Mobile devices have changed radically. In just the last two years new devices, such as the iPhone and modern Blackberries, have transformed the ability to access the net. Gone is clunky WAP, in is an amazing user experience away from the desk.

Have enterprises taken advantage of this? In this year’s Intranet Innovation Awards, we were hoping for a crop of innovative uses of mobile devices. We will be sharing a few, but are still waiting for even better solutions.

Just from my direct experiences, there are so many ways that mobile devices can be used to help staff…

Easy

• Intranet-based interface for sending SMS messages to staff mobile phones, linked from the staff directory.
• SMS based alerts and updates (used sparingly).
• Intranet stylesheet for better rendering on mobile devices.
• Full mobile calendaring and email.
• Delivery of corporate news to mobile devices.
• IVR-based systems for accessing corporate information.
• “Speaking intranet news”, using a computer-generated voice (as done by SwissPost).

Moderate

• Dedicated mobile website, providing a subset of the intranet’s functionality.
• SMS-based interface for querying the intranet, such as looking up someone in the staff directory.
• Mobile-specific functionality for looking up corporate information, such as customer details, repair logs, etc.
• Synchronisation between collaboration systems and mobile devices.

Harder

• Full mobile fieldforce applications, allowing staff to capture data and connect with back-end systems (these have been around for a decade but are still surprisingly rare).
• iPhone apps that talk to corporate data.
• Geographically-aware software that interacts with corporate systems.
• Native mobile-based corporate collaboration systems.

Some of these ideas we’ve seen in practice, but many we have not.

So three questions:

What ideas have I missed from the list, large or small?

While is mobile functionality not more common?

Have you implemented mobile solutions, and if so, can you tell us more?