Email
Print
ShareSoftware Vendors Get An F For Mobile Preparedness
Posted by Bob Evans on Mar 31, 2009 08:16 AM
With most CIOs planning or building out enterprise-wide mobile strategies, you would think enterprise software companies would be rushing to lead the charge with suitably broad product roadmaps and strategies of their own. But, as my colleague Mary Hayes Weier points out in her excellent news-analysis package, you would be wrong.
According to a recent InformationWeek Analytics survey, two-thirds of U.S. businesses are actively turning their smartphone-centric mobile strategies into reality. Whether the recession is holding this number down or has accelerated it is up for debate. But what's beyond question is that forward-looking CIOs eager to move from mobile trials to full-fledged corporate adoption are charging ahead despite huge gaps in mobile-enterprise products from leading software companies.
Here's how Hayes Weier describes the unacceptable situation faced by two of the companies in her main article: "Hologic and Jazz show the workarounds IT is having to go through to meet mobile goals. Look for IT leaders to put a lot more pressure on enterprise software vendors to make mobilizing apps easier. SAP and Oracle have been slow to deliver, but there are signs of progress."
Signs of progress? Signs of progress?!? Hey, I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and the Pirates have just set a record across all major professional sports for chalking up their 16th straight losing season, and every spring for the past 16 years the management of that awful franchise talks about how they're seeing "signs of progress." Sorry, but that's not good enough.
I mean, it's not like the whole smartphone thing just popped into existence late last year, right? Didn't Oracle and SAP and Microsoft see this coming? Or did they see it coming but figured that in spite of the torture it would cause their customers, they were going to do everything in their power to ensure their mobile plans were stuffed with incompatible outcomes?
Just look at the types of rotten experiences CIOs are having in trying to cobble together viable mobile platforms and applications, courtesy of Hayes Weier's excellent reporting:
You get the picture. No CIO expects IT vendors to be precise fortune-tellers and to have everything figured out in advance of reality. But at the same time, is it really so counterintuitive for vendors to expect that their customers will want to build and manage one mobile architecture versus five? And is it really a big revelation to world-class software companies that CIOs want flexibility, compatibility, and common sensibility in their mobile deployments?
Then again, as Hayes Weier points out, enterprise software companies are "making progress." Yes, and so too are the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose new plan seems to be that they'll reach break-even in a few years after churning through another round of mediocre players, mediocre strategies, and mediocre standards. And the problem with that is the team still stinks – it might not stink as much as it used to, but it still stinks.
This is a public forum. United Business Media and its affiliates are not responsible for and do not control what is posted herein. United Business Media makes no warranties or guarantees concerning any advice dispensed by its staff members or readers.
Community standards in this comment area do not permit hate language, excessive profanity, or other patently offensive language. Please be aware that all information posted to this comment area becomes the property of United Business Media LLC and may be edited and republished in print or electronic format as outlined in United Business Media's Terms of Service.
Important Note: This comment area is NOT intended for commercial messages or solicitations of business.