Driving maximum value_from_mobile_technology_(en) for aerospace & defense industry

SAP White PaperAerospace and Defense

Driving Maximum Value from Mobile TechnologyThe Strategic Necessity of Enterprise Mobility in Aerospace and Defense

Table of Contents

5 Executive Summary

6 Why a Mobility Strategy MattersThe Consumerization of Technology

Expectations for Increased Enterprise Mobility and Productivity

8 The Challenges of Creating a Mobile Enterprise

9 The Four Cs of Enterprise MobilityConnect

Consume

Control

Create

10 Enterprise Mobility with Maximum Impact and ValueEnterprise Mobility for Executives

Enterprise Mobility for Program Managers

Enterprise Mobility for Process Workers

The Bottom Line

13 Conclusion

Enterprise mobility is a must-have strategy for aerospace and defense (A&D) firms. As part of a global industry involving mission-critical products, A&D companies must support a workforce that is on the move. Right now, the technology exists – from really smart smartphones to everywhere Wi-Fi access – to support true enterprise mobility in A&D. But how can you make sure that mobile technology brings the greatest value to your firm?

5SAP White Paper – Driving Maximum Value from Mobile Technology

EnTErPrISE MobIlITy IS on ThE rISE

Aerospace and defense is an inherently mobile industry. Yet it’s plagued with inefficiencies introduced by very large production facilities, distributed work-forces, far-flung points of maintenance, and assets such as aircraft and ships that themselves are mobile. In an envi-ronment in which mounting budget pres-sure demands “doing more with less,” some A&D firms have looked to IT mobil-ity solutions as a path towards overcom-ing these challenges.

Meanwhile, enterprise mobility contin-ues to gain momentum. This is evidenced by increased corporate support for a broad array of smartphones and other mobile devices; expanding support of mobile applications for employees,

customers, and partners; and increased access to these solutions. Across a range of companies, enterprise mobility is no longer a “nice to have” feature. It is quickly becoming a strategic necessity.

But making a workforce mobile and securely connecting business information with a vast array of mobile devices can be a challenge. This paper details trends and issues behind enterprise mobility and then outlines a framework that can help guide A&D firms seeking to create a comprehensive and effective enterprise mobility strategy. Finally, the paper will conclude with how to identify business processes that, once they become mobile, can drive the most value to the organization.

Executive Summary

Across a range of companies, enterprise mobility is no longer a “nice to have” feature. It is quickly becoming a strategic necessity.

MobIlE TEChnology IS ThE nExT DESkToP

In a recent Oxford Economics survey, respondents were asked to identify four digital megatrends that they believe will have the greatest positive impact on the business landscape. Mobile technology topped the list, as shown in Figure 1.1 Respondents across all sectors, in firms of all sizes, and in both the developed and emerging worlds consistently rated mobility technology as a game changer. In fact, more than 50% of the respon-dents within each sector indicated that their firms will invest heavily in mobile technologies over the next five years.2 As smartphone penetration and adop-tion rates soar, handheld devices are poised to eclipse the desktop and laptop as must-have technologies.

ThE ConSuMErIzATIon oF TEChnology

When it comes to mobile technology, employees are driving how they want to interact with information – and expecting IT departments to support a wide range of personal mobile devices and applications. According to a recent survey of nearly 2,000 North American and European companies by Forrester Research Inc., more than 45% of the firms state that they are focused on supporting more mobile applications for employees who work outside of the office.3 In addition, 43% of the companies are planning to support more mobile devices or smart-phones for their employees.

Furthermore, more than 55% of the companies allow employees to bring their personal mobile devices into the office and will provide some level of support to these personal devices. “This is part of a broader trend that we call the ‘consumer-ization’ of IT in which employees solve customer and business problems using technology that they master first at home, such as social media, mobile, and video services,” notes the Forrester report.4

In short, employees want to interact with business data as easily and as intui-tively as they use Twitter or Facebook.

Why a Mobility Strategy Matters

Figure 1: Importance of Mobile Technology in Driving business Value

Mobile technology

Business intelligence

Cloud computing

Social media

Source: Oxford Economics

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Which do you believe will have the greatest positive impact on your business over the next five years?

7SAP White Paper – Driving Maximum Value from Mobile Technology

ExPECTATIonS For InCrEASED EnTErPrISE MobIlITy AnD ProDuCTIVITy

Shrinking government budgets, increased low-cost competition, and performance-based contracting are some of the key trends that have driven A&D firms to rethink how they operate. For example, aerospace manufacturers – particularly those in the commercial sector – have turned to outsourcing production of major assemblies and subcomponents to reduce capital expenditures and labor expenses. In the maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) space, performance-based contracts increasingly dictate that global firms deliver service locally and efficiently. Moreover, overarching demands in the A&D marketplace for safety, quality, and regulatory compliance have not lessened. This new reality in A&D

is more complex, placing a premium on orchestration and the ability to instantly deliver information wherever it is needed.

The emergence of mobile solutions means that IT can play a significant role in addressing A&D’s complex challenges by speeding critical business processes and supporting rapid decision making. From the executive ranks, to program manag-ers, to production and service workers, mobile solutions can enable employees to complete complex tasks more efficiently and to greater levels of quality and com-pliance. According to Yankee Group Research Inc., “Despite initial fears that the spread of mobile technologies would spiral costs out of control and put sensi-tive corporate data at risk, companies are increasingly looking to . . . mobile applications to offer incremental business benefits that together can have a trans-formative impact.”5 (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2: Internal and Customer-Facing Benefits from Mobility Initiatives

Source: Yankee Group Research Inc., A Guide to Successfully Deploying Enterprise Mobile Applications, September 2011

A comprehensive mobility strategy is a top priority to leverage technology and improve performance. While the need to support such a powerful and flexible mobility strategy is great, getting there is complicated and difficult. Historically, many firms have pushed information – e-mails, alerts, and static reports – out to employees via a corporate-mandated mobile device. With today’s technology, firms can move from the push environ-ment to an interactive one – where employees are connected and interactive all the time, anywhere, on any device.

Making your enterprise mobile requires getting timely business information, irre-spective of the source, to your employees when and where they need it. For exam-ple, a production supervisor who is out of the office can send out work orders using a smartphone. Workers who are already on the shop floor can then access their assignment from a tablet device. Maybe they drill down into details to review instructions, technical drawings, or tool assignments. Now they can immediately begin the operation and update the task status without having to leave the point of work. Information can be shared and deci-sions can be made with fewer bottlenecks and less wasted effort.

While A&D firms have long desired this level of interconnectivity, the technology is only now fully available to support it. Smartphones and tablets – such as the iPad, Galaxy, and PlayBook – are quickly becoming mainstream. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi network connectivity and bandwidth is ubiquitous – not just in the office, but lit-erally everywhere.

However, supporting and managing the collection and delivery of business infor-mation to a wide range of wireless devices and operating systems – BlackBerry, iOS, iPad OS, Android, Windows, and Windows

Phone 7, just to name a few – quickly become complicated, as illustrated in Figure 3. For example, do you have a pro-cess to apply necessary and timely OS patches? You need a platform that can help you coordinate and manage data from multiple applications, servers, and storage systems – one that can securely filter large amounts of data and distribute it safely.

Given the rigorous security require-ments in A&D, all this must be done with utter confidence that data is secure at all times, using a system that balances rig-orous security with easy and trouble-free employee access. Can you enforce secu-rity policies established in the provision-ing stage? Provide detailed logging and reporting? Supply robust encryption that satisfies government standards? Historically, these IT challenges have been addressed in an ad hoc fashion. Now, enterprise mobility platforms allow IT to better manage data flow and ensure rigorous mobile security features for the connectivity of critical information to all employees on any devices.

MulTIPlE APPS, SErVErS, AnD STorAgE SySTEMS ADD CoMPlExITy

The Challenges of Creating a Mobile Enterprise

Figure 3: The Complexity of Managing organizational Mobility

Tablet

Windows Phone 7

Windows

Android

Smartphone

iPad OS

BlackBerry

iOS

Multiple platforms

Multiple systems

9SAP White Paper – Driving Maximum Value from Mobile Technology

Firms interested in secure mobile tech-nology need to consider several major factors. We’ll call them the “four Cs”: connect, consume, control, and create.

ConnECT

As we’ve mentioned, any enterprise mobility strategy starts with a platform for information management. Such a plat-form must be able to pull all business information from multiple data sources and applications – including enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management, HR, and more – to data storage devices, servers, and data marts. A flexible and open infrastructure needs to make the data easily accessible to users and also incorporate large and sometimes unex-pected changes down the road.

ConSuME

A workable enterprise mobility system must be able to deliver business informa-tion to any mobile device for consumption and use. As stated before, employees want to receive the information and ana-lyze it on the device of their choice – any-time and anywhere. Firms must address the complex challenges of managing a wide and ever-changing range of both employee-owned and company devices, with multiple operating systems and upgrade schedules. For example, a report formatted for viewing on a BlackBerry may not display correctly on an iPhone.

ConTrol

Your IT department needs central control of all devices, as well as the information pulled from the platform and pushed to those devices. For example, an effective practice is to build a control feature once and use it to support multiple devices. The goal is to manage and secure each mobile device through its entire lifecycle, from provisioning to production to decommissioning.

ProvisioningIn the provisioning phase, you need to configure, set up, and install devices; manage application deployment; and establish security policies. You can work with both group and membership assign-ments to accomplish provisioning for a large organization.

ProductionIn the production phase, you must remotely manage, track, and maintain devices. This includes updating and repairing software as needed, as well as distributing data and content to line-of-business applications. You need to securely back up device data, enforce compliance and security policies, and provide login reports.

ThE kEyS To An EFFECTIVE MobIlITy STrATEgy

DecommissioningThe final phase is decommissioning. Here you can remotely disable or kill devices, reprovision and redeploy devices, and enforce access violation locks. Decom-missioning is a critical step – as impor-tant as provisioning, or perhaps even more so. We’ve all heard stories about a device sold on eBay that is still loaded with corporate data; that device was the victim of either theft or a poor decommis-sioning process. To enforce the security of the business, you must be able to lock or kill a lost or stolen device and to wipe all data from devices about to be removed from inventory and repurposed. Finally, each reprovisioned device must receive a new functional image as well as the appropriate applications and settings.

CrEATE

Rapid-development tools make it easy to create new mobile applications – for example, an expense report or sales and development app. The value that mobile technology delivers is directly related to the effectiveness of the applications you are running. Developing mobile apps for mission-critical processes – such as tal-ent management or business develop-ment – can help carve out competitive differentiation. Remember also that new applications should possess the best qualities of well-designed consumer apps – small, easy to download, and easy to understand, with rapid development, instant value, and fast ROI.

The Four Cs of Enterprise Mobility

A number of areas within A&D are primed to use mobile technology to drive incre-mental value, as shown in the table.

With so many use-case possibilities, how do you narrow in on those that will drive the biggest impact and value? You want to look for opportunities to turn unproductive time, such as downtime at an airport, into productive time, such as completing an expense report. You also want to look for opportunities to increase productivity of already productive time.

At SAP, we’ve developed some simple guidelines for identifying processes ripe for improvement using mobile applica-tions. First, the workflow must be com-plex; you won’t get the same level of ROI on a simple process. Second, the pro-cess must be time sensitive; one of the greatest strengths of mobile apps is speeding up the time it takes to make a decision. Third, mobile applications can offer significant benefits to processes that multiple people touch. The net? Enterprise mobility can speed decision time and accelerate activities in a time-sensitive, complex process that requires information, analysis, or approval from multiple employees. Taking the above factors into account, let’s review three high-impact use cases in more detail.

ThE kEy IS To IDEnTIFy ThE rIghT ProCESSES

Enterprise Mobility with Maximum Impact and Value

Area Mobile Application Examples

Aftermarket; maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO)

• Work order access at the point of service • Tool and part inventory tracking • Technical document reference • Service history and logging • Task resolution and work sign-off • Technician scheduling and availability

Business capture • Lead management • Opportunity management • Collateral access • Product visualization and demonstration

Program management • Time recording • Earned value and project status reporting • Dashboard of key performance indicators (KPIs)

for program management • Workflow approvals • Supplier audit

Shop floor management • Work order assignment and tracking for shop floor supervisors

• Production bulletin board • Work order access at the point of production • Quality issue management

Analytics • KPI monitoring • Data exploration and visualization

11SAP White Paper – Driving Maximum Value from Mobile Technology

EnTErPrISE MobIlITy For ExECuTIVES

A&D executives always need to be on top of their business to accelerate time to action. With mobile applications, they can get instant insight – in the form of key performance indicators for all areas of their business. They can review sales, the business development pipeline, and the status on program delivery. Mobile features give executives the ability to make more educated decisions based on real-time data and analytic functionality, which ultimately speeds response time.

EnTErPrISE MobIlITy For ProgrAM MAnAgErS

With key information at their fingertips, program managers can use mobile appli-cations to orchestrate the activities of their teams and ultimately accelerate program delivery. They need access to all necessary information – such as contract bids and proposals, system engineering and requirement details, and earned value management reports – to help bring programs in on time and under budget.

EnTErPrISE MobIlITy For ProCESS WorkErS

A&D workers in engineering, production, field support, and business operations need rapid access to information, such as tasks, schedules, and resource avail-ability. For example, the ability of techni-cians to access work order information – especially when they are on the go in the field or in large production areas – can speed delivery and maximize the value of contracts. Mobile applications can also improve collaboration and visi-bility within the program ecosystem. For example, productivity apps can allow program stakeholders to easily capture and communicate time sheets, travel expenses, and workflow requests and approvals.

ThE boTToM lInE

Understanding where to apply mobile technology – to time-sensitive, complex processes requiring input from multiple people – can help ensure maximum impact and effectiveness and speed ROI of enterprise mobility initiatives.

CriTeria for applying MobiliTy

To optimize your ROI in mobile technology, apply it to business processes that involve:

• Complex workflows • Time-sensitive decisions • Multiple people touching the process

You need a platform that can help you coordinate and manage data from multiple applications, servers, and storage systems

– one that can filter and distribute large amounts of data safely, balancing rigorous security with easy employee access.

13SAP White Paper – Driving Maximum Value from Mobile Technology

EnTErPrISE MobIlITy CAn DrIVE FASTEr, SMArTEr DECISIonS

A&D firms are positioned to derive great benefits from making their operations mobile enterprise-wide, from executives to program managers to process workers. But to do so successfully, a firm must address the daunting task of supporting a wide-ranging ecosystem of operating sys-tems, devices, and applications required to empower its mobile workers. To achieve enterprise mobility with power and control in a way that helps its users get the most out of mobile technology, a firm should thoroughly address the four Cs – connect,

consume, control, and create. The best candidates are complex processes that require rapid decisions based on informa-tion, analysis, or approval from multiple people. In such cases, successful applica-tion of mobile technology can speed deci-sion time and accelerate both processes and ROI.

To reap the benefits of enterprise mobility, find a process that is ripe for this strategy – and use the four Cs to start making faster, better-informed decisions today.

Conclusion

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In the world of aerospace and defense (A&D), mobile technology is a strategic necessity that can boost productivity and drive competitive advantage. For more information on how to maximize the value of mobile technology in your A&D firm, contact www.sap.com/industries /aerospace-and-defense.epx.

fooTnoTeS

1. Digital Megatrends 2015: The Role of Technol-ogy in the New Normal Market, Oxford Economics, March 2011.2. Ibid.3. The Rise of Wannabe and Maverick Mobile Workers, Forrester Research Inc., February 16, 2011.4. Ibid.5. A Guide to Successfully Deploying Enterprise Mobile Applications, white paper commissioned by SAP from Yankee Group Research Inc., September 2011.

Enterprise mobility can speed decision time and accelerate activities in a time-sensitive, complex process that requires information, analysis, or approval from multiple employees.

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