Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers

Transcription

1 For: Application Development & Delivery Professionals Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers by Liz Herbert, September 29, 2014 Key Takeaways The Market For Enterprise Mobile Applications Is Growing Demand for enterprise mobile application services is increasing as companies look for apps to help employees win, serve, and retain customers. Many shops are woefully underprepared to support high-velocity development of custom mobile apps, so they turn to third parties for help. Know These Five Providers Categories To Understand The Market The service provider landscape for enterprise mobile apps reflects a broad range of options, including digital boutiques, full-service design agencies, global and regional systems integrators, mobile ISVs, and mobile carriers. Knowing the relative strengths of each type of provider will ensure you choose the right partner for your next project. Forrester Research, Inc., 60 Acorn Park Drive, Cambridge, MA USA Tel: Fax:

2 September 29, 2014 Why Read This Report Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers Can Any Provider Deliver On The Full Demands For Enterprise Mobile Apps? by Liz Herbert with Jeffrey S. Hammond, Chris Andrews, and Fraser Tibbetts Enterprise mobile applications are a new frontier and a fast-growing area of business technology investment as employees demand better tools to win, serve, and retain customers. Application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals strive to create groundbreaking new mobile services, while sourcing executives struggle to help them select the right partners. Increased complexity, risk, and a lack of in-house skills force AD&D executives to turn to external partners for help. But it s a challenge to find the right partner in this nascent and fast-growing market. Enterprise mobile projects are tricky because they tend to be high-velocity, open-ended, and heavily custom, which creates risk and uncertainty that confounds traditional services companies with rigid processes. Additionally, enterprise mobile app projects often uncover backend infrastructure needs, such as real-time access to data, centralized identity management and security, API management, and mobile-ready content delivery. This report will discuss major trends in the provider landscape for mobile enterprise apps and provide an overview of the types of providers that can help support your mobile enterprise app projects. Table Of Contents A New Market Emerges As Demand For Enterprise Mobile Apps Grows Services Providers Span A Wide Range Of Sizes And Specializations recommendations Counter The Fragmented Market With Governance, In-House Know-How Supplemental Material Notes & Resources Forrester interviewed: Accenture, Atos, AT&T, Capgemini, CapTech, Ci&T, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC), Dell, Deloitte, Digital Management, Inc. (DMI), EffectiveUI, EPAM Systems, EY, HCL, HP, IBM, Infosys, KPMG, L&T Infotech, Luxoft, Mindtree, Mobiquity, Mutual Mobile, Ness Technologies, NTT Data, Persistent Systems, PwC, SapientNitro, SDLC Partners, Siteworx, Skookum, Syntel, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tech Mahindra, ThoughtWorks, Torry Harris Business Solutions (THBS), Virtusa, WillowTree Apps, and Wipro. Related Research Documents The Forrester Wave : Enterprise Mobility Services, Q February 15, , Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester, Technographics, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please [email protected]. For additional information, go to

3 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 2 A new Market Emerges AS demand for enterprise Mobile apps grows Investment in mobile enterprise apps, both custom-developed and purchased, is increasing. AD&D professionals are being tasked to create more employee-facing mobile apps every year because: Employees need real-time information and analytics to win, serve, and retain customers. Better employee experiences lead to better customer experiences. For example, with ipad apps, sales reps can engage the customer in a more-personalized, side-by-side conversation, with real-time pricing and quoting. WillowTree Apps helped AOL roll out a new field sales app that lets reps easily customize sales presentations and access ad inventory in real time. Better employee tools are also likely to improve employee happiness, which in turn can improve employee retention rates (employee knowledge foundation) and employee attitudes in customer interactions. 1 Emerging technologies create new opportunities to improve efficiency and engagement. When engaging with your brand, customers expect more than ever before. New technologies such as Google Glass and Apple CarPlay create opportunities to extend and improve the customer experience. For example, field services technicians can have up-to-date repair manuals integrated into their smart glasses or mobile phone to accelerate resolution of customer issues. Another example is a major home improvement store that partnered with services provider CapTech to create a mobile POS and store management app for more than 40,000 instore ios devices, empowering more than 260,000 of the chain s employees. Emerging mobile technologies also create new opportunities for efficiency; for example, a paperless enterprise can enable real-time access to current information. You Need A Special Blend Of Skills To Create A Leading Enterprise Mobile App Enterprise mobile app projects are not like the enterprise tech management projects of the past. They require user-centric design, a high-velocity approach to development, and working toward an end state that is in flux. When IT leaders focus on gearing up support for the mobile mind shift, it s all too easy (and maybe just a little fun) to focus on the new tools and technologies that make mobile apps work. There s often an implicit assumption that the tech management processes and organizations that have worked just fine for the past two decades will continue to work just fine for mobile apps. In fact, that s not the case. Supporting a business technology agenda requires an organization that can win, serve, and retain customers in their mobile moments. 2 Doing so requires closer collaboration with business leaders, and a shift in planning, budgeting, and resource allocation processes. Enterprise mobile apps: Require a focus on design and user experience. Mobile teams benefit from techniques that are well known in design circles but not widely used in traditional development shops. In most tech management organizations, design talent is spread thin, so it s incumbent on developers to learn from designers wherever possible and sharpen their focus on meeting customer needs.

4 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 3 Project teams must evolve their processes to the point that team members can use personas, journey maps, and wireframes to answer questions about how an app should work, and quickly assess in-app feedback to identify opportunities for improvement. 3 For example, mobile field applications must consider the special scenario of field service employees who need quick, realtime, and personalized access but operate in disconnected (offline) environments often in rugged conditions. Make use of a fragmented set of new and experimental technologies. Enterprise mobile app teams must work with a highly fragmented and quickly evolving set of technologies. Forrester s four-tier model for mobile engagement platforms outlines just some of the categories required. These include: 1) client-tier technologies such as wearables (e.g., Android Wear) and mobile OSes (e.g., Android, ios); 2) delivery-tier technologies focused on content (e.g., Adobe, Akamai, and Amazon); 3) aggregation-tier solutions for APIs (e.g., Eureka and Mulesoft); and 4) services-tier for integration technologies (e.g., Apache Cassandra databases or Archalus for real-time configuration). 4 Mobile teams also need to work with a variety of new programming languages (HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript), platforms (e.g., Appcelerator, IBM Worklight, and Kony), and identity management tools (e.g., Okta and Ping). Don t have an end state the way that classic enterprise applications do. Perhaps the biggest challenge for mobile teams is that they re working toward a rapidly evolving and sometimes poorly defined end goal. Unlike a traditional implementation of a core finance package or other systems of record, enterprise mobile app design creates a moving-target scenario that is affected by the breakneck pace of mobile platform evolution. As a result, project teams must quickly evolve apps as they discover new opportunities and are given new capabilities. For example, the latest version of ios contains over 5,000 new APIs that s a lot of change in less than a year s time. It s not uncommon for enterprise mobile apps to need multiple updates every year to just keep pace with updates to mobile operating systems and new devices. The Services Market For Enterprise Mobile App Projects Is Heating Up With the growing interest in enterprise mobile apps, services providers from all corners of the market are racing to gain mind- and wallet-share. The market is heating up as: New upstarts foster innovation and develop unique approaches to mobile. New entrants to the enterprise services market such as Mobiquity, Mutual Mobile, and WillowTree Apps focus on mobile apps that drive new, digital experiences for employees and customers. These companies may be new names that you have not worked with in the past, but their laser focus on mobile projects and skilled workforce make them a viable option for application development and delivery executives.

5 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 4 Acquisitions inject new, mobile talent into traditional services providers. Traditional services providers have been acquiring mobile specialists and agencies to create the right mix of creative and technical talent. Examples include KPMG acquiring Cynergy, Accenture s purchases of Fjord and Acquity, Deloitte buying Übermind, and PwC acquiring Ant s Eye View. This heavy M&A activity means that you should take a fresh look at traditional providers you would have considered for other work but not for a mobile project that requires a creative, Agile development approach. Providers rush to cross-train talent from other domains. Larger, established services firms typically face two challenges with their existing bench: 1) They need more resources with skills in new digital areas such as mobile, and 2) they no longer need as many resources with skills in some traditional packaged applications (and moreover, some resources no longer want to work with traditional technologies if they perceive them as less attractive for career-building). But, caveat emptor: The best resources are more than just programmers learning new languages but with an old process mindset; they need to fundamentally shift their approach and thinking toward high-velocity delivery and rapid feedback to succeed in the mobile world. services providers span A wide range of sizes and specializations The service provider landscape for enterprise mobile apps reflects a broad range of options, including: 1) consulting and systems integrators partners; 2) digital boutiques; 3) mobile independent software vendors (ISVs); 4) full-service design agencies; and 5) mobile carriers. And, increasingly these categories overlap; for example, PwC s acquisition of BGT and Strategy& (formerly Booz & Company) and Accenture s acquisition of Acquity mean that full-service design agencies reside within major consultancies. The result is a crowded, fast-moving market with a large number of relevant choices to consider of varying scale and specialization (see Figure 1).

6 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 5 Figure 1 Enterprise Mobile Services Providers Vary In Focus And Size 1-1 Large providers for enterprise mobile application services Provider HQ Enterprise Technology mobile apps services practitioners resources Summary Accenture Ireland > 5,000 > 20,000 End-to-end solution provider for enterprise mobile applications including the agency it acquired (Acquity) Top areas of industry focus for enterprise mobile apps include financial services, communications, and health and life sciences. Atos France > 1,000 > 20,000 Top industries include manufacturing, retail, telco, and media. Experience in mobile field force (maintenance), mobile sales, and mobile B2B2C applications (connected vehicle, retail, healthcare, banking) Key partnerships include SAP (managed mobility services provider) and Kony. Capgemini Paris > 1,000 > 20,000 Global end-to-end services provider with deep consulting and technology expertise Experience in consumer apps as well as employee apps (field/work force) connecting to ERP systems like SAP, Fusion, and SFDC CSC Dell Falls Church, Virginia Round Rock, Texas > 250 > 20,000 CSC is best for clients with end-to-end services needs spanning design and consulting, implementation, and ongoing support. Top areas of industry focus include public sector and manufacturing. > 100 > 20,000 Dell Services is a good fit for enterprise mobile projects that have broader needs; Dell brings its software, end user computing, and security expertise to engagements. Dell Services (which got a boost with the acquisition of Perot Systems) is strongest in healthcare. Deloitte New York > 2,000 > 20,000 Deloitte Digital is strongest at design and consulting work in larger, complex enterprise mobile apps projects. Deloitte has a unique mix of agency capabilities and technology breadth, rare in the marketplace. HCL Noida, India > 2,000 > 20,000 End-to-end mobile services with a strong product engineering heritage Top areas of industry focus include financial services, retail/cpg, and healthcare/pharma Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited.

7 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 6 Figure 1 Enterprise Mobile Services Providers Vary In Focus And Size (Cont.) Provider HP IBM Infosys L&T Infotech HQ Palo Alto, California Armonk, New York Bangalore, India Mumbai, India Enterprise Technology mobile apps services practitioners resources Summary > 1,000 > 20,000 Best for end-to-end projects with longer-term managed services needs Agency partnerships include Critical Mass, DigitasLBi, Organic, and Projekt202. > 5,000 > 20,000 IBM has its own world-class agency, IBM Interactive Experience. IBM s recent partnership with Apple will help enterprise customers deploy mobile devices and build mobile apps on Apple technology. > 2,000 > 20,000 The bulk of mobile work is implementation and integration work, with additional capabilities in design and consulting. Top industries include retail, CPG, logistics, and financial services. > 1,000 > 20,000 The bulk of revenues is from implementation, integration, and testing, in addition to a strong design/ux practice. Experience includes oil field survey app, field sample analysis, inspection app, wealth management solution for agents, insurance claims adjuster, movie script collaboration app, and franchisee app for retail sales. NTT Data Japan > 1,000 > 20,000 Top areas of enterprise mobile apps experience include: mobile SFA, mobile banking, and mobile apps for telco. Top areas of industry experience include telco and manufacturing. TCS Tech Mahindra Mumbai, India Mumbai, India > 2,000 > 20,000 Strongest for implementation, testing, and ongoing support in addition to comparatively smaller design and consulting capabilities Top three areas of focus include corporate workflow, sales force enablement, and field service enablement. > 2,000 > 20,000 Combines telco-oriented expertise of Tech Mahindra with the enterprise applications expertise of Satyam (since 2009) Strongest at implementation, integration, and testing phases of enterprise mobile apps projects (versus design and consulting work) Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited.

8 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 7 Figure 1 Enterprise Mobile Services Providers Vary In Focus And Size (Cont.) 1-2 Mid-size providers for enterprise mobile application services Provider HQ Enterprise Technology mobile apps services practitioners resources Summary Wipro Bangalore, India > 2,000 > 20,000 Key technology partnerships include SAP, Kony, and IBM Worklight. Top three industries include financial services, retail, and utilities. AT&T Dallas > Strong at building and managing app stores Excels at network and device management DMI Bethesda, Maryland > 500 1,000-1,999 Corporate focus: mobile apps, managed mobility services, big data integration Experience in field force/sales force automation, channel enablement, and work force productivity apps EY London > 1,000 2,000-9,999 Acquired Bedrock (experience design agency) and Semphonic (digital analytics). Also has partnerships with Crimson Hexagon (social media monitoring and analytics), and SAP. Strongest for consulting and design work, but capable of end-to-end services including implementation and integration EPAM Newtown, Pennsylvania > 1,000 10,000-19,999 KPMG Netherlands > ,000-19,999 Luxoft Zug, Switzerland Customers will benefit from EPAM s combination of strong technology skills and product engineering heritage as well as the agency it acquired in 2012 (Empathy Lab). Key areas of mobile solutions: BI and analytics apps, field force apps, and market data apps Best at design and consulting work Experience with field sales and service, mhealth, and mobile banking > 100 2,000-9,999 Luxoft is strongest at custom dev; more than half of its mobile services revenues come from implementation work (versus design or consulting). Experience includes mobile banking, mobile travel, and mobile social apps. Mindtree Bangalore, India > ,000-19,999 Product engineering heritage; strongest at custom dev (versus packaged apps) Areas of industry expertise include CPG, manufacturing and retail, high-tech, airlines, hospitality, and banking and financial services Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited.

9 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 8 Figure 1 Enterprise Mobile Services Providers Vary In Focus And Size (Cont.) Provider Mutual Mobile Ness Technologies Persistent Systems HQ Teaneck, New Jersey Enterprise Technology mobile apps services practitioners resources Summary Austin, Texas > Mobile specialist, but limited experience with back-end systems that surround mobile projects (i.e., SAP, Oracle, and salesforce.com) Significant percentage of clients are in manufacturing, automotive, and financial services. > 250 2,000-9,999 Product engineering heritage Experience with travel management, HR, and media distribution apps Pune, India > 250 2,000-9,999 Product engineering heritage Industry focus areas include media/ entertainment, healthcare/pharma, fin services PwC London > 1,000 10,000-19,999 PwC brings world-class process consulting and industry expertise to digital and mobile projects. PwC acquisitions BGT (agency), Strategy&, Ant s Eye View, and Diamond further strengthen its digital/mobile capabilities. Syntel Troy, Michigan > Top industries for mobile app work include healthcare, banking/financials/insurance, and retail/logistics/travel. Partnerships include Kony, Keynote, salesforce.com, and Microsoft Azure. THBS New Jersey > 500 2,000-9,999 Primarily active in Europe Strongest industries include government, telco, and banking. Virtusa Westborough, Mass. > 100 2,000-9,999 Product engineering heritage; strongest at custom dev (versus packaged apps) Top three areas of industry experience: financial services, healthcare, and media Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited. Digital Boutiques: Innovative, Nimble, And Local But Expensive And In Short Supply Small, specialist service providers have emerged in the consulting and SI market to focus exclusively on digital and mobile projects (see Figure 2). Larger examples of these boutiques include Cantina Consulting, Ci&T, Mobiquity, Mutual Mobile, and WillowTree Apps. Many firms in this category have already been gobbled up by larger consulting and SI firms; for instance, KPMG acquired Cynergy and Deloitte acquired Übermind. Why and why not consider the ones that remain?

10 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 9 Mobile focus means firms won t look to upsell surrounding services. Digital boutiques and mobile specialists are laser-focused on mobile projects. This means less push to upsell other services and bigger deals; while a large SI will push for massive modernization projects, these firms will often offer more creative alternatives that attack mobile moments with step-by-step improvements. On the downside, their smaller size means more limited capabilities by geography, services line, and technology. This means that these firms generally can t do the big surrounding infrastructure work if you need it. You can expect more shakeout that could disrupt culture and talent. Top digital boutiques are acquisition targets for agencies and technology consultancies that want to beef up mobile skills. This means that you face the risk of acquisitions which could impact everything from talent to pricing to flexibility; it could also distract project teams if an acquisition occurs in the middle of an implementation effort. Boutiques are high cost because they use high-cost talent. Digital specialists will fight to get the cream-of-the-crop mobile talent since this is the core of what they do. And leading mobile practitioners are attracted to mobile specialists because the core focus of the companies is in their sweet spot and most have high cultural compatibility with creative talent. As a consequence, these firms are generally concentrated in high-priced locations, such as Austin, London, New York, and San Francisco, that attract unique, specialized talent. Full-Service Design Agencies: Your Best Bet For Creative And Design Work Organizations that seek highly creative, innovative mobile projects should consider design agencies, such as Razorfish, R/GA, and Sapient. These firms pride themselves on hiring highly skilled, creative developers and the best design talent they can find. In reality, the lines between creative developer and technologist are not neatly drawn, and many creative developers have some technology expertise as well or work within a larger technology shop, such as IBM s design agency or Deloitte s Übermind. What should you know about full-service design agencies? They re better at customer-facing apps versus employee-facing ones. Most agencies started out in (or still work with) the marketing department. They are more focused on customer mobile apps versus enterprise ones. They don t have as much understanding of employee needs, enterprise business processes, or systems of record that you will need to integrate into enterprise mobile apps. They re weaker in end-to-end technology skills, including the enterprise applications. Agencies will not have the broad technology skills of the consulting and SI firms or even the digital specialists. They don t have armies of developers, testers, and other skills related to the technology portions of these projects. This means that they may be able to create a world-class design and strategy but may fall down on ability to actually implement it.

11 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 10 They re not always interested in updates or long-term support. Agencies thrive in creative phases mostly design and experience. They are less interested in the long-term technology support, even point updates to improve apps after initial early releases. This means they are better suited to the front end of these projects rather than long-term maintenance and enhancement efforts. Figure 2 Boutiques And Consumer-Oriented Mobile Shops Create Additional Options For Projects Firm CapTech Ci&T EffectiveUI Mobiquity SapientNitro SDLC Partners Siteworx Skookum ThoughtWorks Focus CapTech is a systems integration and management consulting firm with growing mobile expertise. Its mobile expertise includes both enterprise and consumer apps. Ci&T is a smaller dev shop doing significant work in Latin America (HQ in Brazil). The provider has worked with Fortune 500 companies; its work skews toward consumer apps versus enterprise. EffectiveUI specializes in user-centered design, creating consumer and enterprise apps for some of the world s largest corporations Mostly doing consumer mobile for healthcare, financial services, and retail; emerging capabilities for enterprise mobile Dominant global player in consumer mobile apps with a unique blend of design and technology skills; many of its projects have an enterprise element as well. Custom dev shop with capabilities spanning digital services areas including BI, mobile, and security Siteworx is a digital experience agency with expertise in WCM/CMS, ecommerce, and mobile. Its mobile work to date has been more consumer than enterprise, although enterprise is growing. Smaller mobile specialist with strong experience in both B2E and B2C Product engineering specialist with expertise in consumer and enterprise mobile WillowTree Apps WillowTree Apps is a boutique mobile shop based in Virginia doing consumer and enterprise mobile projects across a variety of industries, including healthcare, media, and oil and gas Source: Forrester Research, Inc. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution prohibited. Systems Integrators: Best For End-To-End Application Services Systems integrators (SIs) providers such as Accenture, IBM GBS, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro have the strongest end-to-end application development capabilities, with deep skills in backend transformation and integration. We also see the reinvention of the technology consultancies into digital implementation partners as Big 4 types including Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC acquire mobile specialists and agencies. A subcategory of systems integrators product engineering specialists have an edge for doing highly technical connected product development work, including hardware engineering if needed. Examples of product engineering specialist firms include EPAM, Mindtree, and ThoughtWorks. How do the consulting and SI partners stack up for enterprise mobile apps projects?

12 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 11 Consulting and SI partners offer broad and deep technology and business skills. These providers have a wide range of technology expertise, from data warehousing to packaged apps to custom development. And, they generally have deep business process and industry knowledge although this varies by provider. This combination of business and technology acumen makes them a good choice for end-to-end transformation projects and long-term support. Some of the providers in this category have additional competencies in relevant areas such as security or customer experience. Process-heavy models don t mesh well with demands for velocity. Consulting and SI firms particularly the larger ones have layer upon layer of methodologies and organizational processes that don t mesh well with high-velocity mobile app development demands. While these processes should mean more rigor and reduced risk, they can also slow down the whole project, from RFP to proposal to engagement. Mobile skills are spread thin, and talent varies widely. Mobile skills still make up a very small portion of the resources at the bigger consulting and SI companies and these skills are in high demand. Resources for creative and design work are in particularly short supply. Watch out for consulting and SI companies boasting about large hoards of mobile resources who are really just practitioners from other areas who could work on or have worked on mobile, rather than mobile experts. Offshore resources can impede high-bandwidth iteration. Some phases of an enterprise app are well-suited to global delivery models, such as testing or integration work. But, much of the work done upfront in planning and designing the application, as well as the Agile development work, requires fast iteration with business and technology leaders, which means that low-cost, factory-based resources in other time zones may not have as much benefit as they do in classic applications projects. Mobile ISVs: Jump-Start Your Mobile App With Prebuilt Solutions The demand for multiple enterprise mobile apps makes it expensive to employ a native platform approach. The more apps, the more painful it becomes to build and maintain services that support multiple mobile platforms. That s where mobile ISVs can help with pre-buildups, APIs, and clientside SDKs for commonly used mobile services like notifications, mobile application management, offline data synchronization, and analytics. Key mobile ISVs include Amazon, Appcelerator, IBM, Kinvey, Kony, and SAP. What should you know about mobile ISVs? There s no need to reinvent the wheel if ISVs already have the technology. ISVs can jumpstart your mobile project by providing software and platform technology that already addresses common needs in enterprise mobile apps projects. For example, Apigee provides out-of-thebox API management technology; Amazon provides a pay-per-use mobile identity service and

13 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 12 content delivery solution. But these solutions are still evolving, and many providers only offer a subset of all the services required, so you (or your services partner) will have to work with multiple mobile ISVs to build a complete solution. 5 ISVs can have a myopic view of your broader project and weak consulting skills. ISVs are best at building and implementing software: their software. This means they aren t in a good position to advise you on broader business or technology decisions. ISVs are weaker at business process consulting, industry best practices, and change management skills that you will need in a bigger mobile project that is part of a business transformation. You must beware of technology lock-in if you standardize on a proprietary solution. Technology products can save you from building from scratch, can speed time-to-value, and can simplify the complexity of a mobile app solution. But, they can also make you dependent on proprietary technology. And, since the landscape of mobile ISVs is diverse, fast-moving, and full of new entrants vying for your business, you are at risk of a small ISV changing direction or being subsumed into a larger one such as HP, IBM, or Oracle. Mobile Carriers: Good At App Stores And Managed Mobility, Light On Business Acumen Telecommunications providers, such as AT&T, BT, T-Systems, and Verizon, are the best at mobile device, network, and managed mobility. Some have consulting and application development capabilities, but these are typically: 1) focused on the SMB and 2) focused on carrier-centric services. Telcos: Excel at devices and networks but not consulting or app dev. Telcos are best-suited to the run elements of enterprise mobile apps, often with bundled cloud solutions. While they may have some consulting and development work, their niche is in the ongoing operations especially managed mobility, mobile device management, network services, and security. This group of providers is not as strong at design (versus agencies) or consulting and end-to-end process transformation (versus consulting and systems integrator options); most of these firms partner with consultants or agencies or both. Own the wireless subscribers. A unique benefit of telcos is that they own the data plans and services to the mobile phones. AT&T and Verizon each have more than 100 million customers. This means they can serve as a channel, including an app store, to distribute and manage your applications. For example, if your employees get their phone plans through AT&T, AT&T could be a good partner for application development and ongoing operations, providing the app and ongoing updates through the AT&T App Store in addition to managed mobility services.

14 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 13 Recommendations counter the fragmented market with governance, in-house know-how Enterprise mobile apps are still evolving quickly, and the market shows little signs of slowing down for either the mobile platform technologies themselves or the surrounding services. As a result, you re unlikely to find a one-stop shop for major enterprise mobile apps projects. To deal with multiple partners, AD&D pros will need a mobile steering committee with strong governance and enough internal expertise to select the right service providers for each enterprise mobile project. 6 Invest in: Mobile project governance to align business outcomes and incentives across multiple providers. Don t expect that all of the partners you want to work with have experience working with each other or can even play nicely together. Managing the interdependencies of different providers will be a significant hurdle to project success. Build up a strong project and program management capability specific to your enterprise mobile apps projects. This is an ideal role for a mobile center of excellence to play, under the overall direction of an executive mobile steering committee. The focus of this center of excellence should be managing overall project dependencies, vetting preferred service providers, managing the various vendors, and most importantly, aligning work and incentives across the multiple parties. If you don t have skills (or available skills) for governance, consider a thirdparty governance resource or firm. Technical expertise to drive key decisions about architecture and technology approach. Don t outsource key technology decisions to the partner. Some of them may have their own technology agendas (e.g., Accenture s investment and promotion of Apigee, or IBM GBS recommending Worklight) or may not have the breadth of technology exposure to make the best decision for you. If you don t have much mobile expertise today, invest in hiring a mobile architect or mobile technology expert so that you can retain control of these decisions. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Companies Interviewed For This Report Accenture Atos AT&T Capgemini CapTech Ci&T Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) Dell Deloitte Digital Management, Inc. (DMI) EffectiveUI EPAM Systems EY HCL

15 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 14 HP IBM Infosys KPMG L&T Infotech Luxoft Mindtree Mobiquity Mutual Mobile Ness Technologies NTT Data Persistent Systems SapientNitro SDLC Partners Siteworx Skookum Syntel Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Tech Mahindra ThoughtWorks Torry Harris Business Solutions (THBS) Virtusa WillowTree Apps Wipro PwC Endnotes 1 Knowledge workers face a paradox: The technology intended to make them more effective actually distracts, drains, and demotivates them instead. Rapidly changing customer and market conditions demand creativity and the highly productive cognitive state called flow. But a workplace optimized for routine tasks destroys flow and saps energy. It doesn t have to be that way. For more information, see the July 14, 2014, A Crisis Of Attention: Technology, Productivity, And Flow report. 2 For more information about the emerging BT agenda, and how it s different from the IT agenda, see the October 10, 2013, Technology Management In The Age Of The Customer report. 3 For more information about journey maps, wireframes, and the tools used to create them, see the September 30, 2013, Five Creative Approaches For Using Personas And Customer Journey Maps Effectively report and see the May 13, 2011, Six Tools To Consider For Creating Prototypes report. 4 Mobile is pushing aging web architectures to the brink. The three-tier architecture built for a browserled PC world can t flex, scale, or respond to the needs of a good mobile experience or the emerging requirements for connected products. Mobile s volatility and velocity of change require a distributed fourtier architecture that we call an engagement platform. For more information, see the October 18, 2013, Mobile Needs A Four-Tier Engagement Platform report.

16 Market Overview: Enterprise Mobile Applications Services Providers 15 5 Application development professionals have many choices when it comes to selecting mobile technologies. One of these, mobile middleware, is in a high state of flux. Market consolidation, backend-as-a-service (BaaS), low-cost native platforms, and open source alternatives are changing the buying equation and putting pressure on vendors results. For more information, see the February 27, 2014, Brief: Services Supplant Mobile Middleware report. 6 Customer expectations are soaring as the mobile mind shift accelerates. In order to meet those expectations, mobile development teams must be capable of releasing high-quality apps multiple times a year. For more information, see the April 22, 2014, Organize For Mobile Development Success report.

17 About Forrester A global research and advisory firm, Forrester inspires leaders, informs better decisions, and helps the world s top companies turn the complexity of change into business advantage. Our researchbased insight and objective advice enable IT professionals to lead more successfully within IT and extend their impact beyond the traditional IT organization. Tailored to your individual role, our resources allow you to focus on important business issues margin, speed, growth first, technology second. for more information To find out how Forrester Research can help you be successful every day, please contact the office nearest you, or visit us at For a complete list of worldwide locations, visit Client support For information on hard-copy or electronic reprints, please contact Client Support at , , or [email protected]. We offer quantity discounts and special pricing for academic and nonprofit institutions. Forrester Focuses On Application Development & Delivery Professionals Responsible for leading the development and delivery of applications that support your company s business strategies, you also choose technology and architecture while managing people, skills, practices, and organization to maximize value. Forrester s subject-matter expertise and deep understanding of your role will help you create forward-thinking strategies; weigh opportunity against risk; justify decisions; and optimize your individual, team, and corporate performance. «Andrea Davies, client persona representing Application Development & Delivery Professionals Forrester Research (Nasdaq: FORR) is a global research and advisory firm serving professionals in 13 key roles across three distinct client segments. Our clients face progressively complex business and technology decisions every day. To help them understand, strategize, and act upon opportunities brought by change, Forrester provides proprietary research, consumer and business data, custom consulting, events and online communities, and peer-to-peer executive programs. We guide leaders in business technology, marketing and strategy, and the technology industry through independent fact-based insight, ensuring their business success today and tomorrow