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Mobile Knowledge Workers: Emerging Opportunities

Publication Date: December

Introduction

The emergence of new mobile devices, operating systems, software, and services has the potential to dramatically increase the productivity of the office knowledge worker and change the competitive landscape in the office technology industry.

InfoTrends anticipates significant changes in how and where mobile knowledge workers create/access/collaborate/print and perform many other information-based business processes. We also believe these changes will happen at different rates depending on the region of the world, company size segment, and vertical industry.

The challenge facing technology vendors and service providers is to provide mobile tools and services that enable knowledge workers to easily plug into the existing IT infrastructure and business processes without creating additional layers of complexity and costs. Complicating this situation is a diversity of competing business models and implementation methods (operating systems, cloud services, applications, etc.) that will force vendors and customers to make critical decisions about their development strategies and operating budgets.

The winning vendors in the new mobile knowledge worker economy will gain critical new profit streams from the sale of devices, software, and services, while the companies that do not adapt are likely to be pushed aside and shut out from this next wave.

This study is designed to provide information technology vendors and infrastructure service providers with insights to support their strategic planning, product development, and go-to-market activities related to mobile knowledge workers in developed and emerging markets.

Critical Issues Addressed

The mobile knowledge worker is arguably the fastest-growing segment of the office workforce today. This study is designed to address several key elements related to opportunities and strategies in targeting mobile knowledge workers:

• Understand the importance of and requirements for mobility to help knowledge workers create, analyze, process, share, output, and collaborate with information
• Identify the critical gaps and unmet needs of the mobile knowledge worker as it relates to business processes and document workflow
• Understand the differences by key regions, company size segments and industries
  - United States
  - Germany
  - Japan
  - India
  - Brazil
• Review the mobile strategies, business models, and technology offerings of innovative and forward-looking companies
• Understand the impact and opportunity of mobile technologies on traditional electronic and paper-based processes
• Identify critical enablers and barriers to widespread, rapid adoption of mobile business tools and services
• Identify potential business opportunities, pricing models, and go-to-market strategies within the mobile knowledge worker value chain
• Provide recommendations on target markets, business models, products, services, and go-to-market actions

Analysis & Project Deliverables

- Mobile Knowledge Worker Forecast

InfoTrends will size and forecast the population of mobile knowledge workers by regions covered in the study, size of company, and key activity (behavior).

• Number of mobile knowledge workers by segment
  - Company size
  - Type of knowledge worker
• Frequency/time spent on key mobile knowledge activities
  - Create, capture, communicate, collaborate, search, process, share, view, output, store
• Differences by key geographies and company size categories
  - Developed vs. emerging markets
  - SMB vs. enterprise

- Profiles

InfoTrends will create profiles to define opportunities and understand the business models already in place:

• Profile and segment knowledge workers in key geographic regions, vertical markets, and company size segments
• Identify and profile leading mobile knowledge worker applications aimed at business processes, worker productivity, and document workflow
• Create a list of business applications and functions that have transitioned to cloud-based services or Internet-based methodology and delivery
• Create a list of vendors/providers currently delivering cloud-based business tools and services for mobile knowledge workers

- Summary Report and Supporting Material

Clients will receive a combination of reports, presentation materials, and data for senior management, product managers and planners, and sales and marketing executives. These materials will include:

• Executive summary with key findings
• Analysis report
• PowerPoint presentation with charts
• Data tabulations

Getting Started

For more information on the study or to sign up as a participant, contact Scott Phinney at +1 ext. 123 or via e-mail at . Early subscriber discounts are available until August 20, 2010.