By Steve Downton, Downton Service Management Consultants
Over the last four years Service Management Magazine and Downton Service Management Consultants have conducted a review of the attitudes on mobilisation, to determine the opinion of the marketplace and to explore the experience of those already using these solutions, to gain an impression of the rate of change. The research has shown a dramatic shift in favour of mobile solutions, and a poll at a mobile conference of 30 companies in April indicated that 35% are now onto their second and 25% are onto their third mobile solution.
Responding to demand, the Mobile Communication vendor market has changed significantly over the last five years. Figure 1 shows that the initial stage was with small independent software solution providers offering one-off solutions, many of these have subsequently consolidated to create size to invest. At the same time major service providers have been moving away from mobile solutions that are merely added-on, and building mobile solutions into their total service solution. Some have now built service solutions onto a mobile platform.
Figure 1
