Enterprise Mobile Center Of Excellence: You Need It To Take Your Mobility To Next-Level

Enterprises are rapidly adopting mobile solutions to unlock the opportunities offered by mobile to boost efficiency, streamline processes and be more agile and responsive to customer needs. However, the invasion of mobile device and applications in organizations is also leading to many major challenges like:

• One hand often doesn’t know what the other is doing: Most of the mobile initiatives are siloed. In most cases, the processes, procedures and policies for mobile implementation are confined to a team or a function and is rarely disseminated across. Enterprises would need a broader coordination and strategy to spread it across the organization to optimize returns and benefits out it.
• Overload on IT department: Mobility adoption has also put enormous responsibilities on the IT department in terms of development, deployment and management of enterprise mobile apps & devices, handling user expectations, creating mobile security mechanism, and adopting to the swiftly changing mobile landscape.

However, as mobility invades deep and wide into the enterprise ecosystem, organizations now need a comprehensive mobile strategy to organize, execute and evaluate a wider roll-out of mobility. Establishing a central entity as an enterprise mobile center of excellence can help organizations move to the next-generation of mobility implementation in addition to building a cohesive, standardized and collaborative mobile environment. The MCoE can be a fulcrum around which the entire mobility of an enterprise revolves.

When you need a MCoE?

Of course you don’t need a mobile center of excellence for your first mobile app. However, if you have 3 or 4 mobile solutions and are planning an enterprise wide roll-out of mobility then you would need a MCOE to define standards and architectures, spell out mobile governance model, facilitate collaboration across stakeholders, promote and disseminate best practices in the organization.

What is a Mobile Center of Excellence?

One size doesn’t fits all. There is no standard structure to a MCoE. As organizations vary in their mobile intent and maturity so as their centre of excellence. In some companies, a mobile centre of excellence exists as an informal group responsible for mobile while some companies have put in place a formal MCoE. However a well-defined MCoE with a strong mandate and executive endorsement is essential for its success.

How to Build an Effective Mobility Center of Excellence?

• Give your MCOE endorsement: A MCoE cannot be successful without the management endorsement and participation. Put MCoE as part of your organizational structure to help it gain visibility and authority across departments. Empower it with decision-making and execution responsibilities.
• Clearly define the MCoE scope: Your team will need a clear, well-defined charter right from defining the scope, leadership, budgets, measurement metrics and goals. A MCoE not only handles the architectures and procedures for mobile but also engages with the mobile experience and customer needs.
• Bring in diversity to the team: The MCoE will collaborate the technical and business part of enterprise. You would need people who are technical experts as well as people who understand the business and customer well. Bring together people with different skill sets and subject matter expertise to foster broader synergy.
• Start small, build big: As with any business process, an MCoE would also need time and experience to get going. Start with a project or a business unit, roll out the process, evaluate and review the impact. Once the entity gains sufficient tractions, let it encompass wider responsibilities to align with the big picture.

Mobile Center of Excellence has a big and impactful role in the enterprise mobility environment. Not only to address technical challenges arising due to proliferation of mobile devices and apps but also to answer business strategy challenges poised in the existing environment.

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