Mobile Business Intelligence is not so special

Stop it. Just stop it. It’s not special.

Risking your life to clear landmines in a third-world country is special. Developing a Mobile Business Intelligence (BI) platform is not. In my opinion there’s far too much vendor hype surrounding Mobile BI. Everyone’s blowing their trumpet (loudly), but I don’t want to dance to their tune.

Mobile BI is evolution not revolution

Like most things, BI has changed in response to technological advancements. As Aberdeen’s David Hatch, stated:

“The dynamics of business information delivery have changed gradually over time. As mobile communications and computing have become more advanced and widespread, many companies have moved to a mobile and / or remote workforce strategy.”

Now, am I, or indeed David Hatch, suggesting that Mobile BI is unnecessary? Absolutely not. It’s vital. No question.

But it is not revolutionary. It’s a gradual response to technological change and resultant consumer demand. Does anyone get excited about sending and receiving emails from their phone anymore? No.

The Mobile BI segment is growing fast. It’s driven by the desire for competitive advantage, increased productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction. But it’s also driven by something else – an understanding.

Mobile BI is an extension of an existing BI rollout

Mobile BI is about a BI solution that offers device independence and not a stand alone product or module. A mobile solution that needs content re-work and specific development is not a mobile platform.

As a result a BI solution that is mobile should:
• Support device independence and allow uniform data access and interaction no matter the time, place or device
• Be secure to enable the implementation of organization-wide BI
• Be fast and easy to deploy

So don’t get talked into the need to re-work and re-engineer your BI content because your vendor tells you too. Mobile BI should be a given for any BI solution provider.