It's Gotta Fit on a 1" Screen...

I am just returning from the SAP NetWeaver BI and Portals 2010 conference where I spoke on the topic of crafting an Enterprise Social Portal. It was interesting that most of the attendees in the audience were IT application developers or administrators yet very few of them were interacting with social sites today. And they were divided along generational lines when it came to mobile phone usage. One of the younger attendees said "If the entire message doesn't fit on the 1" screen of my mobile device, it gets put off until later, and sometimes later is never." This was not just about texting 140 character Tweet but also email POPed from his favorite program. Clearly, I must find the foreign language class titled "Cryptic writing" with a specialty in "Keeping the attention span of the Millenial mobile generation." When 63% of the workforce prefer a Smartphone over the Laptop, we are clearly entering a new world of communication.

On the front page of the USA Today that arrived at my doorstep was the anxiously awaited Apple iPad and on the back page a list of all of the cool new iPhone apps that will make your life easier. Some more useful than others. There were 3 main categories of apps: instant access to data, location relevant data and collaborative data. For instant access to the oracle known as Google, it is a standard practice of my 12 year old to ask for the answers to her homework - sometimes from her iPod directly. For the traveler, there were many apps for locating food and restrooms at the airports. But my favorite is the RunPee app designed to alert you when there is a lull in the movie you are watching to leave for a 2 minute bio break.

Across all of the mobile and social applications getting built today, I am quite impressed by the attention to detail and focus on the simplicity. It is nice to see the knowledge sharing and willingness of the general public to participate in the goodwill of the community. Over the next few years, we will see more of this innovation blossoming inside organizations and changing the culture of the enterprise. I can't wait!