Business Agility: Strategies For Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Mobile Business Solutions

264 Pages·2001·0.93 MB·English

by  Nicholas D. Evans

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Business Agility
Strategies for Gaining Competitive Advantage
through Mobile Business Solutions
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Business Agility
Strategies for Gaining Competitive Advantage
through Mobile Business Solutions
Nicholas D. Evans
Prentice Hall PTR
One Lake Street
Upper saddle Rivber, NJ 07458
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Acknowledgments
This book owes a great deal of thanks to the people that have inspired
me as leaders in their respective industries and professions. The exec-
utives and venture capitalists who have expressed interest and enthu-
siasm for this project and who helped me with success stories, manu-
script review, and in validating my vision for Business Agility.
In particular, I’d like to thank (in alphabetical order by company):
Mark Sherman (Battery Ventures), Randy Chappel and Craig Thomas
(Goff Moore Strategic Partners), and Rob Miles (Vortex Partners).
I’d like to thank Jim Boyd, Executive Editor at Financial Times
Prentice Hall, for his interest in bringing my idea to fruition and for
our many conversations (often highly amusing) during the course of
the project. I’d also like to thank Crissy Statuto for the initial referral
to the folks at FTPH, and Wil Mara, Nina Scuderi, and Ronnie Bucci
for their great work on the production side.
For their help in providing case studies and company insights, I’d
like to thank (in alphabetical order by company): Theresa Enebo and
Chuck Grothaus (ADC Telecommunications), Joe Lacik and Jim Park
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vi >> Business Agility
(Aviall), Scott Heintzeman and Carol Nissen (Carlson Companies),
Nancy Liberman and Tom Svrcek (EnvoyWorldWide), Susan Burud
(FT Interactive Data), Laura Rippy (Handango), Petri Karppinen
(More Magic), Dennis Andruskiewicz, Kevin Conklin and Lauren
Garvey (Office Depot), Simon Gawne (Red-M), Jeff Cummings
(Rental Service Corporation), Amir Alon, Nick Howarth and Nick
Ward (Sirenic), Paul Reddick (Sprint PCS), and many others. Thank
you all for taking the time to talk with me and for sharing your
thoughts and successes.
Finally, I’d like to thank my wife, Michele, and my two sons,
Andrew and David, for their patience with me and for allowing me to
take family time on evenings and weekends in order to put this book
together. Without your encouragement and support, this book would
not have been possible.
Readers who would like to correspond with the author can contact
him at [email protected].
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Contents
Foreword xiii
1 Introduction 1
Formula for Business Agility 4
Principles of Business Agility 5
Principle #1: The Digital Economy Demands Business Agility 5
Principle #2: Business Agility Involves
Shaping Technology Around Ourselves 8
Principle #3: Business Agility Is Achieved Via M-Business 9
Principle #4: Every Business Will Become an M-Business 9
Principle #5: M-Business Will Drive Both Business
and Technical Transformation 14
Principle #6: Industry Convergence
Creates New Threats and Opportunities 15
Action Items for Business Agility 16
Step #1: Make M-Business Part of Your Business Strategy 16
Step #2: Make the IT Department a Strategic Partner 17
Step #3: Pursue a Holistic M-Business Strategy 18
Step #4: Exploit and Defend Your
Position in the New M-Business Value Chain 19
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Step #5: Design Business Processes
to Take Advantage of M-Business 21
Step #6: Design Technical Architectures
to Take Advantage of M-Business 21
Step #7: Design for Rapid Change in Process and Technology 22
Step #8: Focus on User Acceptance and Training 23
Step #9: Measure the Results of M-Business Initiatives 24
2 The M-Business Evolution 27
Global Trends 29
Searching for the Killer Application 32
Evolution to 3G Networks 32
Applications by Region 33
Drivers and Barriers to Adoption 36
Barriers to Adoption 38
Regulatory Environment 40
Telecom Environment 43
Wireless Data Services 45
M-Commerce Services 46
Wireless Application Service Provider Platforms 50
IT Environment 51
Wireless Internet Value Chain 53
Value Chain for Enterprise Wireless Data 54
Value Chain for Consumer Wireless Data 55
Key Applications 61
Wireless Enablement of Employees 62
Wireless Enablement of Customers 64
Wireless Enablement of Partners and Suppliers 64
3 Design of an M-Business 69
M-Business Flexibility 70
The Dynamic Value Proposition 70
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Contents >> ix
M-Business for Employees 74
Tradeoff Between Enterprise Standards and User Roles 75
Focus on User Adoption and Long-Term Management 75
M-Business for Customers 76
A New Time-Slice for Customer Loyalty 76
Context- and Location-Specific Loyalty 77
Preference-Driven Commerce 78
Wireless Advertising 79
M-Business for Partners 79
Alliance Value Chain 80
Alliance Life Cycle 82
4 Process Models and Applications
for M-Business Agility 85
Process Models for M-Business Agility 86
M-Business Opens New Process Possibilities 87
Using M-Business to Improve Existing Processes 88
Applications for M-Business Agility 88
Executive Dashboard and Business Intelligence 89
Sales Force Automation 95
Field Force Automation 101
Customer Relationship Management 105
M-Business CRM for Customers 106
Increasing Complexity of Customer Interactions 106
Providing Intelligent Customer Service 107
M-Business CRM for Employees 108
Supply Chain Management 111
“Wireless”Versus “Mobile”Applications in the Supply Chain 112
5 Industry Examples 119
Communications and Content 120
High Tech 124