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Chapter 8
MOBILE COMPUTING
With the sale of smartphones and tablet computers exceeding that of personal computers in
2011, many organizations are facing the necessity of developing and deploying their own
mobile applications. Often these efforts are driven by the expectations of young workers
who—having grown up with mobile computing and a myriad of mobile apps, such as
Facebook—are appalled at some companies’ existing legacy systems. It is predicted that by
the year 2015, there will be more than 6.7 billion smartphones in the world, and a 2011
survey conducted by CIO magazine found that 54 percent of the companies responding were
planning to increase their spending on mobile applications. People are relying on
smartphones for social networking and shopping information, with the lines of work and play
224 often blurred. With today’s smartphone—40 times more powerful than those in 2000—and
cloud computing (discussed in the next section) making data available wherever a person is, it
is not surprising there is pressure on companies to increase their support of mobile apps.
There are, however, many challenges to face. For example, smartphones come in a
wide range of formats and operate on a variety of operating systems, and mobile
applications need to be developed with that in mind. Many experts agree that to develop
effective applications, companies cannot simply take computer-based applications and
modify them for use on mobile devices. Rather, mobile applications need to be developed
from scratch to take into account the limitations in screen size and user input capability.
Companies must also set up a road map for implementation, deciding which applications
may be high cost and low value (eliminate) or low cost and high value (adopt). There are
many questions to answer as well: Should a company require its employees to use
company-supplied devices, or should employees be allowed to supply their own
smartphones? If employees are allowed to use their own smartphone, should a company
limit the choice of devices or allow employees to choose the device they will use?
Accenture Consulting, for example, estimates that 85,000 of its employees use
smartphones, of which more than one-half are provided by the individual employee. If an
employee supplies his or her own device, who will support it? Which carrier will be used?
Security is always a concern, especially because most security breaches are caused by
users not by technology. It has been estimated that only slightly over one-half of all
smartphone users set up their password security on their phones. If a company does not
directly support a device it might not be able to ensure that proper security measures are
taken, which could allow for potential data breaches. Some organizations are attempting
to manage mobile devices from central servers, so if a device is lost or stolen, sensitive
data can be removed or the device can be wiped clean.
ERP companies have provided mobile connections in the past, but most are ramping
up their offerings. For example, SAP recently acquired Sybase, a company with a platform
called Sybase Unwired, which lets a company quickly develop mobile apps for almost any
mobile device. Another Sybase tool, Afaria, allows IT staff to manage those mobile apps
centrally and push out new applications and updates remotely. If a device is lost or stolen,
the central administrator can delete the application remotely.
Although mobile device apps are typically thought of as tools to provide users with
information, mobile devices can also be the source of information. For example, the
increasing sophistication of smartphones is leading people to use their smartphones—
rather than dedicated GPS devices—for navigation. Smartphone users can also subscribe
to traffic information services that may use static sensors or traffic cameras to augment
the built-in maps so users can avoid accidents and rush-hour traffic. Increasingly, this

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