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Oracle predictions for mobiles in 2012

Ahsen Javed, MD, Oracle Pakistan and South Asia Growth Economies

Ahsen Javed

As the cellular services industry continues to change at a lightning-fast pace. Smartphone proliferation and the birth of the iPad and other tablets have spawned a growing legion of data-hungry consumers that are looking to use their mobile more efficiently and securely. In a recent report by Oracle, "Opportunity Calling: The Future of Mobile Communications - Take Two", more than 3,000 mobile phone consumers worldwide were asked to describe their mobile phone use habits, interest in new mobile technologies and expectations for service providers.

The results highlighted more reliance on mobile phones. More than 50 percent of respondents felt that they would be replacing their cameras, mp3 players or GPS devices with their mobiles phones by 2015. By the following year 43% of the respondents had already replaced their camera, 34% had done away with their mp3 players whereas 24% were actively utilizing the GPS devise on their cell phones.

With new players entering this highly competitive market, mobile users have increased their expectations - they want the coolest devices, higher quality of service and would like to utilize their devices at home and at the work place seamlessly. Oracle believes these trends will be key drivers in affecting telecom providers in the coming year.

Apps are adding up

Consumer demand for apps is growing significantly. Fifty three percent of Asia Pacific respondents have downloaded free apps, while those who have paid for applications using their phones rose to 22%. Furthermore, respondents who have owned a tablet or plan to purchase in the next 12 month rose to 50%.

Even in the enterprise market applications have seen gaining traction. In another report "Mobile Business Intelligence Gains Ground On New Devices", from independent research firm Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insideri, 25% of enterprises now utilize business intelligence(BI) applications or dashboards while 33% of enterprises are planning to implement some type of BI applications by the end of 2012.

Business Intelligence applications such as Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile applications are extremely sophisticated and give the user a full spectrum of BI functionality on the tablet including alerts, reporting and scorecards. Enabling managers to connect to a substantial amount of information that helps them make critical decisions quickly. In fact, the report suggests that managers with access to mobile BI will make decision in one-sixth of the time than those who do not.

With substantial benefits to organizations such as operational efficiency, real-time analytics and customer responsiveness, mobile apps will only continue to develop further and improve in 2012.

Security concerns linger

While consumers are becoming more comfortable with location-based services and online banking, they have security concerns. Oracle's "Opportunity Calling: The Future of Mobile Communications - Take Two" research reveals that globally 68% of respondents do not believe, or are unsure, whether information stored or transmitted from their mobile device is secure.

The problem is compounded when mobile devices are used for both enterprise and personal use. A tablet with corporate data stored on it, for example, could be accessible to a user's family members for recreational purposes. This can inadvertently lead to sensitive data being compromised.

Additionally, with 18.2 million Sri Lankan's using cell phones with an increasing number of them using smartphones according to latest industry estimation. Furthermore with some mobile operators offering subsidized smartphones and tablets as packaged deals, consumers in Sri Lanka often update their devices at a speed that even the larger enterprises can't compete with.

There are also generational factors at play. Gen Y employees are bringing their own devices to work and expect to access corporate applications quickly and easily from their iPhone and iPad. IT departments increasingly face pressure to harness the cost and productivity benefits of personal devices for enterprise use while safeguarding corporate data and intellectual property. When building mobile extensions to existing enterprise applications, a key part of the design has to address data management across the application.

Creating a user friendly interface and experience across multiple device platforms will be another challenge for businesses eying increase in employee access to mobility - as user acceptance and adoption is a key factor if you want to encourage users to work within the boundaries of the corporate firewall on their own device.