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8 Mobile Competencies IT Will Need by 2016
Within the next two years, IT organizations will need to master a slew of mobile-related skills — many of them new or unfamiliar. They'll also need to have on hand the tools to execute and support increasingly important mobile technologies.
In a post today, Gartner Vice President Nick Jones identified several of these skills and tools that apply to organizations across sectors.
1. According to Jones, the first is the need to support three platforms: iOS, Android and Windows. On top of that, within these platforms, IT will need to support three architectures — native applications, hybrid and mobile Web.
2. HTML5 — while immature and somewhat risky in terms of security right now — will be an "essential technology for organizations delivering applications across multiple platforms," according to Gartner.
3. "Advanced" user interface design will also become increasingly important. Consumer sites and software are breeding increased expectations from end users in terms of the features and components of the software with which they interact.
4. Location sensing will become increasingly important for applications such as smart lighting and personalized services and information.
5. Personal sensors, or "wearable devices," will provide opportunities for delivering information in new ways.
6. WiFi is going through more changes with the advent and impending standards like 802.11ac, 802.11ad, 802.11aq and 802.11ah. This will require updates to existing infrastructure, including increases in the number of APs that need to be deployed, as users bring newer and more powerful mobile devices with them.
7. "Enterprise mobile management" is "the future evolution and convergence of several mobile management, security and support technologies," including "mobile device management, mobile application management, application wrapping and containerization and some elements of enterprise file synchronization and sharing," according to Gartner.
8. As mobile devices impact the network more and more, IT will need to find ways to deal with application performance issues and bottlenecks. "Mobile metrics and monitoring tools, often known as application performance monitoring (APM), can help," according to Gartner. "APM provides visibility into app behavior, delivers statistics about which devices and OSs are adopted and monitors user behavior to determine which app features are being successfully exploited."
The complete report can be accessed on Gartner's site for a fee.