eTicket to ride

Enjoy a recent interview I did for a rail industry magazine

The advancement of technology has revolutionised the way in which railways around the world now operate. One area of this is revolution is the emergence of digital ticketing, reports Richard Mackillican

BBC Radio 1 team-up with The Mobile Data Association to give listeners free picture messaging day

BBC Radio 1 listeners will be able to send the radio station free picture messages from their mobile phones for the first time on Friday 11th December, as part of its 'Access All Areas' week.

Mobilise Your Workforce 9 judged a resounding success

Representatives from the construction, facilities management, fleet and automotive sectors were amongst those who assembled at Microsoft’s Thames Valley Campus on November 10th, seeking to learn, discuss and share practical enterprise mobility best practice.

Avis, BCA, Microsoft and G4S complete seminar line up

Avis, BCA, Microsoft and G4S complete seminar line-up The full line-up of speakers has now been confirmed for Mobilise Your Workforce 9, a free-to-attend day seminar demonstrating how to rapidly implement unique mobility solutions using the latest technologies can give you a strategic advantage over your competitors.

TBS Enterprise Mobility announce Mobilise your workforce 9

Tuesday 10th November 2009

Microsoft® UK, Thames Valley Park, Reading RG6 1WG

To pre-register for this free event, visit http://www.mobiliseyourworkforce.com/

MDA broker VAT waiver on charity text message donations with MNO's

The Mobile Data Association delivers dedicated Charity SMS Short Codes and introduces a framework for managing donations through mobile network operators

London, United Kingdom – July 27th 2009 The Mobile Data Association, the notforprofit mobile trade association, has today announced a major breakthrough for the UK charity sector for donations via mobile. The move means charitable donations sent to a dedicated short code will have the VAT waived for registered charities.

The new framework means charities of all sizes will be able to receive an additional 15% (standard rate of VAT) for donations sent via text message. In the past this has only happened for large national charitable events such as Comic Relief. Mobile users can donate up to £10.00 by either sending a text message to a Short Code or by using Payforit, a recognised UK standard for mobile payments.

Central to the new framework is an allocation of a dedicated range of numeric Short Codes to be used for charity donations only. Any fivedigit SMS Text Message Short Code beginning with the number 70 (seven zero) is now automatically considered a charity code which can be allocated to charities eligible under the rules of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The framework has been approved by UK MNOs (mobile network operators), 3, Orange, TMobile, Telefónica O2 and Vodafone. It enables VAT usually charged by mobile network operators to be passed directly on to the charitable organisation.

Martin Ballard, Operations Director of the MDA, who has driven the initiative, said: “This is a really fantastic development both for the UK charitable sector and a great example of the mobile industry collaborating for a good cause. Mobile is a powerful way for people to support and donate to charities and this development makes the whole process clearer for all parties.”

“Sending an SMS message is known to have mass appeal because of the simple user experience across devices. Our hope is that reducing consumer barriers will benefit a range of charities in need of a new, modern and instant fundraising channel. It should also provide welcome benefits and price transparency for those involved across the mobile industry.”

Judging the eligibility of charities will be the responsibility of service providers, using the HMRC Charity Search facility presently found at http://www.HMRC.gov.uk/charities/charitiessearch.htm . Organisations can register with HMRC directly for inclusion. Charity Short Codes will be allocated initially by the relevant MNO.

Mobile Network Operators and Mobile Data Aggregators, which have also been involved in the Framework’s development, will offer a normal commercial service which attracts VAT. Only the donation proportion of a payment is VAT free. “Each operator had its own set of issues to tackle with processes and billing systems. This is an excellent result and a good starting point to move forwards.” Ballard concluded.

The full document, The Mobile Data Association Framework For Charitable Donations, can be downloaded from the MDA website: http://www.themda.org/

About The Framework For Charitable Donations

All donations to charities that qualify under HMRC rules will use shortcodes in the 70xxx range which have been set aside for charity use only.

Qualification of donation under HMRC rules means nothing given in return (e.g. ringtone or wallpaper, with the exception of an acknowledgement text message)

Charities must be listed on the HMRC website

Existing qualifying donation schemes will need to migrate to these new codes
The scheme is NOT a free to use scheme the MNOs and aggregators are offering a normal commercial service which attracts VAT. The donation element is the VAT free element of this.

Each MNO / Aggregator will negotiate their own terms in the normal way and they have the absolute right to refuse to provide a service (e.g. if they consider it might not be in the best public interest etc)

Short Codes will be allocated by the holding MNO

The scheme will be reviewed and updated in the light of experience

The scheme covers future technologies and other payment mechanisms

TaskMaster enterprise mobility technology to launch on Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform

Internet-scale services platform hosted by Microsoft set to harness TBS Enterprise Mobility software

DERBY, United Kingdom – July 15th 2009

TBS, the leading provider of enterprise mobility solutions, has announced that its TaskMaster software will be deployed across Microsoft’s Windows Azure Services Platform, following the confirmation of pricing for the service at the 2009 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans this week.

Microsoft technologies have always formed the foundation of TaskMaster, which enables organisations to manage the delivery, inspection and collection of assets; ensures compliance through workflow mapping; and provides real-time activity updates using GPS information.

TaskMaster will migrate to the Azure Services Platform by early 2010, giving an advanced application hosting solution with virtually unlimited processing and storage capacity. Microsoft’s Azure platform employs a cloud operating system for hosting approved developer services that can be used to build applications from consumer web to enterprise. Jon Poynton, Commercial Director at TBS commented: “The cost of data centers has increased exponentially over the last few years because of rising energy prices. Azure offers us the chance to host our applications at very reasonable rates and with expert support.” A hosted software-plus-services solution was created by TBS for TaskMaster in 2006 and run from a number of its own leased datacentres. This guaranteed availability, reduced average deployment time by 75 percent and lowered setup costs for smaller businesses.

But the enterprise mobility sector, which caters for a range of industries from utilities to logistics, demands agile development together with maximum customer service assurances. Therefore, from early 2010, Azure’s enhanced hosting environment will provide TaskMaster with increased benefits of capacity, cost, support and efficiency.

-Ends-

Notes to editors

TBS Enterprise Mobility

1. TBS Enterprise Mobility was founded in 1993 to bridge the strategy gap between call-centres and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and the vital component of customer satisfaction: the fieldworker.

2. TBS TaskMaster is an innovative enterprise mobility suite designed to eliminate costs and inefficiencies associated with paperwork, and drive consistent adherence to business processes.

3. The TBS mission is to swiftly develop and deploy effective enterprise mobility solutions.

4. TBS Enterprise Mobility’s clients span from the construction and automotive sector through to utilities-management and public sector councils. 5. Please visit http://www.tbsmobility.com/ for further information.

Azure

1. The Windows® Azure™ Platform is an internet-scale cloud computing and services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers. It provides a range of functionality to build applications that span from consumer web to enterprise scenarios and includes a cloud operating system and a set of developer services.

2. Fully interoperable through the support of industry standards and web protocols such as REST and SOAP, Azure services can be used to build new applications or to extend existing ones.

Press Contact
Mark Hawkins
+447949023795

Mobile can help with Fleet Damage

According to a recent Fleet News Survey almost a third of fleet managers still fail to check the condition of their end-of-contract vehicles. It found that 28% of fleet managers fail to carry out end-of-contract damage checks before returning them to their supplier. This is despite lease companies becoming increasingly strict on invoicing for all damage above fair wear and tear.

“In previous years members have been more lenient on this issue, mainly because they were happy to share the benefits of a buoyant used car market with their customers, however, with the economy in recession and residual values less certain, they are having to apply these refurbishment charges in order to optimise the disposal value of their vehicles” explained John Lewis, chief executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association BVRLA, which represents the country’s lease providers.

Fair wear and tear
In its fair wear and tear guide, the BVRLA recofmmends that fleet managers carry out a damage appraisal at least 12 weeks before the vehicle is due back. "This will allow you to arrange to have any unacceptable wear and tear rectified," it states. With a zero-tolerance approach from suppliers, fleet managers should have a defleet policy that involves checking vehicles’ condition before they are returned.

So why are many fleet owners failing to conduct these assessments? With the average remedial cost at around £300.00 per vehicle, just advising your drivers to check for damage and get any dent or scratch repaired before the car is returned, could result in large repair bills as they are omitting to do it. In the majority of cases these repair charges are absorbed by the company. The association of car and fleet owners ACFO recommends that all fleets should have a damage check policy.

TBS recommends that all fleet owners should include damage/fair wear and tear as part of their standard vehicle risk assessment procedures, this way any significant chargeable damage will be known about well in advance of the vehicle defleet process. TBS has significant experience in the providing cost effective PDA-based vehicle inspection systems to large fleet customers. This experience can be applied to the inspection of your valuable fleet assets to ensure that there are no defleet surprises. For more information visit http://www.tbsmobility.com/

Managed Mobile Solutions

Mobile Device Management
Mobile Devices are getting increasingly sophisticated and because of this they should be treated no differently to a laptop computer when it comes to mobile device management. Just like their laptop big brothers, mobile devices and smart phones can access the internet/intranet, carry large amounts of corporate data, send and receive email and run sophisticated applications. Add to this that most mobile devices (under normal working conditions) will do this remotely and wirelessly and are therefore even more susceptible to loss or theft than laptops, you should have a mobile device management policy and supporting infrastructure in place.
As a minimum, organisations should be looking at policies and procedures to encompass the following:
User handover documentation
Software and hardware configuration management
Backup policy
Settings management
Training and support material
Password policy management
Swap out procedure
Device addition/removal procedure

In life support
These requirements can either be handled manually or by device management software. Device management software enables IT administrators to capture the asset characteristics, configure settings and security policies of mobile devices, and update or deploy new applications with minimal interruption to the user, dramatically reducing the cost of deploying and managing devices.
User Handover documentation
It is important that the users of any company issued mobile device take care of these in a diligent manner. Therefore when handing over a device to an employee, it‘s important to ensure that they agree to a set of usage terms and conditions. This could include when and how the device is to be used and any limitations as to its use (e.g. internet policy) and any liability the employee faces if these terms are broken. Certain companies have insisted that if the unit is maliciously destroyed then the employee is liable for the cost of replacement. Careful consideration must also be given to any health and safety aspects of using mobile devices especially in moving vehicles.
Software/Hardware configuration management
The mobile device will invariably be configured for groups of users and the software and settings need to be set up on each device. Therefore a documented record needs to be kept as to how to set up the device, what applications are active on that device and what applications are to be disabled. This process can also be automated with mobile device management software.
Backup policy
Mobile devices are capable of holding large amounts of corporate data which is added to, or updated then it is essential that this is synchronised to a server on the corporate network.
Data security
Given the ever increasing amount of data a mobile device can hold, there is a much greater risk of sensitive data falling in to the wrong hands. For this reason appropriate password protection and remote wipe capabilities are essential. Careful consideration needs to be given to the level of security imposed however as it is important not to create a frustrating user experience.
Settings management
Once the mobile device is ‘in life’, should the device require additional applications loaded or the device loses its settings, a method needs to be in place to quickly restore them.
Training and support material
When mobile devices are being provided to field workers careful consideration should be given to training the users to use the applications properly and, if necessary provide supporting documentation as reference material.
Device swap out
Mobile devices are always deployed for compelling business reasons, once deployed the business user becomes dependent on the device functioning properly. Therefore should the device fail, clear and effective procedures need to be in place to enable the user to continue working through either emergency paper backup or readily available hot swap devices at appropriate geographic locations.
Device addition/removal procedure.
Should a new starter need to be added to the enterprise as a mobile device user, then a simple process is required to ensure that this is undertaken efficiently. Equally if an employee leaves or their device is stolen a procedure is required to remove their unit from the enterprise and to remove any company specific data remotely. If this is not possible, then using power on passwords will provide an element of protection.
In life support
Mobile devices must be considered as extensions to your corporate enterprise and your new mobile users will need a user- friendly support desk to talk to should they have any issues with their devices or mobile software applications.

Carefully assess your in-house capabilities
It’s important to closely study the capabilities of both in-house teams and third party suppliers when considering an enterprise mobility solution. The underlying objective should be to minimise risk within the development, rollout and subsequent support process so the solution can be completed on time, on budget and with the support of all the field users.
Consider a work share project approach
Due to the complex multi-element nature of enterprise mobility solutions, unless your business has a sophisticated mature and scalable IT department with R&D capability, pure D.I.Y should not be considered. However engaging a mobility specialist with a mobility configuration tool for agile deployments and undertaking certain elements of the project in-house or “work share” is becoming more practical and prevalent.
Do not under estimate the support impact
Supporting large numbers of geographically dispersed users of mobile technology can be challenging. If you are planning to support your mobile users, ensure you have a service desk that can cope with the increased numbers and make use of remote mobile device management software solutions to minimise the down time of your mobile users. Using specialist third party support organisations to deal with fieldworker support is an increasingly popular alternative and can reduce training and other staffing costs.
Consider the efficiencies of third party hosting
Over the last 18 months software as a service (SaaS) has become more wide-spread with major software organisations such as Microsoft offering a rental model for the majority of their software applications that are hosted and managed on third party servers. Therefore IT infrastructure (server) hosting is becoming a key consideration. Building your own server infrastructure to be resilient, with high availability, requires significant capital expenditure, takes time and demands a skilled, responsive support team to deal with any issues. A third party hosted service can be up and running quickly and can also be scaled easily if your business grows. For smaller organisations renting the software and server environment will definitely be more cost effective than outright purchase and self hosting.
Conclusion
It is very important from the onset of any mobile solution deployment to consider every aspect of the project; this must include the management of mobile devices and the support of the users who use them who are often only considered as an afterthought. This can results in projects going over budget and potentially failing. Mobile management is a key requirement in any field mobility project and providing the overhead is considered up front in your business case as part of the total cost of ownership, there will be no surprises.

Mobile software at your service

At a recent event I chaired “Mobilise your Workforce”, a panel session was held to attempt to demystify the hosted/rented software world which is normally referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS) or Software plus Services (S+S). During a quick straw poll of the attendees the majority of the audience had heard of SaaS, however only a few knew exactly what this term means or how SaaS could have a positive impact on their businesses.

Obviously in the current global economic crisis, it is becoming increasingly important for all businesses to be fit and efficient to face the challenges 2009 will bring. I see SaaS based Enterprise Mobility solutions being the “low cost of entry” facilitator for businesses with mobile field workers, to improve their efficiency and reduce their fixed costs. This new way of owning an enterprise mobility solution will deliver a return on investment within a month of rollout, whereas the equivalent CAPEX model could take many months to deliver.

Over the last 18 months SaaS, or renting hosted third party software applications, has become more prevalent with major software organisations such as Microsoft offering a rental model for the majority of their software applications which are hosted and managed on third party servers.

Software as a Service (SaaS) has become the industry term used to describe the delivery of software applications using the Internet or a wide area network as the delivery mechanism. The SaaS model can be implemented rapidly and removes the need to purchase, manage and support expensive server infrastructure. The SaaS model is being used to provide a whole host of software applications from email to enterprise mobility solutions.

Benefits

Revenue based payments

Software as a Service (SaaS) has become the industry term used to describe the delivery of software applications using the Internet or a wide area network as the delivery mechanism. The SaaS model can be implemented rapidly and removes the need to purchase, manage and support expensive server infrastructure. The SaaS model is being used to provide a whole host of software applications from email to enterprise mobility solutions.

Third party hosted

Investing in expensive infrastructure is no longer required since SaaS software applications are now third party hosted. As a result there are no capital costs for hardware, licenses, databases or ongoing overheads of either third party or internal IT support staff or software and hardware maintenance and upgrades. Software applications are accessed via a web browser or a mobile device via a wireless network connection keeping your user IT requirements simple, low cost and easily managed.

Predictable costs

Rented software and services provide agreed pre-defined fixed charges. This enables you to project and predict your annual costs and helps with annual budget provisioning. They do not result in large capital outlay, therefore reducing the time to return on investment in most cases to the month the solution is deployed,

Multi-tenant effciency

Rented software and services tend to use secure multi-tenant architecture (for example Microsoft Exchange email). This means that the cost of all software, infrastructure and expertise is shared by a large number of customers. This multi-tenant architecture offers reduced implementation times and economies of scale making the overall solution more cost effective to small and large businesses.

Increased flexible accessibility

Being Internet based, your applications are accessible not only in the office but from home a hotel room or from any of your businesses international locations if you have them. Work is no longer becomes a place!

Flexibility and scalability

Rented software and services provide businesses with a high level of flexibility. Since the software solution is delivered via the Internet it completely eliminates installation and setup at the customer’s end. Users can be up and running very quickly. Also as your business grows all you need to do is request your service provider to add more users. As hosted solutions are designed to scale, initially you could start with 10 users and after one month add say another 3,000 users without any issues, thus providing your business with ultimate flexibility or conversely if times get hard, you can reduce the number of users.

Availability and security

Third party service providers are in the business of providing uninterrupted reliable services. Vendors understand that data must be backed up religiously and information security is a paramount concern. Skilled resources, network redundancies, stand-by power, up-to-date security and intrusion detection are a necessity in providing an enterprise class service.

General

The rental software application market is starting to mature and offers businesses a flexible low cost entry option delivering instant return on investment which must be a major consideration in today’s economic conditions. But do not forget to ensure that you have a secure and available internet connection to ensure application continuity.

MDA provide grant funding oppurtunity

Despite government intervention, the banks are still not supporting British businesses with business loans and investment funding. As a result of this the Mobile Data Association has been exploring alternative funding methods for our members to help provide innovation funding during these difficult times.

The MDA, with the help of MSC Ltd, discovered that local development agencies can offer grants of up to £250,000 to help you with product and innovation development.

So if you have a project that:
· is a robust commercial proposition
· contains a high level of innovation
· would be a major technological advance for the industry
· is technically difficult to achieve

This is a great opportunity to obtain a development grant, with quarterly cash payments that:
· don’t dilute your equity
· you don’t have to pay back
· on which you don’t have to pay any interest
· could be easier to get than other forms of finance
· is not subject to “Credit Crunch” market conditions
· conveys prestige onto your business
· can be used to develop a truly leading-edge product

To help you with the grant application we have selected MSC, the UK's leading expert in grant funding for product development. With 18 years experience in obtaining grants for UK technology SMEs with innovative ideas, MSC is our ideal partner to assist in accessing grants to help develop a truly leading-edge product. Website: http://www.mscbdg.co.uk/

The benefits to MDA members of using MSC to undertake an Innovation Grant application:

Free “Innovation Audit” to assess the eligibility of MDA member’s technology against the grant criteria

“Fast-track” application process – MDA members take priority in the MSC schedule
2.5% discount on any grant application fee payable to MSC (fee around £7000).
2.5% discount on the grant commission fee (fee is usually 12% of the grant)

If you are interested and are a fully paid-up member of MDA for the current Membership Year (1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010)

Please contact

Rufus Meakin, Strategic Business Development Manager
MSC Business Innovation Ltd
Tel: 0114 263 2441
email: rufusmeakin@mscbdg.co.uk

Regards

Steve Reynolds
Chairman, Mobile Data Association

Financing your mobile business in a credit crunch

We are in very tough economic times; 2009 will possibly be the toughest year for British businesses since the 1930's.

To survive in these conditions, it is increasingly important for businesses to be strong, fit and innovative. Recently, the government has announced a series of packages to encourage both the consumer and businesses to return to their normal spending profiles. Businesses must respond by investing in their future.

Times are hard and I am sure a considerable number of businesses are considering restructuring and cut backs in spending, including an innovation investment freeze policy. This is potentially a high risk strategy as the reality could be that without investment your business becomes uncompetitive and potentially not fit enough or strong enough to survive in 2009.

With this in mind our friends at Mobile Monday have organised a superb event on April 20th at the CBI Centrepoint to help businesses in the mobile space entitled Financing your mobile business in a credit crunch

Agenda:

6.00pm - doors open at the CBI Centrepoint
6.30pm - presentations

7.00pm - panel session and discussion
8.00pm - surgery sessions open and networking.
10.00pm - doors close

*Food and drinks will be served after the event courtesy of DCKTN*

Speakers and panellists include Rose Lewis from Pembridge Partners, Carl Uminski from IMW, Pamir Gelenbe from NewtonMore, Denver McCann from Numeritas, Philip Hargrave from DCKTN and ably chaired by Benjamin Ellis from Redcatco.

Surgery sessions available with Pembridge Partners / Gateway 2 Investment and DCKTN

For more information and to register click here http://momolo.org/event.jsp?eventid=57

Building a mobility solution: DIY or Managed?

The majority of enterprise mobility solutions deployed in the UK have been completed with the involvement of a specialist third party organisation, coming into existence as managed solutions.

Yet, organisations have the option to keep development in-house, and those companies big enough to employ their own experience IT staff may feel that a DIY approach to enterprise mobility offers the best option. The decision making process is further compounded by the decision to either self host or third party host your final solution. So is there a simple answer to this complex question? Below are some of the key considerations.

Carefully assess your in-house capabilities
It’s important to closely study the capabilities of both in-house teams and third party suppliers when moving towards an enterprise mobility project. The underlying objective should be to minimise risk within the development and rollout process so the solution can be completed on time, on budget and with the support of all the field worker users.

Consider a work share project approach
Due to the complex multi-element nature of enterprise mobility solutions, unless your business has a sophisticated mature and scalable IT department with R&D capability, pure D.I.Y should not be considered. However engaging a mobility specialist with a mobility configuration tool for agile deployments and undertaking certain elements of the project in-house or “work share” is becoming more practical and prevalent.

Do not under estimate the support impact
Supporting large numbers of geographically dispersed users of mobile technology can be challenging, if you are planning to support your mobile users, ensure you have a service desk that can cope with the increased numbers, and make use of remote mobile device management software solutions to minimise the down time of your mobile users. Using specialist third party support organisations to deal with fieldworker support is certainly on the increase and can reduce significantly fieldworker down time.

Consider the efficiencies of third party hosting
Over the last 18 months software as a service SaaS has become more prevalent with major software organisations such as Microsoft offering a rental model for the majority of their software applications that are hosted and managed on third party servers. Therefore IT infrastructure (servers) hosting is becoming a key consideration. Building your own server infrastructure to be resilient with high availability from scratch requires significant capital expenditure, takes time and requires responsive support team to deal with any issues. A third party hosted service can be up and running quickly and can also be scaled easily if your business grows. For smaller organisations renting the software and server environment will definitely be more cost effective than outright purchase and self hosting.

Benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS)

Background
Over the last 18 months software as a service SaaS has become more prevalent with major software organisations such as Microsoft offering a rental model for the majority of their software applications which are hosted and managed on third party servers. Software as a Service (SaaS) is the term used for delivering software applications using the internet or a wide area network as the delivery mechanism. SaaS can be implemented rapidly and removes the need to purchase expensive server infrastructure. The SaaS model is being used to provide a whole host of software applications from email to enterprise mobility solutions.
Revenue based payments

SaaS is delivered to organisations as a subscription model, usually billed on a per user per month basis for a fixed term of usually 3 years. Billing is on a “pay as you go” basis, that is, businesses only pay for the users who have benefited from the software during each billable month. Naturally this removes large upfront payments and potential annual licence, support and maintenance charges.

Third party hosted
Investing in expensive infrastructure is no longer required since SaaS software applications are now third party hosted. As a result there are no capital costs for hardware, licenses, databases or ongoing overheads of either third party or internal IT support staff or software and hardware maintenance and upgrades. Software applications are accessed via a web browser or a mobile device via a wireless network connection keeping your user IT requirements simple and low cost and easily managed.

Predictable projectable costs
SaaS provides agreed pre-defined fixed charges. This enables you to project and predict your annual costs and helps with annual budget provisioning.

Multi-Tenant Efficiency
Some SaaS solutions use secure multi-tenant architecture (for example Microsoft Exchange email SaaS). This means that the cost of all software, infrastructure and expertise is shared by a large number of customers. This multi-tenant architecture offers reduced implementation times and economies of scale making the overall solution more cost effective

Increased Accessibility
Being internet based, your applications are accessible not only in the office but from home a hotel room or from any of your businesses international locations if you have them.

Flexibility and Scalability
SaaS, provides businesses with a high level of flexibility. Since, the software solution is delivered via the Internet; SaaS completely eliminates installation and setup at the customer’s end. Users can be up and running very quickly. Also as your business grows all you need to do is request your service provider to add more users. Because hosted solutions are designed to scale, initially you could start with 10 users and after 1 month add say another 3,000 users without any issues, thus providing your business with ultimate flexibility.


Availability and Security
SaaS providers are in the business of providing uninterrupted reliable services. Vendors understand that data must be backed up religiously, and information security is a paramount concern. Skilled resources, network redundancies, stand-by power, up-to-date security and intrusion detection are a necessity in providing an enterprise class service.

MDA to develop closer working links with MNO's

The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has committed to create an event platform to allow the mobile industry to forge closer working relationships with the operators.

This was the key commitment to emerge from the MDA's recent Analyst event, which asked how the mobile market will thrive during the downturn.

Bringing together many of the mobile industry's most respected industry analysts at London's City University, the event reflected a demand from mobile players for improved access to the gatekeepers of the mobile industry: the mobile network operators.

The request was echoed in the sentiments of the analysts, who said that enhanced integration and collaboration would ultimately create better opportunities and help to grow the industry.
Subsequently, the MDA has pledged to devise a meaningful stage for its members to work closely together with each other and other key industry stakeholders such as the operators.
A highlight of the MDA calendar, the Analyst event is a proven attraction to mobile business leaders keen to hear the informed, research-led opinion of those charged with assessing what's next for mobile.

Analyst summaries:
Paul Lee from Deloitte presented a realistic but stark economic outlook for the ICT industry, posing the question; 'Is anyone too big for the bin?' His research highlighted the challenges the mobile industry faces in the coming 18 months, providing indicators for achieving growth by looking at lessons learnt from past recessions.

Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at Quocirca, provided an assessment of the growth and adoption of mobile broadband in the enterprise landscape, suggesting that while mass adoption was achievable, much greater focus was required around cost, coverage and speed.

CCS Insight's Paolo Pescatore reviewed the mobile entertainment landscape, examining the shift in mobile operator revenues, highlighting the impact MMS, general messaging and data was having on the traditional dominance of voice.

Visiongain's Julian Pasin delivered the business outlook for the internet on mobile. His findings demonstrated the impact the iPhone and Safari browsers are having on driving mobile web access.

Shailendra Pandey, Senior Research Analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media provided research on the Mobile Payments sector; examining the current market, scope of services, business models and future opportunities.

The event was rounded off with an interactive panel session chaired by Helen Keegan of Beep Marketing and The Women in Mobile Data Association.

Speaking about the event, MDA Chairman, Steve Reynolds, said: "While predicting future development is always challenging, the considered analyst insight and challenging questions from the floor combined to make the event a great success. Talk of green shoots was tempered by a need for all points in the mobile value chain to work together. "On the evidence of this event, the mobile industry is in good shape and well positioned to continue to grow, but a commitment to innovation in everything we do is essential."

Enterprise mobile devices to rise by 56% between 2008 and 2014, claims research

Mobile Europe has just posted this on their web site, I thought you would find the article interesting;

Enterprise mobile devices to rise by 56% between 2008 and 2014, claims research

Boosted by increased usage of mobile broadband

A new report from Juniper Research is said to confirm that the ‘Unwired Enterprise' is becoming a reality with more businesses allowing employees to ‘go mobile'. Many enterprises are seeing the benefits of cost reductions and increased profitability won via efficiency and productivity improvements.The report found that revenues from mobile enterprise users will grow to $284 billion by 2014.

The mobile enterprise report found however that despite compelling arguments for mobilising business processes, numerous hurdles still remain in persuading significant numbers of businesses to become ‘unwired'. Specific barriers to adoption include: limited functionality resulting from the small size and form of devices, problems in adapting applications for mobiles while not compromising on usability, and the thorny issue of ensuring device security.
Indeed, report author Andrew Kitson believes that device management and security are critical issues that businesses need to address when going mobile: "Enterprises need to be assured of total control over the devices their employees use. To do this, they need to limit the types and numbers of devices connecting to their networks, deactivate or restrict devices that are lost or stolen, minimising functionality and access, and employing user authentication, content encryption, and other security solutions as appropriate. There are upfront cost issues involved, but the greater cost lies in compromising on security features."

Other findings include:

Enterprise-grade applications and services require advanced devices and rely on high-capacity networks: the proportion of devices connected to 3.5G/3.9G networks will rise from 13% in 2008 to almost 80% in 2014

Usage of wireless dongles is losing ground to usage of plug-in datacards and devices with embedded wireless modems and will peak in 2010/2011

Mobile Data Association announces its annual analysts day

The Mobile Data Association’s annual industry analyst day aims to provide a view of what to expect in the mobile landscape in the next 12 months

Registration is now open for the Mobile Data Association’s (MDA) annual industry analyst event. The session is open to all and will feature insights into the key market trends from leading mobile industry analysts and experts.

Hear views from:

Deloitte - Paul Lee
CCS Insight - Paolo Pescatore
Informa – Shailendra Padney
Quocirca - Rob Bamforth
MDA – Steve Reynolds
Visiongain - tbc

If mobile is on your roadmap or if mobile is your business; this event is an excellent opportunity to hear the views and insights of the people who predict the future trends in mobile communications. Bringing together expertise from across the mobile spectrum, the event provides unique access to people and mobile knowledge at a fraction of the cost of many other industry events.

Logistics
Date: Wednesday 25th March
Time: Lunch will be provided from 12 noon, sessions commence at 13:00 (Finish approx 16:30)
Venue: City University, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB

Costs
MDA members – FREE
Non-members £75

Registration: http://www.themda.org/mda-shop/mda-events.php

Analysts will be presenting their predictions and research on topics such as mobile application trends and innovations, revenue models in growing market segments, mobile multimedia and messaging strategies, mobile payments, mobile data solutions for business, 3G, WIFI, etc.

As you might expect, this year there will be a focus on the impact the global financial crisis is having on the mobile industry. Paul Lee from Deloitte will be presenting “Is anyone too big for the bin?” a controversial view of the future of the TMT world.

Event agenda (subject to change)

Paul Lee, Deloitte - Is anyone too big for the bin?
Paul presents his research into the TMT sector and examines how the global financial crisis will impact the mobile landscape.

Rob Bamforth, Quocirca
The corporate uptake of mobile broadband; a review of the drivers and challenges faced by businesses that mobilise their workforce.

Paolo Pescatore, CCS Insight
Paolo discusses the mobile entertainment landscape.

Visiongain
The future of mobile content and applications.

Shailendra Padney, Informa
Making mobile payments and mobile banking a reality.

Panel session
The analyst’s discuss what impact mobile technology will have of the London 2012 Olympics.

The MDA latest MMS and SMS figures

The Mobile Data Association recently announced their quarterly report highlighting that both text messaging and picture messaging is still growing despite the fact that the UK is in the grips of a recession.

The highlights of the report are as follows:

The numbers are positive for the industry, revealing:

In the UK we sent a total of 78.9 billion text messages in 2008 - 216 million per day - an increase of 38% over the previous year

We are seeing similarly impressive growth of MMS, or video and picture messaging, a newer technology which is gathering pace as the number of camera phones increase and the technology improves.

In 2008 we sent 553 million MMS messages in the UK year on year this is up 23%

On Christmas day 2008 over 3000 pictures or videos were sent from mobile phones every minute this was a massive usage spike and proved the theory that picture messaging is normally triggered by an event.

So what’s driving these trends?

One of the key trends identified is the way people use SMS and MMS for different purposes. Early in the development of picture messaging technologies it was thought that MMS would eventually replace SMS due to its richer content. However this has not been the case and in reality two technologies continuing to grow and co-exist. This is because Text messaging is being used very much for conversational activity, how are you today, meet you in the pub, running late etc Whereas MMS is very much more event driven, in other words people need a reason to do so, such as taking and sending picture messages at birthdays, at Christmas or on holiday for example.

The mobile operators in the UK have been very fast to respond to mobile users in the UK by offering really competitive and creative tariffs, whether you text, talk or surf the Internet, As a result of this they have made users feel confident that that are not going to get hit with a large bill at the end of each month.

There has also been a significant uptake in the number of businesses using text messaging to communicate with their customers from dentists with appointment reminders to repair company’s informing their customers on the arrival time of the service engineer.


What will we see in the short to medium term future for mobile technologies?

New applications act only to further enhance the way we use our mobile. It is far from just a phone. From Twitter, to Skype to video and mobile content the experience for consumers just keeps getting richer and more appealing. In the medium term future we can expect to use our mobile phone from buying a train ticket to paying for a coffee using new mobile payment technologies. This added convenience brought to us by our mobile phone will be the next big innovation encouraging us to use our mobile phones more and more.

Deloitte launch 2009 predictions

I have just found out the Deloitte has published their predictions for the Technology, Media and Telecoms markets for 2009.

This latest set of predictions you may consider to be more important than ever this year due to the current economic crisis.

I have read the reports and found them to be well balanced and informative, I hope you do too.

The Predictions series is based upon an extensive research process, as well as drawing upon the expertise of members of our TMT practices around the world, research by external industry analysts and the knowledge of industry leaders. For Predictions 2009, we were fortunate enough to be able to interview 50 of some of the most senior executives across the TMT sectors.

Technology Predictions
The need for the technology sector to deliver cost efficiencies, drive productivity improvements and provide the foundation for new products and services will remain as vital as ever. Therefore many of this year's Technology Predictions look at the IT and technological concerns that will be affecting corporations in the coming year, demonstrating the opportunities available for those technology companies who truly understand their clients.

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Media Predictions
While the media sector is expected to be buffeted by gruelling macroeconomic conditions in the year to come, we should not forget that the need for the sector to inform and entertain us remains fundamental. This year's report covers the opportunities for the industry, presented by 3D at the movies and the potential for television to rediscover its self belief, as well as the challenges such as the growing cost of online content, and the need for print media to adapt their traditional business models.

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Telecommunications Predictions
The reliance on this sector to keep the businesses and the people of the world connected remains as critical as ever. And with exciting technological developments occurring, particularly in mobile telecommunications, there will be many ways for this dynamic industry to ride the economic downturn.

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Enjoy