Accessing the insights of a BI application used to be something that you did on a laptop or PC. Today, business users can tap into this information on their smartphones and tablets thanks to mobile BI apps. KTP Radhika finds that such applications go beyond simply delivering information. They are starting to evolve into an information processing platform
Time was when a manager had to log into a Business Intelligence (BI) app on his PC or laptop to figure out what was happening. Those days are long gone as BI solutions have gone mobile with a vengeance. The growing popularity of smartphones and tablets has propelled BI solutions onto new platforms—notably Android and iOS. Today, Mobile BI is a reality in industry verticals such as retail, logistics and life sciences where being able to transact business on the go is a key attribute.
According to Gartner, 33% of BI functions will be used via handheld devices by 2013. “The introduction of the iPad was an inflection point for mobile BI,” said Mahesh Venkateswaran, Senior Vice President, Emerging Business Accelerator, Cognizant. “It has provided an optimal platform with the right power, contextual awareness and the ability to create an experience to consume BI data from anywhere with ease.”
Even in India, where smartphone penetration has been on the lower side, sales of these devices are growing rapidly albeit on a small base. As per Tonse Telecom, about 9-10% of devices shipped this year should be smartphones. In 2011, that was about 6%. Of course, in the corporate world, the penetration of smartphones with the managerial class is substantially higher than that of smartphone usage by the general population.
In a survey conducted by The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), a company that offers BI and data warehousing education, 61% of the respondents said they expected users to spend more time accessing BI from mobile devices in the next 12 months. As companies are showing more interest in using BI through mobile devices, vendors are also coming up with interesting solutions.
Mobile information
The key benefit of mobile BI is that it helps enhance decision-making by making real-time data available as it is needed. Mobile BI apps can provide instant access on logistics, sales, customer and stock-out data. In many organizations, a good number of top executives have to travel frequently. Mobile BI helps them find the information that they require in order to make critical business decisions. Compared to traditional BI, mobile BI applications make Key Performance Indicators (KPI) easy to view on the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets. They also provide simple charts, graphics, etc.
“For top officers who are traveling, Mobile BI is a good way of getting the right information about the key KPIs of their organization,” said Venkatesh Vaidyanathan, Vice President, Product Management, SAP Labs India. “It also provides a mechanism to take action based on the information.”
Moreover, it also presents data in a more comprehensible fashion. James Thomas, Country Head, Kronos India, concurred, “With mobile BI, managers can easily see and rapidly respond to potential workforce management issues irregardless of where they are.”
On-the-go access enables the workforce to instantly engage and take effective decisions. Further, having the relevant information at your fingertips helps identify trends and opportunities early in the game. Business performance can be made visible through dashboards designed specifically for the smaller screens of mobile devices.
Murali Menon, Director, Enterprise Mobility Practice CSS Corporation, said, “Users will be able to monitor business processes and performance at a glance and they will also be able to drill down to view details and do further analysis by using mobile BI apps. By empowering executives to perform productive work when they are, say, at a customer’s office or at the airport boosts productivity.”
Another benefit is the competitive edge. Mobile BI tools can be designed in ways that offer not just ease of use but also the features that advanced users crave. These apps can take advantage of the location information provided by a mobile device.
“Reports and data from both the location of the mobile device and the real-time locations of customers can be made. You can generate reports based on the location as well,” explained Bhavish Sood, Research Director, Gartner.
Enterprise usage
As more white collar workers start using their mobile devices to do their official work and the BYOD trend catches on, Indian enterprises have started to adopt mobile BI solutions and apps. “Indian organizations are treading slowly towards mobile BI. Mostly, they want to start small with a few applications to gauge the employees’ reaction to the same and whether there is a real benefit,” said Venkateswaran of Cognizant.
Vaidyanathan of SAP Labs said there would be a better momentum for mobile BI this year, especially in the large enterprise largely because of the recent spike in the popularity of tablets and smartphones. “Mobile BI on tablets has a lot of appeal and fun. With exciting and intuitive visualization being a core value proposition for this technology, users are asking for it from their IT departments,” he pointed put.
3G pricing has been rationalized although decent connectivity cannot always be taken for granted. With 4G being piloted in a few circles and more widespread roll outs expected later this year, mobile BI should get a fillip. Sood of Gartner commented, “By the end of 2012 and in 2013, we will see large scale adoption of mobile BI by many industries. Industry verticals such as retail, logistics and transportation will benefit from the use of these apps. Vendors are coming out with BI applications for the Google Android platform, which is the market leader. As the market is growing, independent companies like PushBI and Roambi are coming up with lots of mobile BI applications.”
One trend that’s expected to materialize is that BI applications will go beyond simple information delivery and start offering information processing platforms.
Roadblocks
Security and device management is one of the biggest challenges that any mobile enterprise app deployment faces. Mobile BI is no exception. Organizations are concerned about data protection and the administrative overhead generated by managing BI on a plethora of mobile devices. Most organizations have not formulated specific policies for mobile devices yet. The use of Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions is not particularly prevalent although that is expected to change.
Thomas of Kronos India said, “There are questions of security rising from the users’ side. If a device is lost, confidential business information will be in danger of being compromised. A robust security-and-access-control layer has to be implemented on mobile devices before they are used for mobile BI.”
Another challenge is to manage user expectations that tend to be on the higher side. Even if mobile BI presents an easy to use interface, it does not always mean that the information that users expect to find is readily available or in the format that they need. Having the right data foundation with a robust, standard BI platform in place makes it easier to deliver the goods. Another challenge is with regard to the choice of platforms. “This is, perhaps, the biggest factor delaying widespread deployment of BI solutions. Just like the operating system wars happened over the past few decades, there is no obvious winner to standardize on for rolling out mobile applications. Hence, most organizations are struggling with a multi-device strategy,” commented SAP’s Vaidyanathan.
Another challenge is that of connectivity. While you can get 3G in the central business district of most cities, go to the suburbs and you are lucky to get an EDGE connection. Similarly in small towns or rural areas you will not get a 3G connection. Therefore, using mobile BI apps in such a scenario is tricky. There has to be some fall back mode for a GPRS/EDGE connection and the app has to handle the transition gracefully.
The cost of the devices is also a challenge for large scale mobile BI adoption. This is being sorted out and the price of entry-level smartphones has been dropping consistently and is hovering around Rs. 6,000-7,000 currently down from about Rs. 8,000-9,000 last year. It is expected to fall further to Rs. 5,000 or so. “As the cost of a smartphone drops and network connectivity improves, mobile BI adoption will gain momentum and the growth will be excellent,” felt Gartner’s Sood.
Great expectations
As the market expands and bandwidth problems are resolved, mobile BI adoption has started to grow at a significant pace in the corporate sector. Vendors are either providing purpose built or device-specific applications. According to Gartner, the BI Market in India is expected to grow 15.6% in 2012 to reach a revenue of approx $81.5 million. “Mobile BI is typically a door-opener for BI adoption and penetration in many organizations,” explained SAP’s Vaidyanathan.
The BYOD trend is spreading in the Indian business community. Thanks to this, the growth of mobile BI will be all the more faster. The proliferation on smartphones and tablets is also pushing organizations to rapidly adopt Mobile BI. Several enterprises within India have expressed the importance of and the urgency for rolling out Mobile BI.
“We are working closely with top automobile, manufacturing and telecom companies who want to roll this out to their field force and for their senior executives. We are also closely following the enterprise support for BYOD and enabling corporate data access from an employee’s personal mobile devices. In the coming 6-18 months, we expect that there will be a big surge in the use of BI on mobile devices.” Vaidyanathan concluded.
