IBM (NYSE:IBM) has identified mobile communications as a new pillar in its near-term research efforts, announcing today that it plans to invest $100 million over the next five years in wireless R&D projects focusing on enterprise applications and platforms as well as the unique needs of customers in emerging markets.
IBM Research and Development employs over 3000 scientists and engineers around the world as well as 20,000 software developers, but despite that wealth of resources the company focuses its new research efforts on specific areas. Recently it identified 6 initiatives to focus its R&D dollars: services quality, nanotechnology, business analytics, cloud computing, hybrid systems, stream computing. Mobile communication becomes the 7th, subdivided into the three areas in which IBM sees the most promise:
- Mobile Enterprise Enablement: As mobile phones and other wireless devices take on the power and capabilities of PCs, they’ll take over the roles of the PC in the field as well as assume new ones that based on mobile characteristics, IBM said. IBM is already engaged in a pilot program with an insurer that combines GPS, presence awareness and calendar database info to automatically identify and dispatch claims adjusters in the field as well as update their phones with appropriate case information and forms.
- Emerging Market Mobility: According to IBM, 83% of the world does not have access to the Web via a PC, and even areas where such access exists, people don’t have the technical savvy or the literacy to use it. IBM is focusing much of its research efforts on targeting those customers, developing Web interfaces and applications that overcome those language and technology barriers. A pilot program in southern India has created a voice community database, where farmers, repairmen, small business owners and consumers can post, retrieve or exchange content via voice messages.
- Enterprise to End-User Mobile Experience: IBM said it is working on means to inject mobility into every transaction or relationship a business has with its customers, employees and partners. For example, IBM is investigating new concepts in mobile portals and using customer analytics to tailor mobile marketing campaigns to specific times and places as well as specific people.