Compass Intelligence

This week I want to feature a recent report that came out last week called "The Cross-over Mobile Device: Is meeting both Personal and Professional Needs Possible?"

 In this report, Kneko Burney (President of Compass Intelligence) and Dan Blacharksi (Compass Contributing Analyst) discuss the future of mobile devices/phones where devices will have both consumer and business or personal and professional features, functionality, and applications.  We all know today all vendors generally separate the market (consumer and business) when developing, designing, marketing, and even selling phones.  These distinct differences in the future will no longer be viable due to the nature that personal phones are becoming business phones and business phones are becoming personal.

Let's face it we all know we use our business phones to make personal calls and to chat, etc.  We also use our personal phones to do the same.  Also, recent Compass Intelligence also found that there are a great deal of wireless users that have more than one device, generaly 2 phones or 1 phone and maybe a wireless data card or something similar. 

Wireless users are also putting more pressure and heavily influencing the buying decisions within corporate America.  This was greatly seen in the Health Care market about 5 years back...the newer generation of doctors and nurses were demanding to have access and use wireless in the hospital for work purposes.  The current generation will also influence the future of devices.  Most of todays teens and college students chat and IM like it is a natural conversation, that is why we are seeing more and more corporate IM and messaging platforms being rolled out in the recent years.

Another factor in this report is the impact of the iPhone and the future of open or unlocked phones.  The iPhone has really put pressure on all wireless device manufacturers and even service providers.  It came out with a bang and actually without even looking at the numbers has greatly influenced the future of the mobile device in terms of look, feel, functionality, and form.  Also, the fact that future devices will be unlocked and will also be open makes way for more personal applications to be placed on these devices with or without the permission of Corporate America.  I am sure this will be a future concern in terms of the management and security of devices and I am sure vendors are already working on plans to prepare for these challenged.

In the end, the future mobile device will require personal and corporate features.  Businesses will need to consider end-users wants and needs, BOTH personal and professional, before upgrading and buiying new mobile devices, smartphones, and even handheld computing devices.

Sorry about those Spurs, I was really pulling for them.  KOBE!!!

Happy Hump Day! 

So I am back, and now it's time to talk about the growing mobile workforce.  The mobile workforce can include a number of different types of workers such as business travelers, mobile office workers, and telecommuters.  Of course many employees can fall into multiple categories.  I have attached a diagram that shows the number of employees in several categories for 2008, just to give you an idea.  But I also think it is important to look at the number of SOHO home-based employees and businesses in the U.S., which also contribute to this growing mobile and remote workforece.  From a vendor standpoint, this is a highly growing market and presents an opportunity, thus the growth in Internet and Software as a Service.  I will get into some cool SOHO and Small business tools next week. 

The largest category is the telecommuter employee, followed by remote branch office workers.  The fastest growing segment of the mobile workforce are mobile office workers.  We have seen a shift in some industries and business where employers are letting customers work from home is becoming more acceptable, and in fact you can bet that some employees will be pushing for this even more because the rising costs of fuel.  In some cases businesses are letting employees work from home 1 to 2 days a week, while others are actually hiring work-at-home employees. Working at home is also seen as a benefit!  So some employers are actually providing this as a benefit to employees, because we all know other benefits like 401Ks and health insurance is falling, so businesses are having to be more creative to compete for highly skilled workers.

I would love to get your thoughts on this subject and learn about what your company is doing for this growing segment.  Drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Stephanie