Enterprise Applications: IBM Impact 2012 Focuses on the Mobile Enterprise, Cloud Computing
May 3, 2012
With innovation as the overall theme of its Impact 2012 conference here, IBM (NYSE:IBM) unveiled its first-ever Mobile Foundation, a comprehensive portfolio of software and services designed to help organizations capitalize on the proliferation of mobile environments, including laptops, smartphones and tablets. Building on its recent acquisition of Worklight, the new foundation further expands IBM’s strategy to provide clients with a mobile platform that spans application development, integration, security and management.
For example, using the IBM Mobile Foundation, an airline can transform the way it interacts with its customers by establishing a secure two-way relationship with mobile applications. Airlines can use these new types of applications not only to keep customers apprised of their travel plans and current weather conditions, but also to send push-notifications to alert them if there are changes or opportunities for upgrades…
This is all made possible by deep integration into the airlines’ back-end systems and relevant cloud computing services. The IBM Mobile Foundation is targeting a $22 billion market opportunity that is expected to grow to $36 billion in 2015. In an IBM survey of more than 700 CIOs, about 75 percent of respondents said they are embracing a mobile strategy because a flexible workplace delivers a 20 percent improvement in employee productivity. The CIOs said they are significantly reducing the cost of doing business by decreasing dependence on email, improving social collaboration and adopting cloud technologies to reach mobile workers. Here, eWEEK looks at some of the highlights from the show.