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IBM today announced the expansion of its IBM MobileFirst portfolio, with new and enhanced services focused on mobile strategy and security, application development and device procurement and management.
Big Blue rolled out services, including infrastructure consulting services, to help enterprises evaluate their existing mobile infrastructure environment, identify gaps and build a comprehensive mobile strategy and road map.
“The expansion of our mobility services portfolio demonstrates our continued investments in building the full breadth of capabilities clients need to radically transform and grow their business through mobile,” Rich Esposito, general manager of Mobility Services for IBM Global Technology Services, said in a statement. “In 2014, we will further leverage our software acquisitions and growing capabilities in the cloud to provide clients with more flexibility and choices, including ‘mobility as-a-service’ solutions.”
A recent IBM study reports that 90 percent of global organizations across eight major industries are planning to sustain or increase their investments in mobile technologies over the next 12 to 18 months. According to the report, the top three mobile challenges facing organizations are integrating mobile applications with existing systems (54 percent), implementing secure end-to-end mobile solutions for devices and applications (53 percent), and reacting to changes in technology and mobile devices in a reasonable period of time (51 percent).
Today, mobile is helping drive business transactions and revenue while delivering information that teams can tap into to identify and capture new business opportunities. And players in the mobile space are doing more to integrate this channel into the fabric of their business, helping clients address their key challenges and fully integrate mobile across their entire business.
In addition to infrastructure consulting services, IBM is offering application platform management services to help customers build, configure and manage their developer community’s app dev environments, supported by both software and a skilled team of experts.
IBM also offers device procurement and deployment services to help customers simplify the selection and ordering of devices. IBM also will help install the client’s tailored platforms, apps and service components. Devices can be shipped directly to employees and include services for ongoing secure management, customer service and predefined refresh cycles with disposal or repurposing.
Meanwhile, new managed mobility services provide enterprises with scalable, secure management of their mobile infrastructure and wireless endpoints. With these services, IBM helps clients reduce the risk, complexity and cost of managing their bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and corporate device programs while freeing up the client’s IT resources to focus on core business needs. This service features MaaS360 from IBM’s acquisition of Fiberlink, along with an ecosystem of IBM business partners to deliver cloud-based solutions.
IBM Launches New MobileFirst Services
IBM’s new mobile network services provide customers with an understanding of resources required to deploy a secure, scalable and reliable network infrastructure to support the demands of their mobile business. And IBM’s mobile collaboration services provide a suite of productivity solutions, including email, instant messaging, voice and video, that enable mobile employees to exchange information, locate experts and become more productive.
The new IBM mobile virtualization services enable customers to leverage virtualization technology to design, implement and manage distributed end users. Using this service, end users can access platform-independent, hosted applications and full client images. This offering includes assessment, design and implementation, and managed services delivered on-premises. Devices included in this service include laptops, workstations, tablets and thin clients.
In addition, IBM’s new Smart and Embedded Device Security helps enterprises secure their emerging mobile applications and enables device manufacturers to address concerns around safety, stability, service cost and intellectual property protection of smart and embedded devices. IBM uses threat modeling, source-code analysis and penetration testing of devices and applications, including firmware and kernel module security, to identify and fix vulnerabilities. This enables the client to prevent hackers from gaining root access to their devices and increases the integrity and availability of their security services.
In addition to these new services, IBM also announced today that IDC named it a leader in the new MarketScape Worldwide Mobile Application Development, Testing, Management, and Infrastructure (mADTMI) Services 2014 Vendor Assessment.
In 2013, IBM launched IBM MobileFirst, a mobile strategy that enables clients to radically streamline and accelerate mobile adoption. 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.
In the IDC study, following an evaluation of 14 companies against 117 criteria, IBM was recognized in the “leaders” category in part for its “training and knowledge sharing, range of service capabilities, innovation/research and development pace and productivity, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.”
IBM MobileFirst is based on more than 10 mobile-related acquisitions, a team of thousands of mobile experts and 270 patents in wireless innovations.
“As mobile technology has grown in functionality and popularity, organizations are becoming inundated with data, challenged by customer demands, and faced with the complex decision to partner with a provider that offers the right combination of both business and technology services to support their mobile initiatives,” Kevin Custis, global leader of mobility and social business at IBM Global Business Services, said in a statement. “This evaluation acknowledges the value that a strong, front-office-focused client agenda can bring to organizations that want to better engage with customers and remain competitive.”
To download the IDC MarketScape Worldwide Mobile Application Development, Testing, Management, and Infrastructure Services 2014 Vendor Assessment report, go here.