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Enterprise mobility: getting into ‘how’ phase

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CIOL Bureau
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Enterprises are yet to really tap the power of the mobile phones. There is a lot to mobile phones except for voice communication. The good thing is enterprises are now evaluating the ways they can tap the power of mobile through applications that interact in the back-end with ERP and HRM solutions.

ValueFirst is one of the very few Indian companies offering solutions for enterprise mobile application market. Vijay Shukla, co-founder and country head (India), ValueFirst, spoke to Shashwat Chaturvedi from CyberMedia News about the potential of the market and how the enterprises can tap them.

How is the Enterprise Mobile Application Market in India faring in terms of market size, growth rate and players?

Enterprise applications market is classified into four broad categories, namely applications on PDAs/smart-phones/Java phones, SMS-based services, push-email services (like BlackBerry) and GPRS-based services. In our view, the total market size for enterprise mobile applications will be about Rs. 200 crore with key players like ValueFirst, Air2web, ACL Wireless and Cellnext.

How is the Indian market when compare to others? How does it differ from the rest?

There are multiple issues and challenges around adoption of mobility applications in Indian markets. There is the case of multiple OS, for instance Nokia comes with Series (40/60/90); Microsoft with Mobile OS, PalmOne and a number of Linux-based OS have increased complexity of development and deployment of mobile applications. There is often little or no support for launching and promoting device-independent applications by mobile operators. Also there is the case of low ROI leading to little incentive for application developer for Indian markets (as opposed to the overseas markets). And finally, stand-alone applications available with little post-sales services backing. Post sales service is essential due to low awareness of usage and OS-specific issues.

Of all the applications, like SFA, CRM, SCM, E-mail, which are the ones that are most popular?

According to me SFA, CRM are the most popular in terms of customer-centric applications. On the enterprise side, ERP, Manufacturing and HR are most popular. Overall, email and Internet remains to be the most popular in terms of adoption.

What is ValueFirst's strategy for the market? Especially, as still not many seem to be aware of mobile services...

Customer education has been a challenge in the past. However, now the enterprises are getting over the ‘what’ phase and getting into the ‘how’ phase. The next phase will be ‘how better’

How has been the growth at ValueFirst over the past year?

ValueFirst has grown 300 per cent or more in the last three years.

You have clients ranging from all the different verticals, which is the one that is seeing the most traction?

We see great traction in Retail, Insurance, Education and mobile communities domains.

© CyberMedia News