Forrester Research: IBM a Leader in Large Enterprise Mobile App Services

It's hard to deny the importance of mobile in the field today. With more users turning to mobile solutions as part of everyday life, and the workforce becoming more mobile as well, more value is being placed in mobile app services. So when Forrester Research revealed its rankings as to who was who in the field of large enterprise mobile app services, it was the kind of list every provider wanted to be on. IBM announced that it had made its way to the list, and was found to be a leader in the field.

The report in question, titled “The Forrester Wave: Mobile Enterprise App Services Providers – Large Providers, Q1 2015”, showed off the biggest names in the field. Points used to determine leadership included the current product line offered, the overall strategy in the market, and the overall presence in the market, and IBM featured as a leader in all three segments. This compared positively to the wider market, as IBM's leadership rank was given as part of a field of 10 services providers.

But Forrester also pointed out more specific issues for IBM; for example, IBM's business models involving buying mobile services online drew plenty of credit. The company’s commitment to investing in research and development to help drive the future of mobile enterprise apps was also a clear plus.  Further value came from IBM's talent in the firm and its track record, and its combination of powerful technology and business consulting matched up with its IBM Interactive Experience design systems.

Indeed, at last report, IBM has 14 apps that were developed as part of its IBM MobileFirst partnership with Apple, and this development is producing a lot of value, offering a faster time-to-value proposition as well as a sped-up development process with less effort going into the operation. The mobile apps developed also offer quite a bit of value for users, including mobile solutions for brick-and-mortar stores that allow retailers to better offer value to customers at the point of sale.

IBM's ranking as a leader in enterprise mobility shouldn't come as much of a shock; IBM's been working to reinvent itself as a service provider for some time, and it's clearly put a lot of time, effort and resources into making that transition happen. Services like the Watson system provide plenty of value to the enterprise market—it's been involved in everything from medicine to customer service—and that's just the start. It's also played a part in developing hypervisors, a host of apps, and much more. Forrester seems to just be pointing out what the bulk of IBM's work of late has shown by its own existence.

It will be interesting to see how IBM builds on this new ranking in the months to come, but it's a pretty safe bet that, when Forrester starts talking leaders in mobile down the line, IBM will likely figure into the conversation.