"Report and inquire" is THE universal business process. On the shop floor or sales floor, the best available information at decision time holds value.
Intermediate processing between the reporting and inquiring, the transformations to help users make sense of raw data, is the role of information technology.
Imagine a world without paper, copiers, spreadsheets, or text documents. How then will people report-transform-inquire to get the best available information?
I believe the business information cycle will soon look a lot like what GE is doing with mobile devices. GE, a proven leader in the creation of high technology products, has made a clear choice for information technologies going forward.
Mobile works fantastically well for GE. In general, mobile simplifies interfaces so their workforce may focus on the task at hand. Mobile untethers users from their desks and allows them to report and inquire from any place at any time.
The role of "an app for that" is creating the slim user interfaces to complete the TRANSFORM part of the business information cycle for specific requirements.
Transform
Old technology placed too much TRANSFORM burden on the workforce. That was when everybody had to learn spreadsheets, word processors, databases and such.
The new challenge is making business information technology as smart as smartphones and mobile devices. Those technologies prove that users can produce and process a lot of information with little or no training. Moving the TRANSFORM to backend systems simplifies the end user experience.
On the backend, tech folks still do their tech things, but without burdening the workforce with fresh training requirements at each update. An added benefit is that business communications happen faster. Real time information reporting, compiling, and distribution displaces slow, cumbersome paper, copiers, file cabinets, and spreadsheets. Real world business advocates could scarcely be more delighted.
".. seamless and easy to use for users with an extremely powerful backend. It's up to your imagination and the possibilities are in fact endless" Dayan Anandappa, Director, Digital Technologies and Colaboration, GE
"Speed to market is unprecedented" Linda Boff, Global Director, Marketing Communications, GE
http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/ge/
No Internet Required
Forcing business processes to go through internet backbones is not a requirement for mobile, far from it.
Mobile simply begs for a "think different" approach, starting with a belief that the simple tech is the best tech. High speed local wifi combined with local servers is the simplest, most reliable way of completing the report-transform-inquire process.