Let’s face it. Mobile applications are here to stay. And they mean business! Gone are the days when iPhone Apps or Google Apps were for fun, or social networking. Increasingly, companies are building apps meant for serious business, designed to help their work-force and customers alike to improve their touch-point experience with the business.
Mobile apps face a serious challenge in being ‘too restrictive’. To quote Medhat Galal, If Business Process Management (BPM) is going to do for process what Google did for information, BPM must be mobile and always on. A good example is UPS or FedEx who have built their own ‘mobile BPM’ applications to meet their customers’ demands. Why can’t other companies do the same. The personnel working in the field only carries local information on his device (Laptop, Blackberry or even IPad). To a large extent they still remain locked out from the data which could help them access the most up to date information and close the meeting/sale successfully. “I will get back to you”, has a history of missed opportunities – ask any salesperson!
So what has prevented Mobile BPM to develop and be available for adoption. For one, the differing standards – Apple, versus Android versus Symbian versus RIM versus Windows Mobile versus.... has been a major barrier to adoption. Very recently Cordys has shown previews of mobile BPM for Google Apps that supports Smartphone. The smartphone support is enabled via a new Mobile Apps Composer offering, which allows users to design business processes for their smartphone. A good place to start building Mobile apps would be typically administrative and HR processes as they involve the review of limited amount of data that can be easily handled by mobiles. Imagine a senior executive logging on to the enterprise applications while waiting in an airport terminal or commuting to a meeting, and approving all the pending requests, leaves etc!!! Such a saving on time!
I believe the time is ripe for BPM vendors to take the step towards Mobile BPM. I hope to see that happening in the next couple of years!
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