Oracle with their six steps for building a long-term strategy for mobile, and assorted other white papers on the topic.
There are also a few examples out there to draw from. Amazon shares about their thoughts in the mobile shopping world. The Australian National Library seems an odd place for a mobile strategy, but their April 2012 outline provides an easy-to-read and relatively succinct outline covering definition, vision, strategy, goals, governance, tactics, and action. Others such as Coke speak often about their mobile strategy, and it is interesting to track Coke’s changes going back to 2011 and 2012.
With all this talk of mobile strategy, it is understandable that a counter-view is developed. An extreme point says that a dedicated mobile strategy is bovine excrement. This is based on the premise that mobile is just another presentation layer on your systems and a component to be integrated into your digital strategy and your overall business strategy.
I agree that a dedicated mobile strategy is futile if the business direction is not defined and there is not an overall approach to how a company utilises digital. There are some aspects of mobility, however, that need to be considered. These aspects include decisions about whether to use HTML5 versus native or some sort of hybrid, the approach to cross platform development, and whether to allow an approach towards “bring your own device (BYOD)”. The end decision will be based on… you guessed it… your mobile strategy.
Creating a Sustainable Mobility Strategy according to IBRS
So how does one go about creating a mobile strategy? Harvard Business Review list four ideas for creating a mobile strategy and other lists define four keys to a successful mobile strategy. These ideas, keys, checklists and cheat lists present disparate prescriptions that increase the challenge of defining a strategy rather than making it easier. I also question the use of the term “strategy” in many of these examples.
One approach that cuts through the noise is Joseph Sweeney’s Intelligent Business research Services (IBRS) free to download white paper: Creating a Sustainable Mobility Strategy. The strategy outlines a formal framework to:
- Identify opportunities;
- Determine “quick wins”;
- Identify the most appropriate architecture;
- Create a decision-making governance model; and
- Align mobility initiatives to overall strategy, vision, and principles
The framework is executed through six stages across three phases:
- Phase 1: Kickstart phase – Discovery and Generalisation stages
Provides guidelines on information needed and use-cases are generalised across the organisation. - Phase 2: Structural phase – Governance framework and Strategy stages
Outlines five mobility governance decisions that should be answered as part of creating the strategy document. - Phase 3: Execution phase – Roadmap and Implementation stages
Any approach to strategy needs to provide clarity, linking execution with vision and business goals. The white-paper is not prescriptive about the technology, but rather the approach taken to arrive at the technology.
A clear and concise approach to strategy is needed as organisations adapt to complexity from rapidly changing technology in increasingly uncertain market conditions. Without strategy, organisations are at risk of doing nothing through paralysis from not having a structure to bring their vision to market. Alternatively, organisations can attempt to do everything, pulled in expensive directions by the latest bright-and-shiny technology. Strategy is a missing link, and IBRS has presented a succinct model to define that link.
Do you have a mobile strategy? Do you feel a need for one? Or do you believe it is unnecessary? If you are inclined and commenting on blogs aligns with your strategy, drop me a line below.