facing the future
mCommerce - opportunities, issues & solutions

- TRANSFORMING THE COMMERCE CHAIN PROFITABLY

Sponsored by Mercator

Mobile internet - location specific information for who and where you are - welcomes the 80% of terminal users that don't have a PC to the internet.

Mobile internet is likely to be the most important distribution channel for building customer relationships but where will users get their services - from their mobile operator, from mobile retailers, from handset manufacturers or from their suppliers?

Who will own and manage the customer relationship? Does 'who owns the customer' become superseded by 'who does the customer want to do business with'?

Intersection of the internet, Personal Digital Assistant devices (PDAs), new breeds of intelligent telephones, unified messaging and personal productivity applications leads to the inevitable interaction of these personal applications with your enterprise applications. Understanding the key issues and how to integrate these new technologies with your existing infrastructure will be key to profiting from this huge opportunity for your business.

the opportunity

Mobile device users have already passed the 1 billion population mark and the role of client computing may have changed from processing to access. Does a rich user experience require a powerful device? In Europe, 50% of corporates opt for the mobile phone if they have to choose a single device (laptops 35% and PDAs 18%). Organisations with the capability to rapidly integrate new technologies into their existing infrastructure will become the corporate icons of the future. Is your company ready for this challenge?

the reality

Large corporates are now totally dependent on intranets and workers - yours, your customers' and your suppliers' are increasingly mobile. Yet here in the UK more than 80% of organisations have yet to even commit to the full eBusiness experience and mCommerce is already here. Devices are getting better, the network will improve, software vendors are mobile enabling their products, standards are gaining acceptance, integrators are building services and business is going mobile. How do you ensure you can take advantage of this - now?

the future

The satisfaction of your customers, staff and suppliers is at stake! The threat of a new revolutionary service introduced by a technological breakthrough makes it enormously challenging to capitalise on your existing investment and introduce new services seamlessly. In the next 6-8 months there will be 100's of mobile data services launched and everyone's trying to figure what their position in the market should be and how they can generate revenues. Understanding what is ahead and how to deal with it will help you make the right decisions today to ensure the security of your future.