The industry reflects, looks ahead

Gregory Wade, vice president, SingTel Bharti and 3 Hong Kong business unit, Asia-Pacific, Research In Motion

	Gregory Wade, Research In Motion
	Organizations also increasingly understand that work is not a place employees commute to, rather, it is something they get done. Thus, mobility and technology play an important role in attaining a better work-life balance.

Q. What do you remember as the biggest industry news for 2007?
Wade: 2007 marked an increase in mobile convergence with the widespread availability and adoption of smartphones. As wireless technology is evolving, so are consumers' needs. More and more, consumers are looking for a feature-rich experience through enhancements such as Wi-Fi and GPS.

In fact, ABI Research states that by 2011, over 325 million converged Wi-Fi/cellular phones will be shipped worldwide. This comes as no surprise as businesses today operate in a global economy and there are high demands to mobilize the workforce and operations.

Name three hot technologies to watch in 2008.
As a result of the increasing popularity of mobile solutions, and the need for effective communication and collaboration, we see the following three key trends developing:

The first is the increased adoption of mobile beyond e-mail applications. Today's workforce is more mobile than ever. Enterprises are seeing an increasing need to use mobile technology as a means to increase productivity and enhance revenue. Mobile users are also becoming increasingly demanding that their smartphones provide functions that are beyond basic telephony and mobile e-mail.

Salesforce automation, business intelligence, CRM and IT systems management applications that are available on the BlackBerry platform, for instance, not only provide companies with increased flexibility and visibility on-the-go, but also allows companies to drive greater user adoption, and get real-time updates from the field by giving their professionals access to customer, sales, and service information.

Moving ahead in 2008

 

 

1.	Socializing goes big in 2008
2.	The urge to merge in 2008
3.	New chips on the block
4.	Web threats dominate security landscape
5.	Battle for the mobile platform space in 2008
6.	The industry reflects, looks ahead

Looking back on 2007

 

 

1.	Looking back at 2007 with envy
2.	Predictions that went right and wrong
3.	2007's movers and shakers

The lines between an enterprise smartphone user and a consumer smartphone user are also blurring as the needs and lifestyle of today's mobile professional becomes more sophisticated. Instant Messaging programs such as GoogleTalk, BlackBerry Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger can now be downloaded onto a smartphone easily and securely. Recently we also announced the availability of Facebook as an application for BlackBerry smartphones, making it faster, easier and more convenient for consumers to stay wirelessly connected with their Facebook contacts.

The second is an increased demand for secure platforms to address security concerns of enterprise mobility. Smartphones today have gone beyond simple voice functions such as call dialing and voicemail. They have become a crucial asset to today's mobile professional, containing confidential and crucial business data such as contact lists, account passwords, e-mails records and file attachments. As such, the security risks for such devices increase as well, and serious security breaches can happen and business data potentially jeopardized if a mobile device is lost or stolen, or when employees are not adequately educated on security risks associated with mobility devices.

Expect to see further convergence as well. With mobile technology advancing and undergoing convergence, mobile devices are now able to provide location-based services such as GPS, include both cellular and Wi-Fi networks and can switch seamlessly between the two. Consumers can now unify landline and mobile calls with built-in Wi-Fi functionalities, detecting the most advantageous network in terms of cost or signal strength and route data over the network.

Social networking sites...
... Are now accessible through smartphones. For example, we recently announced the availability of Facebook on BlackBerry smartphones in the form of a free download application. This means consumers can now get fast, streamlined and optimized mobile access to the popular Facebook social utility using a BlackBerry smartphone

Work-life balance is...
... Growing in importance as companies realize that a balance must be found personally and professionally to boost productivity. Organizations also increasingly understand that work is not a place employees commute to, rather, it is something they get done.

Thus, mobility and technology play an important role in attaining a better work-life balance.

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