In today’s technology landscape, the use of mobile devices is exploding. Joel Oleson’s presentation during STP 2013 looks into how the mobile revolution is affecting businesses and general world connectivity. In three years the number of mobile devices is expected to double (reaching 2 billion), 82% of our global population are already on social networks, and 50% of enterprise businesses are moving toward cloud-based solutions. With these staggering numbers, Microsoft is focusing major attention on mobile devices. They are also recognizing the importance of working across mobile platforms (iOS, Android, and of course Windows Phones).
Microsoft is working to serve the mobile audience in two major ways. First, they’re employing reactive Web design, which is a way to code Web pages to recognize the device or computer that is displaying the site. This process allows designers to make pages resize to fit phone screens, adjust menus, and customize the user interface based on the device being used. The other way Microsoft is addressing mobile is with the new SharePoint 2013 app model. This model essentially rethinks Web Parts to allow more versatility between traditional computers and mobile devices. From a third-party perspective, companies are recognizing the benefits of offering mobile apps that connect with SharePoint. An example of this would be Bamboo’s own PM Central Mobile. Third-party apps are already capable of actions such as: viewing task lists and project information, downloading and uploading files, full read/write access to files on your SharePoint farm, and, with SharePoint 2013, even receiving notifications associated with your newsfeed.
Having access to all of this functionality on the go allows for, essentially, a second workday. Joel showed data on mobile use and was able to draw some interesting conclusions. As it turns out, mobile device use is mostly flat during the business day, takes a little dip around dinner time, and then spikes again in the evening. It is true that most of this second spike is due to entertainment use but it has also been seen that mobile devices support businesses increase productivity, shorten response time and issue resolution, and increases the quality of customer service. With the continued boom in mobile devices, as well as business support, it is easy to see how important mobile connectivity is and will continue to be.
Download: Joel’s presentation dec
