insights on the run: best practices in implementing mobile...

Insights on the Run: Best Practices in Implementing Mobile BI

BY WAYNE ECKERSONDirector of Research, Business Applications and Architecture Media Group

TECHTARGET, NOVEMBER 2012

INSIGHTS ON THE RUN: BEST PRACTICES IN IMPLEMENTING MOBILE BI 2

Executive Summary

MANY COMPANIES are using mobile devices to deliver business intelligence (BI). In fact, the rate of adoption for BI applications on mobile devices is higher than the rate of adoption on all other platforms. Mobile BI applications are easier to use and more convenient, and they support task-based operations that require near-real-time attention.

Here are the key findings in this report:

n Status. Nearly a quarter of companies have deployed a mobile BI applica-tion, and another 20% are under development.

n Penetration. The percentage of users who use BI applications will climb from 13% today to 34% in 18 months.

n Applications. The number of mobile BI applications that companies deploy will climb from 3.0 today to 8.9 in 18 months.

n Users. The most prevalent users of mobile BI applications are executives (67%), managers (61%), field sales and technical representatives (48%) and opera-tions managers and supervisors (43%).

n Adoption. The adoption rate of mobile BI applications is higher than the adoption rate of traditional BI applications in 58% of companies.

n BI artifacts. The most common type of BI deliverable for mobile devices is a dashboard (97%), followed by reports (69%) and analysis (55%).

Mobile BI applications are easier to use and more convenient, and they support task-based operations that require near-real-time attention.

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n Interactivity. The most common types of BI interactivity on mobile de-vices is viewing static content (96%) and navigating—drilling, pivoting, sort-ing—content (90%).

n Device ownership. A majority of companies (67%) contain a mix of com-pany-issued and employee-owned mobile devices, while at one third of com-panies (33%) mobile devices are solely company-issued.

n Architecture. Companies have a mix of applications running on native mobile operating systems (39%), HTML5 browsers (19%) and a combination of the two (42%). nEXECUTIVE

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Research Background

THIS REPORT EXAMINES best practices for implementing mobile BI and the tech-nologies and architectural approaches for building mobile BI systems. The research is based on interviews with BI practitioners, briefings with BI provid-ers and a survey of BI professionals. The five-minute survey was promoted to the BI Leadership Forum, an online group of about 1,550 BI directors and man-agers, and my 2,000-plus Twitter followers in October 2012. The survey was taken by 163 people who identified themselves as “BI or IT professional,” “BI sponsor or user,” “BI consultant” or “BI vendor” or “Other” (see Figure 1).

figure 1. Demographics: Respondent Profile

BASED ON A SURVEY OF 163 RESPONDENTS (BI LEADERSHIP FORUM, OCTOBER 2012, WWW.BILEADERSHIP.COM)

66%

11%

18%

4%

1%

BI or IT professional

Business sponsor or end user

Consultant

Vendor

Other

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http://www.bileadership.com


RESEARCH BACKGROUND

figure 3. BI Maturity


Among this set of qualified respondents, 66% are BI or IT professionals, and 53% are from large companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenues (see Figure 2). A bit more than half, or 55%, give the maturity of their BI envi-ronments an “intermediate” rating, while 26% say their environments are “advanced,” and 19% claim they are BI “beginners” (see Figure 3). n

53%

24%

23%

Large ($1 or more)

Medium ($100m to $1b)

Small (Less than $100m)

19%

55%

26%

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced


figure 2. Demographics: Company Size

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Status of Mobile BI

BI IS A NATURAL fit for mobile devices. More organizations are considering mobile BI applications not just for executives but for a variety of workers who need access to data when not at their seats. Mobile technology and devices have evolved to make mobile BI cost-effective to deploy—better smart-phones, new tablets, faster networks and better administrative capabilities.

As a result, deployments of mobile BI programs are surging. According to BI Leadership Forum research, almost one quarter, or 23%, of businesses have implemented mobile BI, and another 20% are developing them. Of the remaining companies, 37% are considering deploying mobile BI and 20% have no plans (see Figure 4).

n Why mobile and BI? Many workers today spend a majority of their time away from their desks, where they cannot easily access corporate informa-tion. Most are traveling, attending meetings in other parts of the building or driving from site to site. Yet it’s these mobile workers who often need the most up-to-date information: They need BI to make on-the-spot decisions,

figure 4. Status of Mobile BI Deployments

20%

37%

20%

18%

5%

No plans

Under consideration

Under development

Partially deployed

Fully deployed


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monitor operational processes and make more efficient use of time out of the office.

In addition, users want to accomplish work when it’s most convenient for them, and increasingly, that’s not during the traditional 9-to-5 workday. With mobile technology, executives and managers can schedule meetings, respond to email, check performance and even partici-pate in meetings while watching their kids play soccer, driving to work or viewing their favorite television programs. As one BI manager aptly says, “The phrase ‘I’ll get back to you’ is going away.”

Mobile BI empowers workers no matter where they are or where they’re going. Mobile devices represent a powerful new platform for delivering analytical information.

n Drivers. Among BI professionals who have deployed mobile BI, almost three quarters (72%) did so to “provide informa-tion to field workers,” which presumably encompasses anyone who travels outside an office (see Figure 5). This includes executives, managers and field sales and technical workers (see Figure 9, page 12).

Another two thirds (66%) deployed mobile BI to increase adoption of BI

BASED ON A SURVEY OF BI PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE DEPLOYED MOBILE BI (BI LEADERSHIP FORUM, OCTOBER 2012, WWW.BILEADERSHIP.COM)

figure 5. Why Did You Deploy Mobile BI?

72%

66%

53%

34%

25%

9%

Provide information to field workers

Increase BI adoption

Users requested it

Optimize key processes

Speed deployment

Other

Mobile devices represent a powerful new platform for delivering analytical information.

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tools and applications in general. Darren Taylor, former vice president of enterprise analytics and data management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kan-sas City (Blue KC), said that adoption of an executive dashboard skyrocketed once they deployed it on Apple iPad tablets. “Even though we had deployed the same appli-cation on the Web, executives perceived the tablet version as easier to use,” he said. This successful mobile BI application provided addi-tional credibility and momentum for the com-pany’s data warehousing initiative, which Taylor oversaw.

Like personal computers in the 1990s and Web services in the early 2000s, a lot of demand for mobile BI applications comes from users themselves. That’s because many have purchased the devices for their personal use and want to use them at work. Some see people at other companies using the devices to enhance their productivity. And for many workers, a shiny new gadget is a status symbol, especially if they are some of the first to be seen using it. Not surprisingly, more than half (53%) of our survey respondents said that users requested mobile BI. Survey respon-dents also said they deployed mobile BI to optimize key processes (34%) and speed deployment (25%). n

Like personal comput-ers in the 1990s and Web services in the early 2000s, a lot of demand for mobile BI applications comes from users themselves.

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Success Rates

AS BLUE KC discovered, mobile BI deployments have a higher rate of success than traditional BI applications delivered on the Web or on client-server plat-forms. As one BI manager said, “The business and BI program impact has been tremendous. Users enjoy using applications on their mobile devices and adoption has never been an issue. Mobile BI has helped us stay ahead of our competition.”

This manager is not alone in lauding the benefits of mobile BI. More than half of companies, or 58%, say their mobile BI applications have higher adop-tion rates than traditional BI applications do. Only 23% say adoption rates of mobile BI applications are average, and 19% say they’re below average (see Figure 6).

Accordingly, these early adopters of mobile BI applications plan to expand these deployments. Today these companies have deployed on average 3.0 mobile BI applications. But in 18 months, they expect to have deployed 8.9 applications, an increase of almost 300% (see Figure 7, page 10).


58%

23%

19%

Better than average

Average

Below average

figure 6. How Does the Adoption Rate of Mobile BI Applications

Compare With Other BI Apps?

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In addition, the percentage of BI users who will use BI applications on mobile devices will more than double in the next 18 months, from 13% to 34% (see Figure 8).

n Task-specific applications. Most users say mobile BI applications are easier to use than traditional applications. This may be a matter of percep-tion, as Blue KC discovered, but there is logic to the argument. Since mobile devices, especially smartphones, have smaller screens, application developers have to create task-specific applications with a minimal number of screens and functions. In other words, the physical dimensions of mobile devices force developers to weed out all extraneous functions and pixels and pay close


13%

34%

Today

In 18 months

figure 8. Percentage of BI Users Who Will Consume Information on a Mobile Device


figure 7. How Many Mobile BI Applications Have You Deployed?

3.0

8.9

Today

In 18 months

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attention to the work users need to accomplish. As a result, these task-specif-ic, pared-down, “purpose-built” applications have become easier to use. And with consumer- and business-oriented “app stores,” users can find an app for anything, from travel and expense report management to dashboards and reports.

n Consumer-based design. The need for these stripped-down apps is due in part to the nature of the devices. Smartphones and tablets are primarily designed for the consumer market, not the business market. To succeed as consumer devices, both the devices and the applications that run on them need to be extremely easy to use. See-ing the success of these devices in the consumer market, business developers have followed suit, creating consumer-like applications for business users. It turns out that business users also enjoy having simple, easy-to-use applications.

n Novel features. Finally, mobile devices support many novel features that appeal to business users and support unique busi-ness applications. Business users enjoy the multi-touch screens as much as con-sumers do. In fact, pinching to zoom in or out is perhaps the optimal way to view graphical maps enriched with business data. The gyroscope that enables screens to dynamically change from portrait to landscape view makes it easy for business users to view complex charts and graphics embedded in business presentations and dashboards. The instant-on devices and local storage that supports disconnected usage make the devices convenient to use and provide instant access to data anywhere. Front-line workers are now using cameras to scan and manage inventory. The integration of business applications with the Web, email and messaging applications further enhances the utilitarian value of the devices. n

To succeed as consumer devices, both the devices and the applications that run on them need to be extremely easy to use.

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User Framework

THE TRADITIONAL POSTER boy for mobile BI is the jet-setting executive who wants to check the status of key company metrics while traveling to and from customer sites and work locations. Our research shows that executives are the top users of mobile BI applications, but managers, sales reps, opera-tions managers and business analysts are not far behind. And in 18 months, a majority of all types of users will be using mobile BI, with the biggest gains from the least likely of candidates: internal sales and support professionals, whose usage will grow from 7% today to 52% (see Figure 9).


67%

61%

48%

43%

36%

7%

33%

39%

33%

43%

25%

52%

Executives

Managers (marketing, sales)

Field sales reps or technicians

Operations managers and supervisors

Business analysts

Internal sales or support

Today In 18 months

figure 9. Which Users Use Mobile BI Applications?

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n Salespeople and operations managers. Traveling salespeople are good candidates for mobile BI because they need up-to-date information about customers before making sales calls. Line managers, such as store managers, factory floor managers, construction supervisors and school principals, also benefit from mobile BI since they manage best by walking around—interacting with customers and employees—not sitting behind a desk looking at numbers.

n Field and technical workers. Operational workers also offer fertile ground for mobile BI. Field technicians, for example, spend most of their time in com-pany trucks traveling to and from work sites where they install, monitor and fix core infrastructure such as utility lines, rail lines and roadways. Likewise, customer service technicians who install or repair residential and commercial products—heating and ventilation, elevators, office systems—don’t work in a fixed location yet must have access to up-to-date information to do their work effectively and stay on schedule. Other candidates include internal techni-cians, such as IT professionals, who are on call 24 hours a day and often must troubleshoot problems at employees’ desks or respond to issues during off-hours.

n Office rats. Employees who spend most of their time in an office and do most of their work on desktop computers or workstations—managers, business analysts and internal support—show strong adoption of mobile BI. For these users, convenience is perhaps the biggest benefit—the ability to check data and use purpose-built applications anywhere, anytime. For example, although most mid-level managers already have laptop computers, it’s easier to carry a tablet computer to a conference room than a laptop, which is heavier and takes minutes to turn on and hook into a projector. In contrast, a tablet offers instant-on availability and can be passed around or set up on its built-in stand to display a presentation or numbers to a group.

The following table maps types of users to mobile requirements, tasks, BI output and data. Organizations can use this as a framework to help them eval-uate the mobile BI requirements for different users. This type of evaluation is a good first step to take when creating a mobile BI strategy (see Table 1, page 14).

Employees who spend most of their time in an office show strong adoption of mobile BI.

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type of user mobility mobile bi tasks data need

Executive • Travel to customer and work sites

• Move between conference rooms

• Nights and weekends

• Check KPI status with simple drill down and time-series views

• 360-degree views of customers, employees, suppliers, projects

Historical, summary

High

Mid-level manager

• Move between conference rooms

• Travel to work sites


• Check status with simple drill down and time-series views

• 360-degree views of customers, employees, suppliers, projects

Historical, summary, detail

Moderate

Line manager • Supervise domain by walking around and talking to employees

• Monitor store and employee performance

• Check inventory, shipments, complaints, staffing

• Scan inventory, order products, schedule meetings, award merits, demerits

Historical, summary, detail, real time

High

Outside sales rep

• Travel to and from clients

• 360-degree view of customers sales and interactions

• Update customer records, submit orders


High

Field technician • Travel to and from customer and work sites

• Review personal performance and bonus points

• Check customer and work site inventory and records

• Update customer and work site records, submit orders


Moderate

Internal technician

• Travel across corporate campus


• View KPI status and real-time trends

• View errors and exceptions

• Log in, troubleshoot


Moderate

table 1. Mobile BI Framework: Mapping Users to Mobile BI Requirements

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n Desirable features. According to our research, what users like most about mobile BI is “information on the go,” with 93% (see Figure 10). This shows that convenience is the biggest benefit of mobile devices in general


93%

55%

55%

31%

17%

10%

Information on the go

Multi-touch interface

Integrated functionality

Location-aware maps and apps

App store

Other

figure 10. What Do Users Like Most About Their Mobile BI Applications?


figure 11. What Do Users Like Least About Their Mobile BI Applications?

36%

32%

28%

28%

8%

No disconnected usage

Limited data access

Too much clicking and paging

Lack of native features

Other

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and mobile BI in particular. This is followed by the multi-touch interface (55%), which provides an intuitive way for users to interact with the device, applications and data. Who would have thought that the ubiquitous mouse would be supplanted by finger gestures, such as pinching and swiping?

Users also like the integrated functionality (55%) of the devices, which combines purpose-built apps with Web, email, camera and phone. As such, the devices allow for greater productivity—workers can do most of their work using one device instead of many.

n Undesirable features. Mobile devices aren’t perfect. There are some drawbacks that make them less than ideal for BI applications. Some of these drawbacks are device- or architecture-dependent. Respondents cited “No dis-connected usage” (36%), limited data access (32%), “too much clicking and paging” (28%) and “lack of native features” (28%) (see Figure 11, page 15). n

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Mapping to Business Intelligence

THIS REPORT HAS shed light on many aspects of mobile BI: adoption rates, drivers, types of users, types of tasks and preferred features. But it hasn’t yet addressed the types of BI that lend themselves to mobile deployments.

Dashboards are the predominant form of BI delivered on mobile devices. Dashboards and mobility have tremendous synergy. Dashboards give users a real-time snapshot of performance and status at a glance, while mobile de-vices are ideal for performing quick, simple tasks while on the move. Dash-boards force companies to prioritize metrics and display them graphically on a single page, while mobile apps are ideal for running simple, task-oriented applications that fit on a small screen. In other words, dashboards and mobile devices are biased toward graphical, purpose-built and real-time applications that enable users to accomplish simple tasks or actions quickly.

Given this synergy, it should be no surprise that almost all (97%) mobile BI deployments include a dashboard application, according to our research. Trailing dash-boards by a fairly wide margin are reports, with 69%; analysis, with 55%; exploration, with 35%; data mining, with 14%; and authoring, with 14% (see Figure 12, page 18).

n Mobile interactivity. Drilling down further into BI functionality, we see that today most users either view static BI content on their mobile devices (96%) or navigate the content (90%) using drills, pivots, sorts and rankings (see Figure 13, page 18). In other words, most current mobile BI users interact with dashboards by simply viewing without interacting with the data or by clicking a few times to get slightly different views of it in dashboard charts or

Dashboards force companies to prioritize metrics and display them graphically on a single page.

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figure 12. Types of BI Used on Mobile Devices

96%

90%

27%

17%

15%

15%

12%

4%

10%

46%

42%

46%

39%

42%

View static content

Navigate (Drill, pivot, sort, rank)

Act (trigger updates or alerts)

Explore (add dimensions, metrics, data)

Modify (add columns, recalculate)

Model (create what-if scenarios, plans)

Author reports or dashboards

Today In 18 months

figure 13. Mapping Mobile Usage With Degrees of BI Interactivity


97%

69%

55%

35%

14%

14%

3%

Dashboards

Reports

Analysis

Exploration

Data mining

Authoring

Other


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tables. After that, mobile BI users are most likely to act on the data by trigger-ing an alert or taking some other action (27%).

It’s clear that most mobile BI dashboards today are operational in nature. And this makes sense. Mobile BI applications give users information on the go—and they are on the go because they are doing something meaningful, such as closing a deal, running a meeting, responding to an alert or checking inventory. Today mobile devices and mobile BI applications are ideal for sup-porting operational activities.

In 18 months, however, these same BI professionals envision deploying more traditional BI applications on mobile devices. These include the ability to explore data by adding dimensions and metrics (42%); modify reports by adding columns and changing calculations (46%); model data to create what-if scenarios, plans and predictions (39%); and author reports or dashboards (42%). Clearly, BI managers want to build on their early successes with mobile and expand the BI footprint on these devices. This will be challenging since mobile devices have certain limitations—including minimal screen real estate and data access methods—that often make them less attractive for handling more intensive analytical features.

n Application design. While you can redeploy an existing dashboard onto a mobile platform, sometimes it’s better to rework the application to ensure adoption. According to Bruce Yen, BI director at Guess, a maker of fashion apparel, you need to transform a dashboard into a workflow application that steps users through a logical sequence of views and charts. This requires understanding in detail the tasks that users want to accomplish when they are away from the office. “Users want an application, not a dashboard. They want an application that steps through the process of exploring data in a systematic yet seamless way.” For instance, a good mobile BI application might provide a workflow that takes an executive from a company view of hourly sales data to a store view and then to a product view, Yen said. “We have to vet our use cases carefully.”

Like all BI applications, it’s also critical to get the data right. “Without clean, organized and trustworthy data, the mobile BI application will fail,” another BI professional said. “Users want the data first and foremost. Everything else is window dressing.” n

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Mobile BI Architectures

AS A NEW APPLICATION PLATFORM, mobile devices provide a stark architectural choice for organizations that want to deploy mobile BI applications. They can either build device-specific BI applications for each mobile operating sys-tem—for example, Apple iOS or Google Android—or they can build a single Web-based application that runs on all devices.

Over the past two years, BI vendors have engaged in an intense debate about which mobile BI architecture to adopt. Some have embraced native mobile BI applications, believing that users ultimately want feature-rich, device-specific mobile applications. Others are betting that mobile BI applica-tions based on HTML5—the latest version of the popular Web markup lan-guage that offers greater support for multimedia capabilities—will eventually win the day by supporting most of the features unique to mobile platforms. Others are hedging their bets and producing hybrid applications that strive to offer the best of both camps while minimizing the downsides.

Our research shows that companies today give hybrid systems a slight edge, with 42% of respondents singling them out (see Figure 14), over

figure 14. Mobile BI Architectural Preferences

39%

19%

42%

Native mobile operating system

HTML5 browsers only

Hybrid of native and HTML5


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native applications, with 39%, while HTML5 applications trail by a significant degree, with 19%.

n Native mobile applications. There are three main advantages to running native mobile BI applications:

1. performance, 2. user experience and 3. offline access.

Native mobile BI applications offer exceptional performance because the data in a report or dashboard is downloaded and stored on the device. Fast performance makes applications very responsive and highly interactive.

Native applications also offer superior user experience. That’s because native applications exploit unique features and functions inherent in the devices, such as touchscreens that support hand gestures or accelerometers that let users rotate the device to switch between a portrait and landscape view. Anyone who has ever used an Apple iPhone or iPad understands the unique experiences either device makes possible. Having visited mobile para-dise, most don’t want to go back.

Finally, because native applications store data locally, they work even when the device is not connected to a network. Offline access is critical for execu-tives who spend a lot of time in the air, salespeople whose districts don’t offer reliable network connections or plant managers who might lose connectivity in the bowels of a manufacturing plant.

n Browser-based applications. Conversely, browser-based mobile BI appli-cations offer three advantages:

1. portability, 2. data consistency and 3. security.

Rather than write an application for each individual mobile device, develop-ers can write a single HTML-with-JavaScript application that runs the same on any device that supports a browser and it will be virtually unchanged. Although there are slight differences among browsers that must be accounted

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for during development, developers can build once and deploy everywhere, and this includes desktops, laptops and conference room or operation center flat-screen monitors. This is sweet music to developers and IT administrators who would rather maintain one application than a half-dozen variants.

In a browser-based mobile BI application, the application and data reside on a server, which means that nothing is downloaded to the device. This provides optimal data security since all data, code and passwords are managed on the server. If a device is lost or stolen, hackers can’t walk off with sensitive corpo-rate data. It also prevents applications and data from getting out of sync and eliminates analytical silos since all employees access the same server-side reports and data.

n Hybrid systems. The advantages of each architectural approach represent the downsides of the other. Not surprisingly, given the market potential for mobile BI, vendors are delivering hybrid systems that maximize the benefits and minimize downsides of each approach.

Native mobile BI applications offer greater portability, data consistency and data security, the hallmarks of an HTML5 approach. For example, some now offer development templates that can be compiled into the native lan-guages of all major devices without change. This means developers have to create an application just once to run it natively on any device after compil-ing it. In addition, to improve data consistency, native mobile BI applica-tions download fresh data on startup or on demand, so users always work with the most up-to-date information. From a security perspective, mobile device management systems enable administrators the ability to selectively wipe data from lost or stolen devices. And most require users to log in to the mobile BI application when the device is offline to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data.

Conversely, HTML5 mobile applications have improved performance and usability. For instance, some now cache small amounts of data on the device—a report, for example—to improve application responsiveness and support offline access. Others provide multi-media functionality that native operating systems expose to applications. These functions include hand-gesture recognition and the ability to toggle between portrait and landscape views when the device is rotated. Others wrap browser-based content in a native Apple iOS shell to expose additional functionality, such as prompts, navigation, favorites, alerts, catalogs, search and email.

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BUSINESS-DRIVEN BI: USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO FOSTER SELF-SERVICE ACCESS TO INSIGHTS 23


MANAGING DEVICESUnlike computing devices of yesteryear, smartphones and tablets are pri-marily consumer devices that employees buy for personal use. They quickly see the value of using such devices in a business setting and start doing so, regardless of IT policies. Some companies try to get ahead of this trend and issue company-owned devices to address employee requests as well as pre-vent security problems that can occur when employees carry business data on mobile devices, which are easily lost or stolen.

Our research shows that most companies have a muddled approach to mobile devices. One third (33%) issue devices to employees, while the remainder (67%) has a mix of company-issued and personal devices in use (see Figure 15).

What is clear is that the IT department no longer has a stranglehold on compute devices used by employees. Many IT departments now recognize that it’s foolhardy to require a user to carry a second, company-issued smart-phone or tablet, especially if he is a top executive. Compounding the problem for IT, employees invariably buy different types of devices and mobile operat-ing systems yet expect IT to support them unconditionally. Clearly, the future of mobile computing is personal and heterogeneous.

The IT department is going to have to adapt. It will need to purchase corpo-rate devices to support development and testing and give devices to employ-ees who don’t own them already. But IT staffers will also need to install corpo-rate applications on devices that employees already own.

But how are they going to do that? Send them to iTunes or another app store? (Do you really want a corporate application on a consumer shopping

figure 15. Who Owns the Mobile Devices Employees Use?

0%

33%

67%

Employees

Company

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site where people can download the application and decompile it?) Require them to bring the device to an IT administrator who will physically install the mobile application and requisite security software and then test the setup to ensure everything works? Or have users install the software over the wire from a corporate mobile application server?

n Lost or stolen devices. But these are small hurdles. The biggest issue is nontechnical. What happens when a user loses a personal device with a cor-porate application installed on it?

If your mobile application is browser-based, you only have to worry about data cached on the device—that’s there to optimize performance. Ideally, your security software automatically deletes the cache every hour or so, which minimizes, but doesn’t eliminate, the risk. If you’ve deployed a native mobile application and the data resides on the device, you’ll not only need to clear the cache but wipe the hard drive as well, and your security software can do that remotely. (Of course, this only works if the device is turned on and is connected to the network. Sophisticated thieves will hijack the data without connecting to a network.) In all likelihood, you’ll need to apply all these strate-gies to secure sensitive corporate information.

But there is a bigger issue. What if you wipe a personal device that the busi-ness user later finds or recovers? If the device contained valuable personal data—for example, thousands of dollars’ worth of music or personal pho-tos—who is liable? Does the company have to reimburse the employee for the lost data? One company I spoke with had mobile users sign legal documents absolving the company of responsibility for lost data.

There are many things to consider when implementing mobile BI. None is insurmountable, but it takes time to work through all the issues. And as always, the soft stuff—political, social, legal and organizational issues—is often the most challenging of all.

n Mobile data management software. Given the heterogeneous nature of

the mobile device market, IT managers should focus on administrative tools for managing mobile devices and applications rather than on the devices themselves. These tool sets go by the name mobile data management, or MDM, software, not to be confused with master data management software (which is familiar to most BI managers). Mobile MDM software is used to manage a heterogeneous portfolio of mobile devices and operating systems,

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often using “over-the-air” connectivity. Specifically, administrators use MDM software to do the following:

n Provision and configure mobile devices, including password controls and other settings and parameters;

n Distribute and configure applications and upgrades based on device properties;

n Communicate device errors and settings, including applications and security, and assist in troubleshooting;

n Manage applications, including restricting the installation of certain applications and removing unwanted applications;

n Remotely lock and wipe a device of data and applications;

n Maintain an audit trail of device usage; and

n Set thresholds for usage, voice, data and SMS.

There is even a standards group, the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), which specifies standards for managing mobile devices. Called OMA Device Man-agement, the emerging standard defines methods to support many of the fea-tures listed here.

There are many providers of heterogeneous MDM software. By default, Research in Motion, or RIM, is the market leader with its Blackberry Enter-prise, but this administration software only manages Blackberry devices. It is not ideal for addressing companies’ increasingly heterogeneous mobile device environments. Vendors that offer device-independent management software include AirWatch, MobileIron, Sybase and Tangoe.

But not all MDM providers offer equivalent service and features. One BI manager, who is in the process of deploying dashboards to his iPad commu-nity, was forced to switch MDM providers after the first product lacked key features and required users to be involved in the device configuration process. “It seemed like the software needed to go through a few more development cycles before going prime time,” he said.

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Not surprisingly, data security is a top challenge when deploying mobile BI; followed by user and device management, with 48%; and funding, with 48%, according to our research. Application development follows, with 30%; then application management, with 19%; and user acceptance, with 15% (see Figure 16).

n Smartphones. A year ago, many companies supplied employees with Blackberry smartphones, which its maker, RIM, designed primarily to appeal to business users and their corporate IT administrators. RIM offers an on-premises, enterprise server that integrates the devices with corporate email, calendaring and phone systems and enables administrators to provision, con-figure, secure, troubleshoot and audit all Blackberry devices, whether owned by an individual or issued by the company, from a central Web console. For an IT manager, this is a dream come true.

Unfortunately, the Blackberry’s grip on mobile devices, both corporate and personal, is slipping away. In the past 10 years, RIM has shipped more mobile devices than any other maker, but Apple’s iOS last year pulled ahead of RIM in terms of market share. Astonishingly, despite Apple’s superior branding, iOS is outpaced by Google’s Android operating system, which runs on a host of devices, often at bargain-basement prices. Meanwhile, Microsoft has re-entered the market with a revamped Windows Phone 7 (and now Windows Phone 8) and a fresh alliance with Nokia.


figure 16. Challenges When Deploying Mobile BI

52%

48%

48%

30%

19%

15%

4%

Data security

User and device management

Funding

Application development

Application management

User acceptance

Other

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n Tablets. The market for tablet computers has been one-sided, with Apple’s iPad possessing a commanding lead with a greater-than 70% market share. But the tablet market is heating up with a bevy of competitors, from Samsung’s Galaxy, Google’s Nexus, the Blackberry Playbook, Amazon Fire and the just-released Microsoft Surface. In addition, smaller-footprint tablets are emerging at lower price points that will tempt another band of consumers to enter the market.

Our research aligns with industry-based market share figures, showing Apple with a huge lead among smartphones and tablets used for mobile BI applications (see Figure 17). RIM and Google Android-based products are duking it out for second and third place. n


figure 17. What Devices Does Your Mobile BI Initiative Support?

84%

63%

48%

29%

100%

29%

40%

23%

20%

Apple iPhone

Blackberry RIM Smartphone

Google Android Smartphone

Microsoft Windows 8 phone

Apple iPad

Blackberry RIM Playbook

Google Android tablet

Microsoft Surface tablet

Amazon Kindle Fire

Today

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Recommendations

THERE ARE SEVERAL things to consider when implementing mobile BI applica-tions:

n Understand the types of users and the tasks they do on a regular basis. Identify which of these tasks are best done while on the go or during off-hours, when the employee is not sitting at a desk in front of a company-issued desktop computer.

n Recognize that mobile BI and dashboards align well, since both are designed for quick-hitting applications, often to support real-time or opera-tional processes.

n Create single-purpose or task-specific mobile BI Web applications and pare down functions and features to only those required to support the task.

n Make the transition between individual workflow steps seamless and intu-itive. The best mobile BI applications step users through a workflow to accom-plish a task that involves viewing, filtering and acting on data.

n Establish a policy that stipulates employees’ responsibilities regarding the use of mobile devices for business purposes.

n Implement mobile device management software to administer mobile devices, whether company-issued or employee-owned. n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Wayne Eckerson is director of research in TechTarget’s Business Applications and Archi-tecture Media Group. He

has more than 15 years’ experience in data warehousing, business intel-ligence (BI) and performance manage-ment. He has conducted numerous in-depth research studies and wrote the best-selling book Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business. Eckerson is a keynote speaker and blogger and con-ducts workshops on business analytics, performance dashboards and BI. He writes a weekly blog called Wayne’s World, which focuses on industry trends and examines best practices in the application of BI. He is also president of BI Leader Consulting and founder of BI Leadership Forum, a network of BI directors who exchange ideas about best practices and educate the larger BI community. Previously, he was director of education and research at The Data Warehousing Institute, where he oversaw the company’s con-tent and training programs and chaired its BI Executive Summit. Email him at [email protected].

Insights on the Run: Best Practices in Implementing Mobile BI

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