(Chinese Version)

Known for his accurate predictions for investment, Benedict Evans, one of the partners in Andreessen Horowitz, is passionate about sharing his opinions about the development of the current technologies. Actually quite a few of his ideas draw attention from many investors and entrepreneurs, and can even influence the product operation of some startup companies. In his article Mobile First published last week, Benedict Evans proposed a seemingly anti-traditional yet rational idea: mobile devices are more powerful than desktop terminals. In other words: smart phones are more powerful than PCs.

In Benedict Evans’ opinion, since the advent of PC, there has been only one revolutionary innovation—the web browser. It was with the help of the browser (Internet) that PC was connected with the Internet industry and together they created enormous miracles in business and technology. However, it only took smart phones less than 8 years (since the advent of first generation iPhone) to generate a large number of great innovations: the Touch ID and NFC on hardware. And in terms of the software, we’ve witnessed the creation of Instagram, WeChat, Siri, etc. The combination of these softwares and hardwares on mobile devices has changed the whole electronics industry chain.

In fact, PC users today still use their PCs the way they did a decade ago, but in the field of mobile devices, it’s totally a different story.

If we say that Benedict Evans’s idea has triggered a new round of entrepreneurships on mobile devices, then a report from Gartner shows how mobilization trend propels the revolution in IT enterprise market.

Why is mobilization the crucial game changer in the enterprise market?

Gartner, a market research institution, believes that a combination of technological forces is emerging in the enterprise market, and Gartner refers to it as Nexus of Forces---the interweaving power among cloud technology, social network, mobilization and big data.

Mobilization is the key.

First of all, the age of big data, to some extent, builds upon mobilization. According to a report from IBM in 2013, in terms of existing global data, 90% were generated from the last two years. Mobile devices can naturally capture information when operating, and their diversified sensors can capture more information than traditional devices, for example, PCs. Every minute, information collected from the GPS systems, mobile base stations and even cell phone signals are generated and uploaded to the cloud.

Besides, mobilization, big data and cloud computing are leading the new technology trend. The enormous amount of data generated by mobile devices poses a big challenge for enterprises as to how to process all those data. In the past, a single company cannot handle such data due to its limited processing capability. Take Facebook as an example. In the “far-away” 2012, users shared 2.5 billion pieces of information every day, including status updates, posts, pictures, videos and comments. There were 2.7 billion likes generated and 300 million pictures uploaded every day. The daily volume of data flow reached 500TB.

According to the latest financial statement from Facebook, there are 789 million active users every day on the Facebook app. The fast growth of Facebook users, especially those on the mobile terminal, will surely generate more data. Only the distributed systems on the backend could process users’ information and in return ameliorate users’ experience. The whole process is operated on the cloud platform and then goes back to users’ cell phones through sub-clouds. In this way, mobilization (APP), big data and cloud computing together form a perfect technical closed loop.

What’s more, mobilization brings more opportunities for social media. In the age of PC, social media only revolved around personal homepages. However, under the influence of mobilization, social experience exhibits different forms, such as picture, anonymity, location, etc. In 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram, a company that had only 11 employees, with 1 billion dollars. This event triggered a new round of entrepreneurships on mobile devices.

A survey from IBM in 2013 shows that, with the widespread of mobile devices, social media websites, e-mail and other digital communications, there are 250 quadrillion bytes of data generated every day around the globe. Such large amount of information brings opportunities for different IT manufacturers. However, to take full advantage of such opportunities giants would need determination to overturn conventions.

In the early 2013, Nadella, the third CEO in Microsoft history came into office and proposed the priority of mobilization and cloud technology. During the past years, Microsoft, the once-software-giant, had been acquiring many mobile App makers and ultimately had their teams develop Office software for mobile platforms. Microsoft even put forward a general version of Windows system that goes beyond the desktop.

In July 2014, IBM announced its cooperation with Apple, saying that the company would develop a series of customized enterprise software for IOS and it was regarded as the “grand movement” towards mobilization. In the nine months after the cooperation, they developed 22 Apps for various industries.

Salesforce once revolutionized traditional software with cloud computing. Now it has isolated its Technical investment department and formed a special investment company. The company has spent 100 million dollars to fund mobile Apps development. After the going through the phase of “social enterprise” and “client-oriented company”, Mark Benioff, the spiritual leader of Salesforce, is now well aware of the opportunity brought by mobilization trend. He has more than once criticized Ballmer for not embracing mobilization in time and the obsolete software in his term.

Just like Microsoft, many traditional IT giants have abundant capital, diversified professional talents and advanced technology. Given such advantages, people believe that it would be easy for them to transform their original products into mobile Apps. However, the true story is quite different.

Mobilization is the new curse for giants

Christanson, a professor from Harvard University, once wrote in his book The Innovator’s Dilemma: There are two types of innovations in every industry. One is the extensive innovation that focuses on product optimization. The other one is the disruptive innovation, which is really a game changer. It creates a new land in a mature market and eventually overthrows the traditional giants.

In the enterprise market, Salesforce once played the role of a game changer. The 1990s was the golden age of Internet. During that period, Benioff connected Client Relationship Management (CRM) with the internet and created Salesforce. He created a new model called Software-as-a-service (Sass), which is now referred to as cloud service. Using its new business model, Salesforce succeeded in reducing the lead-time range and cost of CRM and thus yielded better return on investment and provided better service for companies. During the past decade, Salesforce had become a giant in the enterprise service market with a total market value of US$30 billion. In the meantime, SIEBEL, the symbolic product of the first generation CRM, disappeared after being acquired by Oracle in 2006.

In today's world, yesterday's game changers are about to be replaced by new game changers. Though Salesforce succeeded in connecting CRM with the Internet, the advent of mobile Internet is outpacing the old CRM system. Because extending a normal App from the desktop to the mobile terminal is more than just putting the App from a big screen to a small screen. Such transformation involves more research on user’s habit and the new user environment.

The transformation of a small App is indeed complex, let alone the CRM software. Salesforce does have an edge in capital, talent and technology, but such advantages can be turned into disadvantages. For example, it is difficult to tailor all those technologies in the traditional Internet era into the new mobile App. In the short-run, the old CRM system is still more popular among enterprises. It brings more signing rates and profits. However, the question is, does the management team in Salesforce have the determination to catch up with the trend and move towards a smaller, less profitable market of mobile App?

Just as Christanson put it, the allocation of company resource depends on consumers and investors. The bigger a company is, the harder it is to notice the growing disruptive innovation. SIEBLE was once swallowed by such disruptive power and now Salesforce is facing a similar situation.

Mobilization is creating a new generation of giants

CRM is the foundation of Salesforce. However, it has fallen behind the current market. In essence, CRM is about producing and delivering the client’s information. Under the traditional CRM model, an employee produces information on PC by establishing new client portfolio and updating the visiting record. Then, the information is delivered to the company’s archive online. In an age of mobile, part of the information is generated automatically. When visiting a client, an employee’s location can be updated by GPS on his mobile devices. The delivery and update of information can be achieved by mobile Internet everywhere. In this way, the sales efficiency is largely increased.

This is what the next generation of CRM looks like, and also the new direction for Salesforce. Unfortunately, under the curse of disruptive innovation, it is very hard for Salesforce to make a smooth transition. The new giants, however, are soaring by utilizing the bonus generated by mobilization.

Gartner’s annual Cool Vendor list aims to discover innovative companies in the enterprise market. The list is to recognize those small but potential enterprises that are likely to be the leaders of the future.

In 2015 China list, Easy sales, Qing Yun and talkingdata were nominated. They combine many advantages of the current startup companies in China. Their products amalgamate cloud, social, data and mobile. Easy sales advocates for “mobile plus social networking” and developed the very first sales management App on mobile. Salesforce, however, took seven months to bring forward a similar product. The trend of mobile is so popular that Shi Yanze, the founder of Easy sales even declared that the age of CRM on PC is over.

Today a single technology is not able to improve the client experience in the traditional CRM system. The joint force of mobilization, big data, cloud and social is the key to bring changes to CRM system. Thus, the next generation of CRM is combining mobile, cloud and social and in the meantime, injecting mobilization and social networking into companies. 

On the other hand, the generation after 80s and 90s are becoming the pillars in many enterprises. These people grew up with the Internet, so traditional products based on old technology cannot fully satisfy their needs. The new generation of enterprises seeks to optimize the usability of products. The new CRM App is based on mobile Internet. Its design should revolve around the system management and orientate towards the daily work of a salesperson.

The enterprise market in China has long remained on the C2C (Copy to China) level. In the age of mobile Internet, many local mobile startup companies sprang up. In today’s China, even the small and medium-sized enterprises need to process a mass of data. Based on could technology, social network and mobilization, some Chinese startup companies are building their own “golden age”.

[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Zhao Saipo, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

Translated by Jackie Jia (Senior translator at Echo), working for TMTpost.