Information is the lifeblood of business. When transmitted steadily and unimpeded to and from people and systems in an organization, information provides an organization’s pulse. The flow of information is what animates remote equipment in a manufacturing facility, gives a field technician access to schematics that reside on a server, enables a purchasing organization to negotiate contracts with suppliers, and makes it possible for a company to engage with customers in real-time.

Business fluidity, where information can be accessed any time from virtually any location, is a necessary evolution that will radically change business models. It will give organizations the ability to be more aware and more agile than ever before — critical success factors in competitive markets.

Let’s see how new cloud and mobile technologies are helping organizations transform into fluid enterprises where employees, partners, and customers contribute to the collective business intelligence.

The emergence of enterprise clouds

By 2015, Gartner predicts that the typical knowledge worker “will own several wireless devices, will be continuously connected and will communicate and collaborate in a wide variety of ways without being tied down to specific locations and services.”

This acceleration of mobile device usage in the work place is fueling demand for multi-platform applications, increased bandwidth, and the computing power to operate them. IT departments already straining to accommodate diverse smartphones and laptops may reach their breaking point when the expected wave of tablets hits their network. Gartner projects that “by 2013, 80 percent of businesses will support a workforce using tablets.”   

Organizations whose IT infrastructure is inadequate for supporting a mobile workforce are turning to an off-premise, public utility-type model: the enterprise cloud. The cloud-based model enables organizations to quickly expand their networking, computing, and storage capacity in a way that is secure and reliable. Not only can organizations move applications, processing, and storage into the cloud, they can enhance the distribution of data and information as well.

The enterprise cloud delivers data and applications to any connected device, whether it’s a desktop, notebook, tablet, or smartphone. Users receive enriched, real-time information exactly when and where they need it. These new ways of interacting with information and services help improve decision-making and performance at both the individual and organizational levels.

Envisioning the “fully aware” enterprise

As organizations adopt the enterprise cloud and the new generation of enterprise applications it will facilitate, the culture of the organization will change. The organization as a whole and the individuals within it will become more aware of the business information the applications generate. They will have better capability to act on that information in ways that benefit the organization. These benefits will extend throughout a business’s ecosystem as the fluid exchange of information extends to business partners, suppliers, customers, as well as employees.

Thanks to the intelligence of the enterprise cloud, mobile decision makers can instantly access an ever-expanding wealth of data that can be turned into actionable insights. This information provides users with greater awareness and understanding of their working circumstances and the contexts in which they are working. As a result, employees will be able to make better decisions for their organizations and organizations, in turn, will better serve their customers and shareholders.

The impact of this type of awareness—already powerful at an individual level—will be amplified when aggregated across an enterprise. When many individual components in the organization share a heightened awareness of business conditions, they can drive action on their business strategies more aggressively and influence global opportunities accordingly.

Business operational models will change

As new enterprise cloud services take hold, organizations will begin to develop new and innovative operational models. One model that will profoundly change how corporations operate is the concept of “dispersed expertise.” According to this new model, a company could establish remote teams of high-value professional experts. These individuals could provide customer care services, engineering expertise, radiological diagnostics, or other types of services using a mobile video conferencing application. While this is just one operational model that might emerge, it illustrates the type of innovation that will be possible with the advancements in cloud and mobile technology. It highlights the level of services that can be obtained, the conveniences that can be created for business partners and customers, and the cost-control that can be achieved.

The concept of work will change

The pervasive use of mobile devices has already expanded the traditional notion of work so that it includes not only activities performed by onsite employees during traditional business hours, but also work that is performed at other time periods and from remote locations. Expect further shifts in the concept of work when employees can interact with each other and business information from more types of devices and enterprise cloud applications. Companies should make an effort to anticipate this conceptual shift, the operational changes resulting from this shift, as well as the general changes in work culture that are sure to emerge.

Traditional computing architectures may become obsolete

The increased acceptance of cloud-based applications that can be used by any device in the field for information access or content creation will prompt companies to shift away from some legacy business architectures. For example, use of on-premise hardware and software may be replaced in some cases by Internet-based approaches that can be more easily used via a range of devices and thin clients. Internet-based applications will also perform better on small-sized devices compared to solutions that use middleware to convert traditional content for non-traditional devices. These approaches will contribute to improved productivity and help control equipment and software licensing costs.

Data storage and analysis will be easier

The amount of data accumulated by business and industry will continue to increase as remote metering and other various mobile and wireless enterprise applications push information to the cloud. Whether a company uses a private cloud or adopts secure and encrypted public options that enable it to maintain control over its data, cloud-based storage will be easier and cost effective for business to install and maintain over traditional approaches.

Cloud-based storage will make it easier for business analysis, trending and reporting and to draw from and merge data from operational segments of a business in ways that were not previously contemplated. The analyses drawn from the robust and cross-referenced data sources will give companies new insights into the state of their businesses and better capability to anticipate future conditions that might affect their operations and competitiveness.

Business processing platforms that facilitate the exchange of cloud-based data between trusted sources will be used to securely connect authorized companies, suppliers, vendors, and customers to business data and analytics. This access can improve the quality and pace of decision-making for the participants. When accomplished on an enterprise scale, this will help improve overall business functioning.

The secure flow of information within and around an organization—stimulated by enterprise cloud applications and services that involve a broad range of information sources, access methods, and end-points—will transform business. It will impact operations, worker behavior, and a company’s competitiveness. Recognize that transforming an organization into a business that uses and delivers information in new, fundamental ways is an ongoing process. The process should become part of the overall continuum of business, part of an organization’s DNA, and should be pursued as a core competency.

The author is Regional Vice President, Global Strategic Services, Asia Pacific Verizon Enterprise Solutions