[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

It’s clear that MDM is a major item on the horizon and will be an integral part of IT project plans in the immediate future.

There are, of course, several sessions throughout BlackBerry World™ that touch on MDM, specifically BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. To get the most out of your time with the BlackBerry product experts, you’ll want to come prepared, and deploying BlackBerry Mobile Fusion in your environment in advance of the conference is a step in this direction. Getting your hands on the product, rolling up your sleeves and digging in allows you to prioritize your questions and make the most of the Research In Motion® (RIM®) experts and technology peers from other companies that you’ll have access to on site at BlackBerry World.

How are you preparing for BlackBerry World? Have you downloaded BlackBerry Mobile Fusion yet?

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Flying out of Toronto it was snowing (and so I was miserable – I hate winter), but I was moments away from a sunny greeting and an even sunnier reception as I landed in Atlanta, Georgia to attend the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum being hosted in the city.

With nearly 100 customers and a handful of partners, the event in Atlanta, held simultaneously with events in New York and San Francisco, was the first in the BlackBerry Innovation Forum 2012 North American series. It was a great event and I was able to catch some video to give you a taste of what went on. Check it out above!

RIM technical experts, driving presentations using their BlackBerry smartphone as a remote control of their HDMI-connected BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets, were on hand to delve into the details of the recently launched BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.

The audience was enthusiastically typing notes on their BlackBerry PlayBook tablets (with only a handful of attendees sneaking off an urgent email or two – the nature of any BlackBerry event!). In fact, attendees were so caught up in the presentations that it took a good 30 minutes before anyone even bothered to visit the refreshment table we had set up outside (even though the smoothies were delicious!).

Despite a quick ‘show of hands’ poll suggesting that around half of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet users present had already upgraded to the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, the technical details on the latest software were eagerly consumed by all of those in the room.

Mobile Device Management and tablet computing are exciting technologies that open the door to new mobile deployment opportunities. Getting a strong understanding of these growing areas of technology is critical for those looking to play a leadership role in IT in the coming year.

So…have you signed up for the local BlackBerry Innovation Forum near your city? Watch the above video to discover what it’s all about. With some events now ‘sold out’ and only a few weeks left in the series, registering today is strongly suggested!

Of course for those who missed the cut off, or don’t have a BlackBerry Innovation Forum event near them, we will be posting some of the presentation material on our SlideShare page – it’s not the same as hearing it live, in person, from the experts, and with the opportunity to network with experts and industry peers, but it may have to suffice until, of course, we see you at BlackBerry World™!

What topics are you most looking forward to discussing at a BlackBerry Innovation Forum near you? Share in the comments.

The BlackBerry Innovation Forum (BIF) events are returning to the U.S. and Canada during February and March of 2012. These events will feature an overview of BlackBerry® solutions including BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0, mobile device management with BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion, and discussions about other aspects of mobility that organizations should be thinking about. You’ll also have the chance to connect and network with business leaders in your area to explore future trends and discuss corporate mobile strategy.

U.S. BlackBerry Innovation Forum events

• Will be held February 27th to March 2nd, 2012
• Taking place in New Jersey, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, Bridgeport-Stamford, Philadelphia, Washington, Minneapolis, San Francisco/Los Angeles, Virginia

Canadian BlackBerry Innovation Forum events

• Will be held March 5th to March 19th, 2012
• Taking place in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Halifax

To get all of the details and to see the full schedule, head over to the North American BlackBerry Innovation Forum 2012 event web site.

Have you attended a BIF event in the past? What are you most looking forward to? Share in the comments.

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology has been a key topic of conversation at our BlackBerry® Innovation Forum events in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). Business leaders have been learning about and discussing how NFC is being rapidly adopted by organizations in sectors such as transport, banking, payment, entertainment, hospitality, and retail. Companies worldwide are looking to take advantage of the benefits of this exciting new technology. The applications and future possibilities of NFC are vast, including:

• Ticketing: Gaining access to gigs and shows
• Travel and transport: bus, train, metro and airline access
• Payments: Using NFC to pay for items in shops instead of using a traditional credit or debit card, as a replacement for small cash payments at vending machines and convenience stores, and for peer-to-peer payments between individuals
• Access: Using NFC for physical access to secure premises instead of having a fob or separate security access keycard
• Identification: Your ID cards could be stored on a smartphone and displayed using NFC technology
• Sharing: Using NFC to share electronic business cards, photos, files or data with other people just by touching smartphones together (introduced recently as BlackBerry® Tag)

NFC has four major benefits: convenience, speed, interaction and security. Andrew Bocking, VP Handheld Software Product Management at Research In Motion® (RIM®) gave his thoughts on the uses of NFC in this short video from Mobile World Congress 2011.

Research In Motion is a central and innovative player in the NFC ecosystem. Several of our latest devices, the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9790 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9360 smartphone, and the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380 smartphone include an NFC chip – future proofing the devices for developments and applications using NFC.

Increased popularity of “contactless payment” over the last few years has seen it become the most talked about form of NFC use. This method of payment has traditionally been achievable through a “contactless payment card”, looking much the same as a regular credit or debit card but with the card’s chip housing NFC technology. This is set to grow and develop quickly, and we hope to see smartphones increasingly take the place of traditional cards for many consumers. Research In Motion is at the forefront of smartphone-based NFC development and has recently been listed by MasterCard® as accredited for ‘Mobile PayPass Certification’. This means that they meet the functionality, interoperability, and security requirements of MasterCard for contactless mobile payments.

Last month at GITEX, Research In Motion Limited CEO Jim Balsillie announced the introduction of BlackBerry Tag, another NFC powered function for BlackBerry smartphone users. By tapping together two BlackBerry smartphones holding NFC capability, users may be able to exchange contact information, documents, URLs, photos and other multimedia content. No more losing vital business cards as the details are saved directly into the Contacts application.

NFC presents many exciting opportunities moving forward. We believe that this exciting technology can extend well beyond mobile payments and will enable our lives to become much more convenient as programs become integrated, all while remaining secure and reliable. We are encouraging our customers to think about how they will include NFC and contactless transactions in their mobile commerce strategies and customer interactions in the future.

For more information on our BlackBerry Innovation Forum series, follow us @BBEMEABusiness and join the conversation using #BIF11 on Twitter.

How do you see Near Field Communication affecting your day-to-day life in the future? Share in the comments!

The need to multitask and juggle both business and personal activity is becoming much more prevalent. The growing pace in the consumerization of IT has led to the emergence of a new decision maker when it comes to technology selection: the end user. Employee satisfaction seems as important a concern in some organizations as cost. The IT department is no longer the single force behind business changes in technology. Rather, end users’ demands are shaping when, how and what technology is purchased and deployed.

This is not a negative, however. Those businesses that capitalize on the enthusiasm and understanding of technology demonstrated by their staff will benefit from consumerization. “Enterprising Minds” are those people in business who most astutely understand and react to this trend. It is these “Enterprising Minds” that we are celebrating through the BlackBerry Innovation Forum series.

The UK’s South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is just one example, having embraced how social media can increase the connections between front-line police officers and their communities. By being visible on social platforms such as Twitter® and utilizing the BlackBerry platform to provide real time updates, SYP are changing not just the way that they engage with their communities, but where. They are engaging with socially active citizens in a forum they are already comfortable with, joining public conversations in an open way– while adding a personal side to the local force.

To see highlights from the London event and a close up with Jayne Forest, Inspector, South Yorkshire Police, check out the videos.

To stay up to date with the remaining Innovation Forums across EMEA, follow us on Twitter® at @BBEMEABusiness with the hashtag #BIF11.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

With the world’s population continuing to blur the boundaries between business and consumer life through an ever-increasingly connected planet, social networking is now considered a global phenomenon. With analysts forecasting that social networking will be the top communications mechanism by 2015*, Research In Motion® (RIM®) experts at the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum 2011 events are discussing how social networking is making the shift from purely consumer use into the enterprise.

Businesses are adopting and using social networking at a phenomenal rate. As Erik Vermeulen, Keynote Speaker at the BlackBerry Innovation Forum in South Africa, stated:

“At this point, 7/10 SMB’s already believe that Social Media is allowing them to get closer to their customers. When we consider that businesses who use Social Media are twice as likely to see opportunities as their competitors who don’t, it’s best to become an early adopter than being an observer. Dive in, start engaging, and partner with experienced users to develop a strategy.”

Social Networking is rapidly becoming a vital business tool, with companies being able to use the mechanism to add benefits to almost every department of a business – from marketing and customer service to product development and human resources.

Social businesses, no matter what their size, need to communicate, ideally in near real time, across a network of clients, partners, and employees. With the use of mobile in enterprise continuing to increase, companies are looking at ways in which they can integrate social networking on smartphones and tablets within departments to help collaboration, deepen customer relationships, reach decisions quicker, and enable a more effective workforce overall.

The video above discusses how different companies are integrating mobility and in particular are using BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) to connect and collaborate for business use. BBM is a social networking platform with approximately 50 million active users and 5.2 million different BBM groups. Companies are benefiting greatly by using social networking to help boost collaboration and create virtual enterprise communities.

For highlights from our BlackBerry Innovation Forum 2011 in Johannesburg, check out the video. For more information on our BIF11 series in EMEA, follow us @BBEMEABusiness and join the conversation using #BIF11.

How has social networking impacted your business? Share in the comments.

The BlackBerry® Innovation Forum (North American edition) is almost here! Join us for a half-day session at a U.S. or Canadian city near you where you can learn about best practices that will make managing mobile devices in your business faster, easier and more organized.

At the Innovation Forums you will learn about:

• How Research In Motion® is continuing to evolve the way that BlackBerry smartphones and tablets are managed in the enterprise
• How to help improve employee satisfaction and productivity by allowing the use of personal and business apps
• Updates on the much anticipated new features coming to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet – expect a few surprises!
• How the BlackBerry ecosystem is continuing to expand and what it means to you

Why should you attend?

The BlackBerry Innovation Forums (U.S. and Canada) are designed to meet the needs of BlackBerry users from all areas of your organization. If you are an IT Manager or Director, Wireless Specialist, Service Manager, BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution or Messaging Admin, Mobility Engineer, or Line of Business Manager looking to improve mobility in your departments, this is an event that you won’t want to miss.

Location and Dates

• NEW JERSEY – November 2
• BOSTON – November 3
• ATLANTA – November 4
• HOUSTON – November 8
• LOS ANGELES – November 9
• CHICAGO – November 10
• CHARLOTTE – November 15
• WASHINGTON – November 16
• TORONTO – November 21
• OTTAWA – November 22

To learn more and to register, visit www.blackberryinnovation.com. We hope that you can join us!

Over the next two months, we’re excited to be hosting our annual BlackBerry Innovation Forums. This series of events is due to take place throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, bringing together business leaders and mobile innovators who have three goals in common:

• To connect with business leaders to learn how they can transform their customer experience and deliver outstanding business results
• To collaborate with mobile innovators in order to discover how to embrace technology and come away with ideas that can immediately be put to work in their organization
• To explore the future of mobile in business, helping to optimise mobile strategy

The series this year continues from 2010 with the theme of “Enterprising Minds”. With guest speakers lined up from Deloitte®, The Royal Bank of Scotland® (RBS) and Vodacom®. The very best of enterprising companies will discuss and share what motivates and inspires them in their work and operations.

Our first event was held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday October 6th. Check out a video of Rory O’Neill, VP, Marketing EMEA talking about this year’s theme ‘Enterprising Minds’. We’ll be posting regular updates from the events – follow @BBEMEABusiness for updates and to join the conversation using the #BIF11 hashtag!

Dates for the 2011 BlackBerry Innovation Forum are:

• Johannesburg – 6th October
• London – 12th October
• Amsterdam – 20th October
• Madrid – 3rd November
• Paris – 9th November
• Dubai – 16th November
• Milan – 24th November
• Frankfurt – 29th November

Find more information at www.blackberryinnovationforum.com!

Did you attend last year’s Innovation Forum events? What are you looking forward to from this year’s? Share in the comments below!

Starting February 8 through to March 2, 2011, we’ll be hosting a series of BlackBerry® Innovation Forums across North America geared towards helping people make the most out of their BlackBerry mobile solution.

We’ll be travelling from New York City to Chicago, Washington, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and Toronto, with a final stop in San Francisco, showing anyone who manages, develops, and architects the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server how to leverage their BlackBerry infrastructure to help increase mobile worker productivity – without increasing costs.

We will also be hosting our very popular Application JumpStart for Developers at the BIF events as well, where you can work directly with one of our Enterprise Mobility Architects to install and explore the BlackBerry® WebWorks™ development kit. You’ll actually leave the session with a functioning development kit!

For more information about the events, please visit the official website for the BlackBerry Innovation Forums, or send us a question!

Are you going to be at one of the BlackBerry Innovation Forums? What are you interested in learning?

“We started mobilising the company three years ago and have never looked back.

BBVA is the second biggest bank in Spain and one of the top ten in the world. With more than 150 years’ experience in the sector, it has over 110,000 employees in more than 30 countries and over 47 million customers. In a company like BBVA, employees need to stay in touch with each other and the decisions made at HQ often affect the other countries where the bank has operations. We host regular trips for employees to other companies in the group, so the ability to work in mobility is a major advantage for BBVA, its staff and customers. For all these reasons, BBVA is among the 80% of Spanish banks that have put their trust in the BlackBerry solution.

Employee and customer feedback is imperative when developing applications for BlackBerry smartphones that are integrated into the workforce. It is so important to us at BBVA that we actually see it as “borrowing the intelligence of BBVA employees”. As well as talking directly to those involved, we also have a dedicated suggestions box for ideas and feedback. This allows for the discovery of solutions that are in line with user needs and which, in turn, improve their quality of life, increase company productivity and maximise the infrastructure offered by the BlackBerry platform and BBVA’s investment in the solution. In-house development is crucial, as it allows development team members to listen closely and understand the needs of their colleagues – the best way to maximise usability and ensure the best user experience.

The key factors for success for applications that are developed for BlackBerry smartphones used by the Group include simplicity, utility and usability. The solutions are under constant review, a continuous task that is vital to ensuring that structure, design and functionality all evolve in line with user needs and habits.

We chose the BlackBerry platform because it is the only platform on the market that offers reliability in terms of the future. Furthermore, it provides stability, it is a solution that is native to the corporate environment and provides maximum integration.

Our mobile head of mobile banking demonstrated an application that at first glance might seem very simple, but which is, in fact, a currency converter that goes one step further. It detects the country of origin and the country where the user is geopositioned via the carrier to which the user is connected. This enables an exchange rate to be provided instantly for the currency that the user requires.

The BlackBerry platform and our work with the solution to mobilise the company has created a mobile culture in which the smartphone is by now part of the service offer for users (both internal and external). In fact, BBVA has more than 25 mobile projects, 15 of which have been implemented in the last 3 months.”