How businesses can thrive in the Next Mobile Economy
Maribel Lopez of Lopez Research discusses the steps business leaders should take to prepare for a new age of transformative tech
By WP BrandStudio
We have entered an era in which mobile technology informs every aspect of our personal and professional lives. We have progressed beyond smartphones to introduce advanced AI and IoT, drive mainstream adoption of virtual and augmented reality, and realize the capabilities of next-gen sensors and 5G connectivity.
For businesses to stay competitive and grow, leaders must identify problems, figure out which issues to prioritize, and integrate forward-thinking mobile strategies into every level of their organization. It’s an opportunity for businesses to embrace what Samsung calls the Next Mobile Economy. It’s not an easy task, as there are risks and challenges to overcome with adoption, ranging from internal buy-in to deployment and operational efficiency.
In this Q&A interview, Maribel Lopez, founder of Lopez Research and host of Samsung’s “Unlocking the Next Mobile Economy” workshop at TED2018, outlines the key considerations for businesses interested in adopting mobile technology and shares her advice for overcoming hurdles that may stand in the way.
What are the biggest challenges that business leaders should expect in the Next Mobile Economy?
I think the first challenge business leaders will encounter is breaking free from the traditional PC mentality and design actual experiences that are contextual, adaptable, able to learn and predict. The Next Mobile Economy delivers access to entirely new data and features that can be built into applications that improve business operations. Systems will be able to support new ways of input and interaction—from touch, voice and biometrics—to make completing daily tasks easier. But these experiences only come to fruition when processes, workflows and apps are redesigned for mobile.
The second challenge is embracing the speed and agility required to manage the Next Mobile Economy. Advancements in technology move quickly, even quicker for mobile technology. Those that can embrace and leverage new technologies are winning the competitive battle.
The third challenge is getting organizational leadership on board to support funding for new projects and updates. Companies need executive and group-level evangelists that will drive new workflows and business processes that are empowered by the Next Mobile Economy.
How can business leaders prepare for the tech shifts that are on the way?
A company can’t look at technologies in isolation. For example, AI will help uncover impactful analytics and insights within workflows, but technologies such as AR and VR can find new ways to visualize and access that information. A company needs to create an overall vision for how these tools will work together to create change.
Digital transformation also requires organizational change. A company must structure team processes with the concept of continuous iteration and look at how technology can be used by every role in the organization, not just knowledge workers. Products and services are never done—they’re constantly evolving.
What real-world problems can faster, intelligent, connected systems solve?
The possibilities are infinite. In a sensor-enabled world, intelligent technology can process information and automatically take appropriate action.
For example, a field service technician armed with a mobile device can be routed to their next appointment based on location, urgency of client request, and availability of parts on their truck. Once onsite, mobile software can use GPS and time stamps to log their arrival and the length of time it takes for repair to better manage schedules. VR headsets could allow technicians to walk through an immersive video of the repair.
Similarly, salespeople can access the most relevant customer information at exactly the right moment or deliver insights through chat bots and voice commands to improve the customer experience.
Of the core technologies that are driving the Next Mobile Economy, which ones are you most intrigued by?
I’m excited at how companies are using mobile and IoT data, powered by machine learning and AI to deliver real-time analysis within applications. In public safety, this could help a law enforcement professional act quickly to control an incident, let doctors remotely diagnose patient conditions, or even help physicians perform surgeries using AR and sensor-enabled gloves. It can literally keep the trains and planes running on time by understanding the condition of the equipment, the weather and other factors that may impact schedules.
Can you paint a picture of how intelligent, connected systems will evolve in five years? How about 10 years?
In five years, we’ll see more “right-time” experiences that deliver the right information to the right person at the right time, on their device of choice. This sounds simple, but it requires integrating multiple types of technology. These services will be intuitive and allow the user to decide what to automate and when to automate a process.
In 10 years, we’ll see an evolution of machine-to-machine interaction where devices will communicate and coordinate with each other to improve things like traffic flow, keeping manufacturing plants operational, and minimizing supply chain issues. It will be critical to have new services built with security in mind at the outset. Security technologies that span from device-level through application-level are a must. We’re laying that foundation today, but we need to be diligent going forward as we connect everything. We have an exciting path ahead.
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