In the business industry, things are always changing. In order to keep up with emerging trends and industry news, I do a lot of reading. A couple of months ago, Maribel Lopez of Lopez Research published a study titled “Mobile, Social and Cloud Transform Business and IT” addressing how these three major technology trends are changing business today.

Lopez Research estimates that there will be more than 30 billion connected mobile devices and 6 billion mobile internet users by 2020. As industries like consumer electronics and automotive include mobile sensors in virtually all products, many of the 6 billion mobile Internet users will use mobile technologies as their only or primary connection to the Internet.

Mobility will transform business in four ways:

• Connecting Phones, Tablets and the “Internet of Things”: Companies will need to adapt current network connectivity models and plan for a substantial rise in real-time information. Additionally, companies will need to prepare for various interaction models, including people to people, people to things, and machine to machine. Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solutions like BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion will allow organizations to manage company and/or employee-owned devices on multiple platforms and reduce the risk of lost or stolen devices.
• Rebuilding Business Processes to Work in a Mobile World: Because mobility-optimized systems are task oriented, companies will need to change how applications and processes are created. Applications will need to be able to deliver sensory information and be device-aware, location-aware, and network/cloud-aware.
• Creating Portable Services: As more people begin to carry multiple mobile devices, content and services will also be readily available at any location. Applications like BlackBerry® Bridge allow you to pair your BlackBerry® smartphone with a BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet to access documents, browsing, emails, messagin,g and photos. Also, the Citrix Receiver app allows users to access a virtual desktop with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
• Supporting Multiple Personas Per Individual: In the past, enterprise features were locked to a specific device, but as mobility evolves, technology like BlackBerry® Balance™ will enable IT to separate corporate and personal data — essential to supporting a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment. By separating personal data and applications from corporate data and applications, both the employee’s information and the organization’s information will remain private.

While mobility will create new opportunities for businesses, it also opens up potential security and management risks in addition to “business-process challenges.” As these technologies continue to evolve and embed themselves more deeply in our everyday lives, businesses must prepare to adapt to the changes they will bring. In order to address these risks and challenges, businesses must create a mobile strategy that addresses security and management and support of multiple device operating systems. Lopez research suggests a three-step plan to prepare for the changes mobile brings:

For more about how mobility will transform business and what organizations should do to prepare for the change, read the study: “Mobile, Social and Cloud Transform Business and IT”

Has your organization begun to see any of these changes from Mobile, Social and Cloud technologies? What strategies will you be adopting to confront the transformation?

Why is social media important for SMBs?

Having a mobile phone is no longer just for making calls. Smartphones have brought about the ability to connect to the Internet from pretty much anywhere on the planet. This improved connectivity has driven a significant increase in social media use. An InSites Consulting study revealed that 56% of connected smartphone users log on to social networks daily and that 49% of Europeans follow a brand on social media. With more people online and engaging in social networks than ever before, this provides a great opportunity for businesses. With the ‘work anywhere’, flexible nature of small and growing businesses, a smartphone gives them a perfect opportunity to tap into and contribute to the conversations taking place online – and to engage as a means of raising awareness of their brand and developing potential new business opportunities.

Mobile social networking allows for instant engagement from anywhere as Erik Vermeulen, Keynote Speaker at the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum 2011 in South Africa, stated:

“7/10 SMBs already believe that Social Media is allowing them to get closer to their customers.”

Additionally, a 2011 Loudhouse study for Research In Motion® (RIM®) on European SMBs showed that growth and expansion remain priorities even in challenging times, with 69% of those surveyed looking to win new customers and partners. Nearly half of those surveyed also believed that a mobile phone was the most important sales tool an SMB had.

So what do these survey results mean for small and growing businesses?

Simply put, for SMBs to effectively position themselves in the wider market, they need to use mobile social networking to engage with customers and potential prospects at anytime, anywhere. Rather than being tied to a PC in an office, using a device like a BlackBerry smartphone allows an employee to stay mobile but remain connected to people and opportunities.

For businesses, engagement on social media is more than posting links to your website or blog. Effective engagement is about building a conversation with others, sharing insights and knowledge, and responding to questions someone might ask. People are increasingly using social media to discuss their experiences with brands, and so you might get vital feedback on your business or useful insights on the competition by ‘listening’ to these social conversations. You might even become aware of an issue or problem with your product or service, for example, so you can then put in place measures to avoid a potential crisis.

With so many different social networks and different streams of conversations happening all the time, how can you possibly keep track? Simple – the Social Feeds app on a BlackBerry smartphone conveniently brings content across various networks such as Twitter®, Facebook®, RSS feeds, and podcasts into one place. The Social Feeds app allows you to quickly see what’s going on without having to open several different apps on your BlackBerry smartphone. You can even perform Facebook or Twitter actions directly from the app.

Engagement is a key to SMB social media success, and we will be providing information on more handy tools, hints and tips over the coming weeks as the series continues.

Does your business use social networks to engage with customers? Which ones have been the most successful for you? Share your stories in the comments below.

The BlackBerry® Mini Keyboard with convertible case is here! This is an accessory that can add a huge amount of value to your work and productivity. By leveraging the keyboard along with the convertible case, you get the additional screen space (rather than using the on-screen keyboard), and a stylish case that doubles as a stand for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Check out the video below for an in-depth demo of the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard as well as multiple use cases via the Citrix® Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Multi-touch Control

BlackBerry Mini Keyboard comes equipped with a touchpad to allow you to navigate your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Tap the touchpad to simulate a mouse click, tap with two fingers to right-click, and scroll vertically using a two-finger up or down swipe. These gestures make it a breeze to get up and running and begin interacting with the device as well as apps like the Citrix Receiver.

Ultimate Portability

The portability of the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard with the convertible case provides a mobile computer solution that’s easy to take with you. An added benefit is the screen real estate available to you when using the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard with your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Security and Power

BlackBerry Mini Keyboard is designed to connect via Bluetooth® to your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, and features 128-bit encryption to help keep the connection secure. You can charge your BlackBerry Mini Keyboard using your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet charger to keep things simple and remove any need for extra wires and equipment. But that’s not even the best part – the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard can last up to 30 days on a single charge depending on your usage!

The BlackBerry Mini Keyboard is now available at ShopBlackBerry.com for select locations worldwide, and for pre-order in Canada exclusively at The Source. Citrix Receiver for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is available from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

How will the BlackBerry Mini Keyboard change your productivity? Share in the comments below.

The BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet browser is far more than a simple application for viewing web pages. It has been carefully designed to provide an enhanced tablet experience, complete with options for customizing the browsing experience, private browsing, bookmarks management, HTML 5.0, Adobe® Flash® and JavaScript® capabilities, location-aware features, and so much more. Consider this powerful tool to be a window into not only viewing and interacting with a variety of web sites, but to also access powerful enterprise web applications.

There are a number of complete and secure web app solutions that you and your business can take advantage of – apps that are designed to offer new ways to collaborate in real time. Access to your internal enterprise network may also be possible from your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet through supported VPN suppliers.

Research In Motion® (RIM®) has a large number of enterprise software partners in the mobile industry, and we are constantly working with them to deliver apps and access to web-based hosted solutions optimized for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. This means that employees will be able to use existing tools while on the go.

I’m sure at this point you’re looking for examples. Well, here are seven of our favorite enterprise apps that are BlackBerry PlayBook tablet browser-ready!

IBM® Connections (IBM®)

IBM Connections is social software for business that is designed to allow you to “access everyone in your professional network, including your colleagues, customers, and partners” (via IBM Connections overview). IBM Connections was designed to be supported on a wide variety of platforms, including the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet browser. Through this interface, you can engage with communities, files, wikis, profiles, bookmarks, forums, and much more. It’s as good as it sounds, especially through the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet experience.

BusinessObjects Dashboard (SAP®)

SAP offers a web tool called BusinessObjects Dashboard, which is designed to allow you to create interactive analytics and dashboards with connections to SAP backend data sources among others. These interactive dashboards can be shared via Microsoft® Office, Adobe® PDF, web sharing, and SAP sharing solutions. You can then create, view, and share these dashboards using the the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet browser with Adobe Flash support.

Chatter® (Salesforce®)

Salesforce.com offers a private, and secure social network for your business called Chatter. This service allows you to increase collaboration within your organization as well as assist with planning and project management. Not only did I test this service using my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, I actually completed the entire registration process using my BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphone.

Basecamp®, Highrise®, Backpack®, and Campfire® (37signals®, LLC)

Back when I was running my own small business, the 37signals services were a huge relief to find. This suite of HTML5 web apps allows you to manage projects, contacts, communications, and collaboration – all through extremely user-friendly web apps. While testing this one on my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet this morning, it was hard to put it down. Check out an overview of the suite on the 37signals web site.

Zoho®

On-demand CRM software is available from Zoho, among other services, and is widely used by businesses large and small. The entire Zoho Suite, interacted with via the dashboard, is available as a mobile web application designed for tablet use and is easily accessible using the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet browser.

Confluence® (Atlassian®)

The tagline for Atlassian’s flagship product is “More Than Just a Wiki”. This statement is true, as I’ve had personal experience working with the Confluence product, which allows for contribution, discussion, collaboration, and indexing of a wide variety of content within an organization (among other great features). Want an efficient workforce? Pool the knowledge and make it accessible. Speaking of accessibility, this one is also available via web interface using the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet browser. Have Confluence set up on internal corporate servers? No problem – use the BlackBerry® Bridge™ browser.

So as you explore all that the BlackBerry App World™ storefront has to offer, don’t forget to take advantage of the wonderful world of web apps. As you can see, the sky’s the limit with the award-winning BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and its unique browsing experience, which opens up a whole world of possibility for engaging in enterprise apps online.

Are you using enterprise apps, either native or web-based, on your BlackBerry PlayBook? What apps do you find particularly useful?

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