CA INTRODUCES MOBILE eBUSINESS INITIATIVE
- Partnering the way forward but Europe and the US still have a
lot to learn
by Nicki Hayes, April 20, 2001
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Last year, our European correspondent Nicki Hayes interviewed Jacob Lamm, senior vice president of
Computer Associates International(CA), about CA partnering with eCRM vendor eWare to offer wireless
customer relationship management solutions to its customer base. This seemed to mark a turning point
in CA’s business strategy, both in terms of “partnering” rather than “acquiring” and in terms of
entering the mobile business arena. In fact, Lamm claimed that CA was so encouraged by the market’s
interest in wireless solutions that it was looking for more in every area of its operations.
Then, low and behold, last month CA announced the launch of its mobile eBusiness initiative at CeBIT,
again based on a number of partnerships. Such partnerships are to be welcomed, but, while
partnerships certainly are the fastest way forward in the new world of mobile business, both Europe and
the US still have a lot to learn, according to Nicki Hayes.
Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA) announced a major mobile eBusiness initiative last
week, in partnership with an impressive list of leading technology providers. The initiative aims to enable
rapid and secure deployment, management and integration of enterprise applications for wireless systems
and devices-including WAP gateways, laptops, PDAs and internet-enabled phones and is to be welcomed.
Through the initiative, Aether Systems, Inc., Motorola, Inc., Nokia Corp. and Soft Design A/S have entered
into agreements with CA to market solutions for mobile computing that are integrated with powerful CA
eBusiness management software. Additionally EDS has expanded its existing relationship with CA to
provide customized solutions and implementation services to support the initiative.
Tarkan Maner, CA’s vice president of corporate marketing explains a little more about the motivation
behind the initiative:
"Truly successful wireless applications require high availability, carefully tuned performance, robust
security and tight integration with existing enterprise applications. CA's mobile eBusiness initiative enables
customers to effectively address these core requirements, regardless of their level of experience or expertise
in wireless deployment."
It’s good to see such initiatives. Mobile business is about far more than enabling mobile transactions, a
subject that is all too often the focus of media and industry activity. Businesses stand to benefit in so many
ways from extending their enterprise resources to wireless access. For instance, wireless access to
resources improves individual and team productivity, enables real time information update and access,
eliminates missed business opportunities, and extends next-generation eBusiness information and
transaction services to customers. And CA is, perhaps, uniquely positioned to spearhead such an initiative,
with its 24 years of global enterprise management expertise and unmatched eBusiness management
solutions portfolio.
It is not surprising then that the initiative has been well received by the market. Stephen Drake, senior
research analyst, wireless and mobile enterprise access with IDC approves, commenting:
"The ability to provide a mobile middleware platform and an enterprise class management framework in
one integrated solution are important criteria enterprises look for when considering mobile workforce
automation projects. For companies to successfully execute their mobilization strategies, they need to
effectively deploy a wide range of new technologies in a way that integrates appropriately with their
existing information resources, communications infrastructure and business processes."
Kurt Nielsen, group IT director, Scandinavian Garment Services (SGS) also welcomes the initiative:
"SGS understands the importance of delivering managed information to the mobile environment in a highly
secured manner. The ability to access information any time from anywhere is crucial to the quality of
service that SGS offers our customers. This mobile eBusiness initiative proves that CA understands that
organizations like ours need tools to quickly and securely deploy mobile technology across an enterprise."
So, bravo and well done to CA on spearheading such an impressive stable of partnerships. Partnerships
surely are the way forward in the new highly competitive mobile business arena, facilitating speed to
market and the development of better infrastructures, products and services. But, in a world where we’re far
too often disappointed by overpromising and underdelivering (eg WAP1.3 enabled handsets, 2.5G and 3G
infrastructures, location-based services and network enabled PDAs to name but a few) there’s a lot Europe
and the US could learn. It would be nice to see more co-operation between competitors as well as providers
of complimentary products and services. The Hong Kong m-CERT Implementation Forum (see
www.hkmif.com) is one fine example of such ‘co-opetition’. This forum was formed one year ago now as a
joint initiative of mobile operators in Hong Kong to develop and implement a mobile certificate solution
and to promote mobile commerce in Hong Kong.
Previous NewsByte...
WIRELESS DATA - IS IT ALL TALK?
About the author:
Nicki Hayes is a freelance writer and corporate communications consultant specialising in business to business internet issues. She has contributed editorial to a number of publications including Unstrung.com, Guardian Online, Financial Times, Banking & Financial Training, eAI Journal and Secure Computing. Nicki is also the European correspondent for The Wireless Developer Network. Nicki is based in Dublin, Ireland and also has a base in Cambridge, UK. Through her consultancy, Hayes-Singh Associates, she has access to a number of technical writers and PR consultants throughout Ireland and the UK.
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