Not a portable toy

In contrast to other trend topics such as Big Data, Industry 4.0 or the Internet of Things (IoT), the topic of mobility is already beyond the phase of project planning, orientation, evaluation and piloting and has long since reached the stage of productive application.

The speed with which this has happened in the case of mobility - Apple's iPhone, the first smartphone with the relevant features for this new class of IT systems, came out just eight years ago - shows the "drive" this topic has.

Today, the mobile world is an enabler for digital transformation and the development of new technologies, topics and also new business models. The high utility value that consumers have attributed to mobile devices from the very beginning - and mobility was initially a consumer issue - has led to them becoming established in the business sector as well.

While smartphones and tablets are now even in the process of replacing classic desktops and notebooks at least in part as "standard IT" in the private sphere, they are at least a strong alternative in companies - also for the visualization of operational processes.

In the future, enterprise software will no longer be able to do without a mobile component, and in the near future, mobile solutions will be indispensable for all essential business processes. This also applies to a large extent to the SAP world, and important steps have already been taken accordingly.

Even if, at the end of the day, only the devices and the apps are visible to users, whether in the enterprise or beyond, mobility encompasses much more. It is not simply about providing portable IT in a small space, but about mobile solutions.

Devices and software must therefore be integrated into a technical infrastructure and also into the organizational and functional structures of a company; in other words, it is not about mobile devices, but about a system of mobility.

First of all, the following aspects must be clarified:

• Which devices should or can be used?
• In which infrastructure should the systems run?
• Do multiple platforms need to be served?
• How can the security of applications and data be ensured?
• What regulations must be observed when working with partners, for example when exchanging data?
• How to control and manage devices and software?
• For example, how are updates performed?
• How are new apps deployed?
• How can a service desk be implemented?
• If applications are deployed, there must also be a support infrastructure to ensure that new or changed requirements or errors are responded to quickly, because mobile users are much less patient than conventional users. Who in the company is responsible for which aspects of the process?
• How can the company position itself with its apps and stand out from the competition?
• And last but not least, the basic question must be answered: How can a company generate added value from its apps?

Based on this, the following components are necessary for the construction of a mobile system:

• Mobile management - this is already in productive use at most companies.
• Application software in the form of mobile apps.
• Regulation of access to company data.
• Data preparation and integration into backend systems.

Software for mobile systems

When developing apps for mobile systems for use in the SAP environment, the following options are available today: The simplest is the creation of online applications under HTML5.

You can use an existing infrastructure and, for example, fall back on an SAP or other portal; you use established and secure technologies and develop mobile applications with SAP UI5, for example.

The advantage of the process is that it allows you to deploy applications relatively quickly with existing infrastructure, and you don't have to program them separately for each platform - for example, for iOs and Android; however, the functionality is limited and tied to what each portal offers.

In contrast, native applications enable direct access to the devices. They can fully utilize the capabilities of sensors, for example, and offer a native look and feel.

The application then looks like an app from the respective app store. The disadvantage of this method results from the greater hardware proximity: The apps have to be created separately for each platform.

In addition, a hybrid approach is also possible: development is done in HTML5 and JavaScript, but a container like Cordova is used, which wraps around HTML5 like a shell and can be installed as an app.

This means that programming can be platform-independent, but at the same time the container provides access to hardware-related functions. The adaptation effort is lower here because only the platform-specific deviations have to be taken into account, for example when integrating sensors.

The disadvantage is that the complete native look and feel cannot be achieved. Especially in the B2B environment, corresponding solutions with SAP UI5 and Cordova as container technology are popular.

When developing mobile applications, it is advisable to use agile methods in order to make the development process faster and more flexible and thus also to better integrate the specialist departments.

Access control

In business use in particular, mobile applications are often intended to make corporate data available to external users as well. The access technology of choice here is REST services, which are very well supported by mobile devices; REST has been extended by SAP and Microsoft using OData and can thus also be integrated very well into the SAP world.

When it comes to external access to corporate data, the security of data and applications is naturally a top priority, as mobile systems are inherently at high risk because they often run in unprotected environments.

A single point of entry to avoid N-to-N communication and a single instance for authorization (single sign-on authorization) are therefore mandatory. In such a system, a central point then controls all services that communicate with the outside world.

With its enhanced SAP Mobile Platform (SMP), SAP has a very good basis for this, which is also cloud-capable. Of course, the implementation and operation of such a platform also require a certain amount of effort, but it has been shown that its use makes sense in any case as soon as a company either has more than three apps in operation, integrates three backend systems, or if more than three mobile OS platforms are supported, in accordance with Gartner's "Rule of Three".

Data integration into the backend

Finally, an important issue is the provision of data and services in the back end for the mobile systems. Services must be prepared for this and, for example, support user-dependent loading or dynamic reloading.

The data must be provided in such a way that there are no long waiting times - mobile users are usually very impatient. Such aspects must already be taken into account when planning an application.

For the SAP world, the NetWeaver Gateway and SAP's Fiori apps are ideal here; here, for example, the Fiori OData Service Proxy controls standardized service accesses to the SAP ERP system.

Conclusion

Mobility describes an IT world in which different procedures and rules apply in some places than in classic IT, but which must nevertheless be fully embedded in it. In this environment, Dell sees itself as a digitization expert:

Topics such as mobility, IoT, Enterprise 4.0 or Big Data are firmly anchored at Dell in the form of established IT solutions. In addition to a wide range of infrastructure components, Dell also offers comprehensive SAP expertise for the development of mobile systems in the aforementioned structures.