Mobile business, with its promise of wireless Internet and a
24x7x365 accessibility promised a tantalizing prospect for companies seeking a
new channel for building customer loyalty, improving corporate data management
and fostering growth.
A market study by Cahners-In-Stat
Group estimates the number of wireless phone users in the world today
at 500 million and that number is expected to double by 2002. These numbers do
reveal a rosy picture of the mobile business and it’s no wonder that
enterprises are scrambling to implement an m-business strategy.
Cut to the past. This scenario is so much alike to what
happened in the early days of e-biz hype when companies thrived to build
e-commerce sites promised a fast-track implementation of solutions to market
only to revamp it as the technology evolved and the demand increased. With
history repeating in the mobile segment also, consequent to this many are paying
a high price to "go mobile" and still coming up short.
Faltered approach
Well, one of the first challenges that any business face is
integration or rather the lack of it. According to many studies on the mobile
trends, many m-commerce strategies faltered at the beginning itself with many
companies typically viewing wireless applications as mere extensions of their
existing browser-based applications, and layered the new wireless requirements
on top of their Web systems. Using a simple transcoding, or
"screen-scraping," technique that translates the existing HTML to
device markups such as Wireless Markup Language (WML) or Handheld Device Markup
Language (HDML) and making the necessary changes, enterprises adapted to the
"smaller" version of wireless devices.
Though this seems an easy way out and a cost effective
solution, according to the study many experts have opined that the need of the
hour is enterprises have to understand wireless as a new channel in which
integration with the e-business infrastructure is critical for the mobile user.
This apart, enterprises in their bid to remain competitive,
keep altering their Web sites often to deliver new functionality, address new
market and maintain their competitive edge. Companies need to understand that if
a mobile solution is layered on a Web site, more efforts are required to update
the markup language when the Web site changes.
Some of the other challenges include:
Performance and scalability
The process cycle of translation engines and HTML screen
scrapers are lengthy. As a result, when user counts rise, performance takes a
beating. To deliver the optimal performance and flexibility needed to drive
m-business, companies need to source their mobile data directly from back-end
databases.
Multiple protocols and devices
No single standard protocol exists for WAP phones, personal
digital assistants (PDAs) and pagers, and device display gizmos vary to a large
extent. Since a simple integration to an HTML back end cannot leverage certain
features like notification and device, and location information directly,
m-business providers are forced to develop customized translators for each type
of device.
But this proves to be an expensive and unproductive task that
will only become more difficult over time and as new devices are introduced to
market. Instead, companies should consider an m-business platform that can be
optimized to support multiple device types at once.
The user experience
Without a PC screen's multimedia and color capabilities –
not to mention its sheer size – to engage users, it's important to focus on
designing simple, intuitive interfaces that make the user's experience smooth,
quick and efficient.
Alerts / instant notification
Any e-business going mobile should explore the ability to
deliver push notification of transaction opportunities – for example,
informing customers of rising stock prices, auction deadlines or flight delays.
Further, applications that take into account the user's preferences to push
highly personalized data can significantly increase the effectiveness and
continued use of mobile devices.
All these requirements and challenges can be addressed by
pursuing an m-business strategy that is based on the direct, standards-based
integration of wireless channels to back-end systems. This approach enables
organizations to fully leverage mobile technology as a distinct, new channel for
reaching customers, partners and employees rather than as an extension of an
existing Web strategy.