It’s an accepted fact that consumers are transacting a growing proportion of their online commerce via mobile devices but this has been slow to translate to enterprise-level applications. In part this is because customarily enterprise data is trapped in silos that are often difficult to connect to the outside world. In a world where data is increasingly the most valuable asset an organization holds, opening this data up and allowing business units to utilize it in new ways is critical. And, it goes without saying, many of these new ways of utilizing data will be on a mobile device.

So, what does this new Salesforce platform actually deliver? The new platform has two services:

• Salesforce Mobile SDK 2.0 - The open source project is designed to make it easy for any enterprise developer to securely connect enterprise data to any mobile app – native, hybrid or HTML5 – on any iOS or Android device. The SDK also enables HTML5-based apps to leverage device features like the camera and geolocation, and provides additional libraries for key enterprise requirements such as authentication and secure offline storage.
• Developer Mobile Packs - These open source “quick start” packs enable any web developer to build highly responsive HTML5 or hybrid mobile apps on any platform and access real-time Salesforce data. Mobile Packs leverage the massively scalable and trusted Salesforce Platform REST APIs through a choice of popular, lightweight JavaScript frameworks – AngularJS, Backbone.js and jQuery Mobile – to offer greater development flexibility and deliver amazing data-centric mobile experiences.

Alongside the product announcement, Salesforce is announcing a program for consulting and implementation partners, perhaps as a acknowledgement that in the enterprise world, there is a distinct lack of understanding of the why/how and what of mobile app enablement. The new mobile accelerator program is a consulting partnership with company’s such as Appirio, Bluewold and Capgemini.

MyPOV

Eureka – Enterprises, whether they know it or not, have no option but to embrace agile methodologies, point solutions, and mobile applications. By bringing together consulting services along with holistic development tools, Salesforce is helping move traditional enterprises into the mobile world. That said I do have some questions – the company is strongly articulating the open source nature of the mobile packs – it hopes to build some community momentum around the initiative. While this is a logical move from Salesforce’s perspective, it is somewhat dissonant to see such a strong open source messaging around mobile development whose very value proposition lies embedded in proprietary data and core applications.

I don’t believe that Salesforce needed to put this open source spin on things. Enterprises, in my experience, realize that they need to start thinking mobile and are looking for partners who can help them bridge the gap from where they are today to a more mobile-enabled model. By tying together core data alongside mobile app development tools – Salesforce makes it something of a no-brainer for enterprises to begin their mobile journey.

I’ll be taking part in a rapid fire panel that aims to articular Enterprise Cloud Best Practices. Joining me will be;

• Mario Müller, Vice President IT Infrastructure at BMW
• Matt Estes, Director, Data Architecture at Walt Disney
  Das Kamhout, IT Cloud Lead from Intel Corporation

The topic of the panel is something I’m very interested in – over the past few months I’ve been involved in roundtables, interviews and advisory assignments that have, at least in part, looked at different issues that enterprise cloud raises. Some areas of particular interest that I’d like to cover off in the panel include;

• Adoption models – some cloud vendors are engaged with IT and following a top down adoption approach while others are aiming for a more viral bottom up adoption. What issues do these different approaches raise and how do we navigate this path while ensuring agility and compliance?
• Visibility – with business units being empowered to self implement solutions, how does the CIO get clear visibility over what his internal customers are using, and what implications that has?
• The opportunity for open – how important is “open” in the cloud. And how do we all define what open actually means. So long as an enterprise gets a solution that works, should they be interested in the openness or otherwise of that solution?
• The role of the IT pro going forwards – Most people agree that the face of IT will look completely different in five or ten years, but what of the IT practitioner. What will their role look like and what will the balance be between technical competency and analytical business skills?
• Public/Private/Hybrid – While our panel is specifically looking at enterprise cloud, that can mean different things to different people. What will be the mix that determines where stuff physical resides in the future. The naysayers are adamant it’ll all be on-prem while the evangelists say it’ll all be up in the ether – where along the continuum is realistic for different types of businesses?

I’m really looking forward to the conversations we’re going to have at Forecast 2012 – feel free to leave a comment here to be in for a chance to win a free ticket.