On July 15, Apple and IBM forged a partnership whereby Apple appointed IBM as its exclusive partner for bringing iOS- and MacOS-based apps and services into the enterprise marketplace. For IBM, the deal is about promoting its MobileFirst strategy for enterprise applications that run on Apple’s popular smartphones, tablets and desktop systems. For Apple, a relationship with Big Blue proves to the world that its devices are enterprise hardened and its APIs are open enough to integrate with the backend systems that support the enterprise apps (especially ERP, analytics, calendaring and security) that are the bread-and-butter of IBM’s cadre of professional services personnel.

Consensus among both analysts and journalists is that this is a “good deal” for both companies and their customers. On the one hand, Apple will find that IBM is a very effective, and lucrative, reseller of its products, services and support. On the other hand, IBM is fulfilling a recognized need to re-invigorate its eighteen month-old MobileFirst initiatives by achieving “native” support of apps and software infrastructure running over Apple’s iOS-based devices. Promising “app integration and management” as a major part of its managed services offering, IBM will make sure that there is not so much as a hiccup when iPhone owners press the dreaded “upgrade now” button to initiate the installation of the latest rev of the operating system. Surprisingly, little or no mention has been made of the devices’ end-users, meaning enterprise employees and customers.

Amidst all the talk of transformation of enterprise processes powered by analytics and improving the mobile customer experience, it is a shock that the neither Cognitive Computing (aka Watson) nor mobile virtual assistance (aka Siri) were brought up in company issued publicity (or, for that matter, during conference call to provide details on the deal and answer analysts’ questions).  IBM, by making this a MobileFirst, rather than a Cognitive Computing, initiative made it clear that its intent is to leverage 100+ industry specific apps for iOS, delivering “native” instantiations of the types of apps that support employees of large scale firms in banking, insurance, telco, retail, government, travel/transportation and healthcare. Next is tight coupling of back-office (ERP) systems and iPads, iPhones and Macs, leveraging “advanced APIs” into the “systems of record” that keep track of transaction history, as well as databases of ecommerce records and application data. Finally, the MobileFirst for iOS approach brings “app integration and management,” which is where we imagine IBM will really make its money by supporing “end-to-end lifecycle management for iOS apps,” including OS downloads and updates. This is a known headache for IT managers in the age of BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices).

As impressive as this managed services and reseller offering seems, it is unbelievable that not a single mention was made of improving the User Interface (UI) or User Experience (UX) by incorporating an Intelligent Assistant function into the “application integration and management” offering. There would be no better way to leapfrog the inevitable competition from fellow enterprise software infrastructure providers (especially Oracle and SAP) than to invoke the assistance of a Siri-like Intelligent Assistant to help employees navigate their options, get questions answered and manage their every day activities.

It should not yet be filed in the category of “missed opportunities.” In the analyst conference call, IBM spokespeople Fred Balboni and Marie Wieck made a point of saying that a huge developer community is already taking advantage of their access to a library of open Apple APIs as well as IBM’s iOS optimized platofrm called “ERP for iOS”. By the rules of serendipity, they are destined  stumble upon the Siri API or leverage the goodies that are made available through the Watson developer site: (https://developer.ibm.com/watson/).

But the die is cast. The general perception is that long-time rivals for desktop dominance during the PC age have identified fertile areas for cooperation in the post-PC era. Intelligent Assistants are not (yet) part of the mix and this is definitely not a mobileCX (customer experience) play.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Articles

Tags: IBM, Apple, Mobile Enterprise, intelligent Assistants