Mobile First has been word thrown around in many conventions and even some making it hard for one to wrap their mind around the strategy. It's a term experts have coined to refer to the primary of mobile networks made up of modern smartphones attached to a large network coverage area.

Still not to the point right? It is better still the use of mobile phones/devices to fulfill individual operations as well as enterprise. Today, companies are increasing tendency to design their products for mobile phones or devices before making correlate designs for traditional desktop and laptop computers. The strategy aims at capturing these markets before going after users who are still tethered to larger and less portable screens.

Over the past decade, mobile technology has grown in functionality and popularity to become not only pervasive, but also the preferred method of exchanging information, currency, goods and services. Mobile is becoming the primary mode for transacting. It is driving tremendous amounts of data to deliver new customer insight, and is increasingly integral to new capabilities and services that can be delivered through cloud computing. The bottom line is that enterprise mobile adoption is transforming industries, and reinventing the customer experience.

On an executive discussion with IBM's Mobile First technology experts, Africa came up as one of continents that has grown to be a perfect market target for the strategy considering the rapid growth of mobile money services that are a perfect example of the strategy where the customer connects to their financial institution directly.

 

  • By the end of 2014, its expected at least 7.3 billion mobile devices around the world will be in use
  • 6 billion mobile devices are affected by Malware Android being the most targeted

 

In 2013, IBM launched IBM MobileFirst, a significant mobile strategy that enables clients to radically streamline and accelerate mobile adoption. IBM assembled the people, technology and R&D to build the most comprehensive mobile portfolio in the industry. IBM MobileFirst combines deep industry expertise with mobile, Big Data and analytics, cloud and social technologies to help organizations capture new markets and reach more people.

IBM however targets enterprises in Kenya to connect with clients personally. USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is one of the ways companies have adopted Mobile First in Kenya. This has resulted to fast customer feedback which then assists companies in creation of new services and products. How well Mobile First will work will be determined by the development of a specific app, market segmentation and how enterprises customize them.

Security concerns have been raised about the strategy before this is where IBM comes in, the company promises the application is secure with a built security platform that will protect the device and applications used by clients. IBM provides security measures to protect documents and information for the user by implementing remote wiping solution that picks out specific data or application that is infected and wipes it out. In case of a situation where a device records multiple password trials, the device is shut down indefinitely by the system which is a strategy to keep off hackers or theft.

In the case an application is infected with malware, the software implements remote wiping, a solution that picks out the specific data or application that is infected and wipes it out. With the growing use of mobile in doing business, the security perimeter is shifting from the internal business structure and away from the internal firewall hence the need for protection against the 'Man in the Middle' or the third party threatening your privacy.

Enterprises need to protect their consumers from any possible hacks and attacks thorough acquiring the company's help which will  take care of both the service provider and client.