Transforming your business through mobility – Part 2

WITH the continued penetration of mobility, various industries can harness the inherent benefits offered in a number of ways. Take for instance, within Financial Services, institutions can offer distinctive and personalized banking services by providing the optimized banking (Analytics), Investment/ portfolio management, ‘Click to apply’ for easy requests, purchases (wizard based) and services upgrade. Financial institutions can also offer customers Personal financial management services through differentiated apps, m-Loyalty services, customized advertising, offers and vouchers, etc.

Nick Pollard Chief Executive of RBS stated “Whether we like it or not, this generation and certainly the next one have no boundaries when it comes to accessing information”.
Moreover, unique opportunities for mobility exist in investment management especially in Intelligent Analytics, Real time information on financial markets, Client data management tools, Trading functionalities, etc.

A profound change is happening in the way Retail companies and their consumers interact at a fundamental level, tipping the balance of power in favor of the consumer. The fast moving nature of retail demands that businesses keep up with customer and employee expectations with regards to their web and mobile experience. These companies have to quickly adapt and utilize the full potentials of smart devices, have the impetus to innovate and keep up with the fast pace of innovation in mobile and finally become an Omni-channel retailer. For example, some retail outlets currently use mobile phones and tablets as roaming POS which allows shop assistants to close sales wherever they are.

Utility companies currently develop mobile applications for their customers to optimize their processes and technology utilization. Their customers now have greater control and convenience—both of which are key to a good customer experience for all Utility related activities. Customers can submit meter readings, check payments, activate electronic invoicing, set up bank account payments, and review/compare gas and electricity consumption through the use of this mobile app. As this mobile self-service grows, the potential of reduced costs could be significant due to the high volume of transactions associated with this industry.

Technology innovation in mobility is beginning to transform business cases and operating models across manufacturing companies (e.g. drones, intelligent glasses, augmented reality). This will aid the optimization of field service effectiveness & efficiency, enable remote diagnosis so the technician “gets it right the first time”, provide technical information at the point of diagnosis/service and deploy sensors coupled with analytics to detect faults before they cause additional issues.

For example, some manufacturing companies are now leveraging the native functionality in mobile devices such as video, chat and camera to enhance work processes through tighter collaboration, providing real-time information through mobile devices to improve decision making by their staff and utilizing mobile technology to provide clients with augmented reality user manuals where they can investigate the installed machinery and receive usage instructions and self help

Similarly, in the upstream and retail segments of the Oil & Gas industry applications of mobility include; Schedule Optimization & Workforce Automation, Dynamic Supply Chain And Optimized Asset Tracking, Optimized Reservoir Business Intelligence, Mobile Enhanced Asset Monitoring and Visualization, Advanced Work Scheduling and Management, Mobile Asset Data Access and Capture,

Mobile Content, Collaboration and Training, HSSE+ among others.
Mobile technology is evolving. The future state of mobility whether in terms of device architecture, functionalities or design cannot be ascertained but one thing is certain, it will be more secure, safer and easier to use. Experts are exploring the combination of fingerprints and iris recognition technology (as against or along with passcodes) to secure mobile devices and data hosted on them. The feasibility of this authentication layer will be assessed when fully deployed.

It is evident that businesses, in order to outperform competition need to leverage mobility and maximize fully the evolving capabilities and offerings it provides.
Recognized as the market leader in Mobility market, Accenture has deployed over 1000 mobile applications across all platforms (including IOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry), worked with 55 of the Fortune 100 company on mobility programs, delivery presence in 35 countries, a growing portfolio of over 7,700 projects, 17 delivery centers and 13 innovation centers located around the world.

Accenture’s Mobility Services offerings comprise Mobility Consulting (a suite of strategy and consulting services which help clients envision and structure business value driven mobility transformations and apply leading practice mobility technology execution), Mobility Applications, Mobility Managed Services, Connected Device Engineering services (smart device creation services for mobile and connected products solutions including device innovation, embedded software development and testing.)
Adebola is a Senior Manager, Technology, in Accenture Nigeria SAP practice