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8/9/15

When we combine Apple's new employee scheduling app with IBM Kenexa/Talent insights, what do we get?

Apple and IBM's new employee scheduling app took a few people by surprise. "What?  Why would they go for such a niche area as scheduling?"

However when you consider how mobile scheduling tools might be enhanced employee talent analytics, (provided by Kenexa and IBM's Watson predictive engine) then it becomes much more interesting.  

Let's also remember that they are working on a predictive modeling education app...and any products built for education will work equally well for enterprise learning.



7/15/14

Amazing: Apple and IBM announce partnership to create mobile apps for enterprise


Today Apple and IBM announced a partnership that is, frankly, rather shocking.  But somehow it makes sense.


Their goal is to release 100 iPad mobile apps for enterprise (ERP, CRM, and SCM) verticals.  We've been pushing since 2010 the vision of iPads as massive agents of change for the enterprise app market.  

No surprise, with the focus on challenges from SAAS vendors, most enterprise vertical vendors have spent very little time on mobile.  In fact most mobile apps just replicate the ugly UI from browser-based systems.  If Apple and IBM can show better ways to use mobile real-estate properly, then hurrah!

4/9/14

Startup Elementum is Poised to Re-Write the Rules For Supply Chain Management



Another mobile enterprise startup, Elementum announces new funding:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/08/jerry-yang-box-workday-founders-invest-in-disruptive-supply-chain-saas-elementum/

 They are focused on a mobile-first strategy for supply chain management...an increasingly complex international function.  Remember that Tim Cook, Apple executive, first started his job by coordinating the massively complex sourcing of parts for Apple hardware.
Elementum launched to simplify supply chain management similar to the way Salesforce disrupted the CRM for sales, and Workday reinvented software for HR and finance. The company has created a suite of mobile apps that simplifies and optimizes complicated supply chain processes in the cloud. For most businesses, dealing with supply chain software is an archaic process, and things like mobile, realtime access to data, and even good design is hard to come by.
They also talk about something called the "Supply Chain Graph" which we might presume is a combination of data from a customer's internal systems, data from the suppliers, and then globally sourced data from the web...perhaps weather reports and shipping schedules, who knows.

9/10/13

Analysis of new iPad apps from Sage


Blogger Stephen Smith describes the new Sage mobile sales apps:

https://smist08.wordpress.com/tag/sage-50-erp/




12/8/10

Wall Street Journal Reports on iPad as Sales Tool


Today's article in the Wall Street Journal talks about iPad sales tools being widely adopted in the medical sales field.
"Medical-sector companies are passing out thousands of iPad tablet computers to salespeople to spruce up their pitch to doctors, and at the same time giving Apple Inc. a crucial foot in the door to business customers.

Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic Inc. and Boston Scientific Corp. are among the drug and medical-device firms making the move, while others say they are testing out the devices."

11/25/10

How One Company is Moving Sales to iPad


In this post, PC world talks about a company moving entirely to iPads for their sales staff.

This reflects an trend we've been covering (see "6 Ways Salespeople Are Already Using iPads...")

In the next few months, Jeff Letasse, vice president of IT for Conceptus, will hand out more than 220 iPads to every salesperson in the company. He plans to wean them off of their trusty laptops and PDAs, with the hope of never having to buy another laptop for a salesperson again.

The dam holding back consumer devices in the enterprise "has broken wide open," Letasse says.

Read the article, then remember that the concern over "the app conundrum" is largely solved. For example they discuss the "Apple License" issue, but the fact is, the best development tools for the iPad (for ERP, CRM, and B2B uses) don't even require an Apple license.

Everybody keeps fussing over the Apple License and App Store issues. But these non-issues -- we already have development tools that bypass these limitations quite easily. Spread the word!

Meanwhile iPads in the sales world are a spectacular productivity enhancer and a more powerful way of closing sales. The firms that grab this opportunity early, like Conceptus, are going to grow more rapidly and outrun their slower competitors.

Want to know more about this? Attend the iPad Fast Track Webinar coming Dec 8th!