Blogs

March is an interesting month. It brings longer days, changes in the weather, and what we call “show season.” In March alone, the three big ERP companies all have their annual user conferences. I always make an effort to be at these conferences because change is normally in the air.

Chances are, at this year’s exhibits, you’ll be inundated by mobile offerings. A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 2011) highlighted the fact that colleges and universities have been slow to adopt new mobile technologies. I think this show season will change that. There should be no shortage of vendors touting their mobile solutions.

Consider the following:

• Smart phones have already surpassed sales of personal computers. The phone is taking over the role of the laptop. Smaller has always been better.
• Your students are the “Millennials.” They’ve grown up with iPods, iPads, iPhones, and the Internet. Mobile communications, social networking, and instant information are critical to their sense of identity.
• A Pew Research Center study reveals 99.8% of today’s 18-24 year-olds use mobile phones; 97% send and receive text messages; 83% sleep with their phones.
• Innovation is rampant. A recently announced smartphone uses two screens, not one. See one big image or multitask. Wow!

The evolution of today’s mobile apps reminds me of the Web as it unfolded in the mid-1990s. A lot of the early Web apps were "flashy". However, they quickly gave way to robust, integrated applications (registration, payments, gifting) that fundamentally changed the way your campus does business. So look beyond the simple “app for that” mentality and focus on serious mobile business applications. It’s time to put them on your list. Mobile madness is officially in motion!

Thanks for reading.

PS: Stop by and say hello at the upcoming conferences if you get a chance. Let me know what’s on your mind.