Most new technologies go through a fairly well understood adoption cycle.
The cycle suggests that, in the beginning, only a small group of adopters are interested in and willing to take a risk on the technology. Later, the middle adopters begin using it on a massive scale. Finally, a small population of late adopters begin using it before it fades into obscurity.
A couple of years ago, any practical use of mobile phones as a credible gateway to an enterprise database software application was viewed as a fantasy.
Sure, some very early adopters did successfully deploy this capability; but for the most part it was out of the reach of most businesses as something that could actually enhance operations.
When I talked with business leaders then, they typically spoke of mobile access as “something that would be nice to have,” not as “something we are requiring.”
That attitude toward mobile technology is exactly what seems to be changing.
We recently brought on several new customers for whom mobile database software access was not a “nice to have,” it was a key feature required to adopt the technology. And these weren’t large companies with bottomless budgets. In one case, it was a company with fewer than 10 employees.
What’s happening is that the middle adopters are beginning to look at mobile access as a required component of their database software application architecture. Their attitudes toward the technology are rapidly evolving.
Why this is happening is because of wide-scale adoption of smart phones and the general convergence of capabilities around those mobile platforms.
Last week, I proposed to a client that she consider getting iPads for her staff because that screen size best suited her unique mobile interface needs. She replied, “Oh, I already have one.” Later, I talked with a very small sales organization that made it clear that all its employees had BlackBerry devices, and that the next platform they adopt would be required to be accessible by them.
What that means is, we are going to begin to see an explosion in mobile access to corporate software systems in the small and mid-sized business space. Within just a few years, if you aren’t mobile-browser enabled, you won’t be competitive.
What do you think?
This was originally posted on the Central Penn Business Journal Gadget Cube.
