Everyone agrees that taking business intelligence mobile adds flexibility and versatility to access to information. On the road or out in the field, access to data and analytics is increasingly mobile, and for good reason. Access to business data on the fly is making us more efficient and helping us make decisions faster and more frequently than ever.
A great article by SAP’s Timo Elliott appears to predict that the mobile device may someday replace full-client systems. One of the technology advancements that has enabled this to happen is the growth of our mobile devices into having larger interfaces and in many cases, the more convenient and versatile multi-touch screen. How often do we all do this: “I find myself reaching for my iPad to access data, rather than my laptop, even when it’s right in front of me,” says Elliot.
Perhaps we should stop thinking about our devices as “mobile” or “not-mobile” as eventually most of our machines will be mobile-enabled? Just think about how many businesses have replaced desktop PCs with laptops, even for the thousands of workers who do not travel or work from home. That was the first step. And now there’s so much more.
Elliott makes several cases for the eventual replacement of the full-client system:
- “it’s simply more intuitive and easy to access information using your fingertips than it is a mouse.”
- “tablets are becoming more powerful, and supporting “traditional” operating systems like Windows”
- “laptops are starting to come installed with multi-touch touchpads, GPS and 3G connections.”
While Elliot sees this as an inevitable evolution, I also agree with him that there are several challenges in the way that may delay the process, one of them being the plethora of new platforms (Android, Windows, iOS, etc.) that must be accommodated, requiring extra work for vendors and slower adoption by the enterprise.
You can follow Timo on Twitter at @timoelliott and Perficient at @Perficient.
