A “Marriage Made in Heaven”: Mobile Devices Meet the Mobile Cloud

The huge popularity and rapid growth of smartphones over the past couple of years has been truly breathtaking. At the same time, cloud computing has become the new way of delivering—and charging for—IT services and functionality.

While research has been conducted on mobile and cloud computing as separate trends, to date very little data has existed on the impact of mobility and cloud together—especially with regards to the impact on devices. To understand this dynamic market better, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) surveyed 1,016 U.S. mobile users to understand their current and future needs with regard to the mobile cloud.

Findings from the research about mobile devices provide important insights for SPs. For example:

·        Almost half (45 percent) of survey respondents already have smartphones. Most remarkable, the survey revealed that up to 60 percent of U.S. mobile phone subscribers could be smartphone users by the end of 2013.

·        Smartphone owners are selecting their devices primarily to acquire the best functionality. Fifty percent of smartphone respondents indicated that device functionality is their key buying criteria, followed by brand and ease of use.

·        Smartphone users are much more comfortable using cloud services than non-smartphone users. Given smartphone users’ demographic profile and technological sophistication, it is probably no surprise they are already big consumers of cloud-based services in the traditional PC world.

·        Smartphone users are particularly excited about the opportunity to move unique mobile-specific features and capabilities to the cloud. They especially want to combine the microphone and speaker capabilities of their devices for speech recognition (75 percent over the next one to two years).

·        Smartphone users are also interested in a thin-client device that would allow them to access all of their content and smartphone functionality from the cloud. Similarly, smartphone users were interested in a mobile-cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) service that would allow them to arrange a computer desktop to reflect their personal preferences and view the same configuration on any mobile (or other) device.

Mobile operators are well positioned to prosper from the mobile cloud. On average, respondents rated their level of satisfaction with the overall mobile experience a 7.8 out of 10. By studying the findings and implementing the recommendations described in this paper, SPs can benefit by understanding the size of the opportunity, developing strategies for growth, and differentiating their offerings. Note: This is one in a series of papers that evaluate the Cisco IBSG survey results from four distinct perspectives: overview, business users, consumers, and devices (this paper).

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Top 5 Predictions for the Future World of Mobile Cloud for Businesses

Mobility and cloud computing are colliding. So, what does this mean for the future of mobile devices? How soon will video-conference calls on our mobile devices become commonplace? How can service providers (SPs) enhance their competitive position by delivering cloud and managed services?

While research has been conducted on mobile and cloud computing as separate trends, to date very little data has existed on the impact of mobility and cloud together. To understand this dynamic market better, Cisco IBSG surveyed more than 1,000 business users to understand their current and future needs with regard to the mobile cloud.

The top findings may surprise you:

1) By the end of 2012, business users will routinely attend video-conference calls on their mobile phones while making use of other video endpoints such as desktop webcams and telepresence stations. Today, only 20 percent of users have this capability.

2) Business users also want to switch back and forth between device types in real time. For example, if I’m on a call on my mobile device and I walk into the office, the call would seamlessly switch to my office phone.

3) Additionally, using virtual desktop integration (VDI), many users are seeking to replicate the desktop experience on their mobile devices, enabling these devices to become true extensions of both work and personal desktops. This will provide more flexibility and improved productivity while on the go.

4) By 2012, professional and personal boundaries will blur on mobile devices. Business users want a unified mobile cloud experience to access both professional and personal content from one device to increase productivity and improve work-life balance.

5) We will see a shift from smartphones to thin-client, cloud-based mobile devices. Applications and data will also be stored in the cloud, rather than on the desktop. Our survey respondents felt a thin-client approach would enhance security by reducing the risk of losing content and applications in case their devices were lost or stolen.

Developing a portfolio of mobile cloud services now—including mobile extensions of enterprise cloud applications such as video conferencing and collaboration—will be the key to success for SPs.

SPs should begin by using mobility as a lead value proposition for cloud strategy versus non-SP competitors. Next, it is important to develop an integrated device strategy by utilizing capabilities such as speech recognition and messaging history that lend themselves to the features and functionality of mobile devices. The strategy should include the creation of cloud services that address both business and personal use (e.g., gaming and social networking). Finally, SPs should deliver the promise of fixed mobile convergence for business users with seamless voice and data experiences that span fixed and mobile networks.