Building Foundational Enterprise Apps

Enterprise, Cognitive Apps needed. 

 In the early days of Apps we formed a team to look at what kinds of data and Apps could be linked to focus people on their jobs. It gets back to the job-task-microtask conversations we have been having here. When I heard about the work being done in the collaboration between Apple and IBM, it struck me that this was exactly what we were tasked with back then. So I have been following the list of the Apps as they evolve.

See the link above for a broad look at all of them to date. My only disappointment is the minimum of Cognitive, Watson-style examples so far. A real challenge.  Looking forward to more, especially ones that can perform tasks than can be factored into many different jobs. That way you get to leverage the data and logic to maximize value. Power augmentation. Keep them coming,

New Mobile Business in the Enterprise

We looked at this topic a dozen years ago in the enterprise.  It is not only just about phone calls, but also about how two way, interactive, data rich interactions can be supported.  Its about creating foundational business Apps that will drive focus and the business.  It is creating the right standards and architectures to make that work.   The problem has not been solved to date.   More in CIOInsight.

Apple and IBM Create Foundation Apps

These look mostly like mega-tasks in the form of Apps. Mostly data based. Would like to see a selection of them that are more strongly cognitive powered. Have we considered how they might be linked together as tasks that form a job? Or designed as microservices?  Great start to make us think the architectural issues .

From CWorld:

"  ... App and business sector choices reveal strategy of 'foundational' apps that can be customized for customers, say experts

Apple and IBM last week kicked off their five-month-old partnership with an "impressive" 10-pack of focused mobile business apps catering to sectors ranging from financial to law enforcement. " ... '

Apple and IBM Want to Energize Enterprise Software

In Forbes:  This relates to the set of sample Apps written  to address specific enterprise tasks.  

" ...  This partnership has the potential to both energize the software that IBM sells to its customers and the sales of Apple iPads that run the apps, but also the entire enterprise software market.  If the branding takes hold, corporate customers will be asking their software suppliers to “make it like IBM ... ”

What they really will be saying, of course, is “make it like Apple,” but the Cupertino brand has not made inroads in the C-suite like it has in the psyche’s of consumers. Executives and their minions are consumers too, so Apple’s products are well-represented in the enterprise, but not yet well-supported by IT departments. .. " 

Via Walter Riker.