CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7 - 32

32

calls with a single tap, read the latest company news
and announcements, manage projects, track key
performance indicators, and access our social network
"MeMe"-all from their mobile device wherever they are
in the world.
Taking the application service model approach has
brought down the total cost of ownership for these
new systems. By offering them as a service, we've
eliminated a lot of the manpower required to implement
and upgrade the applications. From an infrastructure
perspective, we're hosting all of these new technology
solutions on our private cloud. That gives the flexibility to
expand and contract when we need to and optimize the
cost of our operations. We also employed Titanium cloud
services to track user logins by geography and built an

FRONT-LINE EMPLOYEES,
BOTTOM-LINE BENEFITS

in-house adoption engine to give us a clear picture of the
usage metrics for each application.
We did face a number of challenges developing

IT has always played a major role in enabling corporate
leaders to make decisions and manage the company

our mobile platform. In order to deal with the multiple

operationally and financially. But what's clear today

operating systems and diverse form factors of mobile

is that IT can also play a critical role in employee

devices available today, we employed a development

engagement, which can have just as much of an impact

tool capable of creating hybrid apps and did extensive

on the bottom line - especially in an organization like

testing on a variety of mobile devices. That was labor

ours, where much of the innovation originates with

intensive, so we are currently examining more automated

front-line employees. From the time an employee enters

testing tools to increase productivity. Because we

the organization, we are thinking about the systems and

built our own custom app store, distribution was also a

applications and networks that will not only make that

potential issue. We used push notification to notify users

person productive throughout his or her lifecycle, but

of new versions. In the cases of critical updates, we built

also keep him or her passionately involved in delivering

in a hard stop inside the mobile app requiring the user to

business value. That employee engagement is the engine

download the fix.

that drives the business.

Our mobile-first strategy has had a number of key

In the end, one of the best ways IT can bring value to

business benefits, including faster decision-making and

the business is by providing a seamless experience for

reduced cycle times. Managers can approve business

our employees, irrespective of the nature of their work

requests on the go and access business analytics

or their location. Our goal is to make that person's day-

and dashboards wherever they are. We've reduced

to-day job more effective and efficient. That's where IT

the number of steps to accomplish certain actions

becomes a prime mover.

by as much as 60%. Most importantly, by supporting
our mobile workforce, we've improved productivity
and increased workforce engagement. In our newer
application deployments, mobility and analytics are

Online advertising ($26 billion) in the United
States surpasses newspaper advertising
($22.8 billion) for the first time.

2010

2010

prerequisites and not an afterthought.

Production of digital cameras, soon to be
replaced by smartphones, peaks at just over
120 million.
CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CIO Straight Talk - Issue 7
