Right-Time Experiences: Driving Revenue with Mobile and Big Data

Part IAdapt or Fail

Do you remember your first mobile phone? I thought you would. I purchased mine in 1993 when I worked for Motorola. Buying my first mobile phone was as liberating as learning to drive. Mobility had changed my world, and I knew it would change the world in general. I just had no idea that it would take the next two decades to hit mainstream adoption.

We've experienced massive changes in the telecommunications industry. We've seen the rise of the Internet, the e-commerce evolution, and the emergence of nearly ubiquitous broadband wired and wireless networks. I experienced firsthand the impact Nokia's first smartphones had on Motorola's business and how business executives were drawn to the power of communicating with RIM's BlackBerry devices. By the mid-2000s, I was convinced mobility would be the next big thing, and I founded Lopez Research in 2008 to help companies understand the impact mobile technologies would have on their business.

After all my years of writing about the mobile revolution, it was finally here. By 2013, consumers around the globe were using smartphones and other connected devices like digital fitness bands. Employees had begun to bring their personal devices into the workplace, and CIOs around the globe were wrestling with strategies to support this trend while keeping corporate data secure. My clients began to ask questions about building mobile applications and mobile-enabling business processes.

There were still debates over how many ...