High Performance IT Insights

Business Intelligence Is Going Mobile: Are You Ready?

Imagine everyone in your organization having immediate accessanytime, anywhereto the information they need to take swift, savvy action during their toughest business moments. Mobile business intelligence (BI) promises precisely such power. But mobile BI also comes with unique challenges. Enterprises that understand and surmount those challenges stand the best chance of capturing the technologys strategic value while avoiding the pitfalls.
Theres a revolution brewing in business intelligencecatalyzed by soaring sales of tablet computers and other smart mobile devices. Interest in these devices has intensified in part thanks to the increased availability of sophisticated apps and powerful browsers. With advancements in browser technology, handhelds can now offer a browsing experience equal or superior to that provided by laptops and desktops. Peoples desire to remain connected 24/7 and to have access to data anytime, anywhere for in-the-moment business decisions has further encouraged the growth of smart mobile devices. The numbers tell the story: in Q211 alone, Apple sold a staggering 20 million iPhones and 9 million iPads and Google is activating more than 600 thousand Android devices daily. Sales of tablets could reach a whopping 100 million by 2012. And its not just tech-savvy youths who are embracing these devices; seasoned executives are clamoring for them, too. As tablet sales skyrocket, the stage is being set for a transformational development in business intelligence: mobility. With mobile BI, more and more employees will be able to access vital information about their enterprise, wherever and whenever they need it. Consider these scenarios: Insurance agents meeting with customers at their locations need access to the most relevant and latest customer information to provide the best service. The agents log in from their mobile device and immediately connect with a wealth of reports and data on matters including daily activity, sales by product group, cross-selling and agent renewals. Armed with this information, agents can deliver top-notch service to their existing clients while also identifying and seizing new opportunities. In the supply chain department of a major consumer packaged goods corporation, operating equipment efficiency (OEE) is a key performance indicator and a critical component of lean manufacturing practices. OEE measures the effectiveness of a manufacturers procedures; in particular, machine/asset performance and utilization. Plant officers use their mobile devices to access dashboards that show asset performance by plant, asset and product, and that display downtimereason activity for a given time period. The officers can view daily OEE trends, compare downtime hours, and identify and address the causes while at the site.

Unique challenges
While mobile BI offers potential advantages, it also presents challenges. Organizations that are considering adopting a mobile BI solution must grapple with a number of sobering questions, including: Where can mobile BI deliver a competitive advantage for us in the marketplace? Should we support use of employee owned devices, also known as bring your own device? How can we be certain that our data will be secure? Which apps should we choosefrom the already overwhelming (and still growing) number available and how will they be managed and distributed? Which mobile BI solution is right for us? How do we evaluate vendors and the differences in their offerings in terms of BI documents and platforms that are supported, data security and stability of a vendors technology? How do we measure the return we are getting on our mobile BI investments? How might we have to change our management models, as everyone in our organization gains access to data that previously only the elite few had?

Unprecedented opportunities
As these examples suggest, the most potent advantage that organizations can gain from mobile BI is in-the-moment transformation of their business processes. No matter where they are and what business decision theyre facing, managers, executives and other employees gain access through mobile BI to the data they needwhen and where they need itto take the right action and make the smartest decision. All this creates game-changing operational efficiencies as well as faster and higherquality customer service. Indeed, one public-sector agency that operates a huge network of distribution centers is currently using mobile BI to capture machine-efficiency statistics in real time. Agency managers can spot and address problems immediately rather than waiting for more sporadic reports achieving unprecedented efficiencies.

Getting it right
To capitalize on mobile BIs value, first assess whether your organization is ready. Mobile BI is most suitable for enterprises that have already streamlined their data integration processes and standardized their master data. Negative impacts of invalid or unreliable data become apparent sooner in a mobile environment.

Next, educate yourself on the solution options and their relative strengths and weaknesses. For example, gauge the stability of a vendors technology and the ease-of-use of its solution offering. Consider how flexibly the solution can accommodate your reporting and visualization needs. And gauge whether it can be conveniently fit into your existing enterprise mobile services architecture. In addition, be sure you are using mobile BI strategically, not merely adopting technology for technologys sake. How? Identify the areas of your business where mobile BI can deliver a competitive advantage for you in the marketplace. For example, could mobile BI most help you achieve new efficiencies in your business processes? Deepen your understanding of customers? Spot market trends faster than your rivals can? Strategic focus is important, but dont neglect the practical implications. For instance, you would need to determine which devices you want your mobile BI solution to support, what those devices and data plans cost, which devices should be mobile and which should not, and how you would support the mobile BI solution throughout your global workforce. At a minimum, the components to be considered are: data exposure, availability across mobile platforms, and frequency of usage. Also, tailor your mobile BI to the tablet technology instead of merely replicating your enterprise BI solution. You dont want to force users to have the same experience on their iPads that they have on their laptops. While laptop technology enables deep analysis, tablet computers are more about in-the-moment monitoring of business activities. So strive to customize your enterprise BI solution to the tablet technologynot the reverse. Equally critical is to clarify what users of your mobile BI solution will need. User requirements vary considerably. To illustrate, senior managers typically want the ability to access data anytime and anywhere, and to make decisions on the go. Sales executives usually want customer analytics, real-time customer data, proactive sales alerts and sales performance reporting. And most service executives want real-time service alerts and customer data.

To determine user needs, involve users from the start and engage them in an interactive dialogue, such as: What is the user interface and user experience? What kinds of questions do you need mobile BI to help you answer? For example, how much credit can I give this customer? or where is my next delivery?) What data will help you to answer those questions? How should that data be formatted and presented to you? What kind of dashboard do you need? What graphics? In the mobile BI world, its also critical to avoid information overload. Boil data down to only those metrics required to manage the business interaction or process in question at a particular moment in a users work day. Your choices about metrics and data visualization can makeor break the user experience. Accordingly, sample interface prototypes with different user groups. Observe how users are interacting with the prototypes and what kinds of functionality they want. Then shape the solution to suit their needs. (See Smart moves toward mobile BI.) To maximize mobile BIs strategic value, executives must first determine how this tool fits into their overall strategies for business process transformation, analytics and improved decision making. This is no small feat, because mobile BI technology is changing quickly. While adopting a mobile BI solution requires careful thought and planning, no organization can afford to ignore the trend toward mobility in business intelligence. The risk of being left behind by more agile competitors is too great.

Smart moves toward mobile BI

Enterprises that get the highest returns on their mobile BI investments rationalize their toolsets, consolidate teams and coordinate the investigation of new capabilities. One global medicalsciences company, for instance, is working to reinvent how it addresses its staffs reporting needs using mobile devices. With the primary objective of improving productivity on the go, the company set up a mobile computing core team to provide support across functions. The initial effort would use the iPad, though the team is evaluating other devices as they are released. The team first conducted a pilot program to better understand the capability of mobile computing platforms and to assess their value. It then established an enterprise app store from which employees can view and download applications appropriate for their roles and authorization levels. To properly support the mobile platform, the team set up seamless help-desk services. It also defined the governance processes needed to confirm that such use meets the companys needs for legal and regulatory compliance.

About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 244,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the worlds most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

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