The convergence of smartphones, smart networks and mobile business applications has created unprecedented opportunity for companies across all industries to transform themselves — and in the process, reap dramatic returns on their network and IT investments, John Stankey, president and CEO-AT&T Business Solutions, told attendees on the final day of CTIA's Enterprise and Applications conference.
"Business is the next frontier for the wireless industry," he said. "Mobility is going to transform the way companies do business in ways we have only begun to imagine."
Despite a challenged U.S. economy, "millions of companies are hungry for affordable, reliable solutions that can improve their productivity, increase their revenue potential and lower their costs," said Stankey, who estimated the enterprise mobility space — including hardware, software and services — would be at least $50 billion by 2015.
From discussions with companies across a number of industry sectors, it's clear that productivity improvements will drive the next wave of business growth, he said. Combined with technology trends, this is prompting a "tectonic shift" in the way companies do business.
"AT&T has the right network and the right evolution path to help make this tectonic shift," Stankey said.
"Our goal is to help enterprises mobilize everything.
"AT&T's wireless network creates the underpinnings for mobile solutions that allow businesses to change the way they conduct their business and unleash their full potential. We've extended our established strengths in the enterprise space to deliver the nation's fastest mobile broadband network to the world's most demanding users."
U.S. carriers are driving innovation in wireless broadband, virtualization and mobile and emerging devices to accommodate the demand for transformative solutions across industries like healthcare, energy, manufacturing, finance and retail, said Stankey.
"Companies from every sector are beginning to re-examine and re-tool the way they operate, with the help of the creative mobility solutions that wireless carriers deliver," he noted.
He called on providers to step up and help companies prepare for the fundamental changes in business processes that mobility will deliver.
"We need to build networks, applications and services that offer the full benefits of security and manageability," he said. "We need to offer robust routing and QoS capabilities from the integrated IP core to the end user edge. We need to create a technology support environment that enables greater levels of personalized customer service. We need to create a software distribution system that brings an enterprise maximum productivity, efficiency and flexibility."
