Business Mobility predictions in 2013

Before the year gets into full swing, let’s indulge in another time-honored tradition: making predictions for the next twelve months to come.

From Apps To M2M, mobility is growing everywhere according to AT&T Business executive director Mobeen Khan.

I’ve gazed into my crystal ball (and consulted with some enterprise mobility experts) to give you a list of our predictions for 2013 around mobility.

The major trend I see running through this list is that mobile strategy in enterprise is no longer a side-stage project. It has become the main event.

We’ve reached a point where many businesses already have basic mobility in place: smartphones, data plans, some security, some device protection, compliance policies, and mobile email access for employees.

And, more importantly, almost everyone in the organization – IT, marketing, sales and operations – is thinking about what to do next.

It’s all about the applications that improve productivity, the “Internet of Things” that connects a company’s assets and the security services that keep this information protected. 2013 is going to be the year when we see many more examples of businesses, industries, and eco-systems transforming through the innovative use of mobility.

Predictions for the evolving mobile landscape - here are the eight ways I see mobility evolving in the coming year:

1. 2013 will be a tipping point for machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.With greater standardization throughout the industry and falling costs of key components, I believe that M2M is poised for much more rapid adoption in the coming months.

2. Customers will heighten their focus on end-to-end mobile security –Including devices, data, and networks – in light of increased sensitivity to major breaches that may be looming. Everyone realizes that real innovation will only come if we adequately address security and policy issues.

3. Business mobile users will continue to diversify their mobile operating systems. I think that the Windows mobile platform has a chance to be a surprise hit in the business world.

4. Adoption of mobile applications in business will spread across multiple platforms. Native applications are currently the standard for enterprise apps, but we expect HTML5 and mixed-mode applications to gain more traction in 2013.

5. Businesses will start to layer more “platforms” on top of their basic mobility services. Think solutions like Near Field Communications, Push-to-Talk, and Biometrics.

6. Enterprise app stores (or downloadable enterprise apps) will become more prominent in 2013. And they’ll be integrated with application management, blessed by IT.

7. We’ll start to see more “mobile first” applications. Right now, most companies mobilize apps that already exist as desktop or Web-based software. In 2013, we expect to see a shift toward apps designed originally for mobile platforms. Some potential examples: collaboration software, context-, location- or persona-aware access and mobile-based assistants in business-to-consumer industries.

8. Enterprises will start to develop mobile centers of excellence and mobile IT teams to handle the creation and management of mobile strategies across different lines of business.

Do you agree? Tell us your predictions below