Organisations are currently in the midst of a new wave of mobile capabilities that can drastically reshape business models by increasing levels of employee productivity and reinventing how customers learn about, interact with, and purchase goods and services. Much as the Internet has created and continues to offer a seemingly unlimited set of possibilities for companies, mobility adds yet another set of emerging opportunities into the mix.

In the recent IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) Global C-Suite Study, 84 per cent of CIOs stated that mobility solutions have soared to the top of their plans, making it their top focus. In the same survey, 94 per cent of CMOs stated that mobile applications will play a significant role in helping them reach their goals over the next three to five years. Conducted in conjunction with Oxford Economics, the study connected with more than 600 companies to examine where companies need to be headed in terms of being “upwardly mobile”.

In the Middle East, there is little doubt that consumer adoption of mobile products and services is continuing to grow exponentially. Spending on IT infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa is set to reach $3.47 billion this year, according to research firm Gartner, with industry analysts recognising mobility as a key driver for infrastructure spend in the Gulf region.

The UAE in particular has been a leader in mobile innovation. From the world’s first store for smart government mobile applications to inspiring new services through the launch of the mGovernment Service Awards, a mobility mindset is clearly becoming a way to unlock value in both the public and private sectors.

Uncovering business value

The results of the Global C-Suite Study suggest that fewer than 50 per cent of organisations have a strategy in place to encompass the spectrum of mobile efforts and address the broad challenges of implementation. At the same time, the study uncovered a subgroup of “mobile strategy leaders” that have seen clear benefits in their mobile investments to date. Approximately 73 per cent of these leaders surveyed have seen measurable ROI from their mobile initiatives, versus 34 per cent of all other companies in our study. Furthermore, 81 per cent stated that mobile capabilities are fundamentally changing the way their organisations do business.

Given the significant opportunities posed by mobile technologies, enterprises in the Gulf are asking what they can do to implement mobile strategies and prioritise mobile investments. How can they use mobile capabilities to provide faster, more effective support to customers? What tools are needed to address traditional challenges regarding mobile security? What new platforms can enterprises take advantage of in the region’s mobile marketplace?

Mobility holds the promise of delivering a new set of cap-abilities that will not only increase the speed of commerce dramatically, but it also forces companies to rethink the foundations of their competitive differentiation. Findings in the latest Global C-Suite Study suggest three key factors as being necessary for a successful mobile agenda.

Articulating a mobile strategy

Less than half of the surveyed organisations report having a comprehensive mobile strategy. What does that actually mean? It includes a well-defined, enterprise-wide strategy that is aligned to business. It requires a clear funding mechanism for mobile initiatives and established governance structure for mobile initiatives. This ensures that the mobile experiences you offer are as fulfilling, compelling and sticky as the online and physical experiences you provide.

As expected, higher customer service/satisfaction was found to be the number-one benefit associated with using mobile to enhance the customer experience. In addition, as more employees gain the ability to work outside the office, respondents expect workforce productivity to rise at least in part through mobility as individuals can have on-demand access to office tools, internal communication platforms, and company archives wherever they may be.

The power of mobility is forcing executives to make new and perhaps difficult choices regarding their future skills, capabilities and infrastructures. Businesses today are being required to design new customer mobile applications, to integrate Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and mobile security policies with existing legacy systems, and to develop new methods for storing and analysing an explosion of customer data. An organisation’s mobile strategy must therefore address what segments of the workforce need to be “mobilized” to achieve the greatest return on investment.

By 2015, the world’s mobile worker population is predicted to reach 1.3 billion, representing more than a third of the total workforce, with the greatest rise coming from emerging economies like the Middle East, according to research firm IDC.

While there are always risks associated with the use of new technologies, there are risks associated with not taking advantage of mobile capabilities.

Mobility is not simply an initiative, a program, or a passing fad. Rather, it is becoming a pervasive lens through which the organisation must consider its fundamental tenets: how it interacts with customers; how it develops and delivers products and services; and how it applies its physical, human and digital capital.

The writer is the managing partner of IBM Global Business Services Gulf, Levant and Pakistan.