MicroStrategy announced its plans to launch MicroStrategy Mobile(TM), a new product that delivers timely BI information directly to BlackBerry(R) smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM) . MicroStrategy Mobile will be introduced tomorrow at the MicroStrategy Symposium in London.
MicroStrategy Mobile provides mobile workers with access to BI reports on their BlackBerry smartphones. With MicroStrategy Mobile, business users will receive the same reports on their BlackBerry smartphone as they receive on their desktop, without the need for reformatting or retrofitting existing reports. The report manipulation features available in MicroStrategy Mobile allow users to view even the largest reports within the compact screen size of the BlackBerry smartphone.
MicroStrategy Mobile is designed to work cooperatively with other BlackBerry applications, including phone, e-mail, and text messages. The product dynamically optimizes the use of network bandwidth, based on the quality of the signal and usage by other mobile applications. BlackBerry memory and network bandwidth are minimized through the use of a compression algorithm that can achieve compression ratios of 10 to 1.
Designed for all levels of users, MicroStrategy Mobile reports are displayed in an easy-to-view and easy-to-navigate format, enabling users to review, analyze, and interact with important data at their convenience. Users can also access reports while they are offline, or when their BlackBerry smartphone is not within connectivity range. MicroStrategy Mobile leverages the same robust security features of the MicroStrategy platform, as well as the security infrastructure provided by the BlackBerry(R) Enterprise Server.
MicroStrategy Mobile is well-suited to meet the BI needs of a broad range of mobile workers:
-- An executive from a large financial services company can monitor the
organization's top financial metrics and make time-sensitive decisions
that impact the company's bottom line while out of the country.
-- A retail buyer can access merchandise sales data to determine what is
selling and not selling in specific stores to support purchasing and
inventory reallocation discussions with store managers.
-- A pharmaceutical salesperson can review the latest market share
reports, prescription sales, and inventory data to prepare for sales
calls.
-- A manufacturer's field technician can provide enhanced customer service
on-site by checking the customer's historical service record and
product availability before scheduling a follow-up service call.
-- A marketing executive from a Fortune 500 company can evaluate the
latest marketing campaign analytics while meeting with the advertising
agency to make key decisions on future expenditures.
“We are excited about MicroStrategy Mobile and the many ways it will help us work more efficiently at Guitar Center,” said John Zavada, CIO of Guitar Center. “The reports are remarkably easy to read and navigate, even on the compact screen of the BlackBerry.”
“A large amount of business operates in a mobile world where the importance of taking actions and making decisions more rapidly is greater than ever before,” said Mark Smith CEO & EVP Research of Ventana Research. “MicroStrategy has introduced a significant step forward with MicroStrategy Mobile, where BI is now available in full interactive form on the BlackBerry, utilizing reports, dashboards, search, and other capabilities to simplify BI for large numbers of business professionals.”
“MicroStrategy Mobile enables executives and mobile workers to boost productivity and make timely, informed decisions while away from their computers,” said Sanju Bansal, MicroStrategy COO. “Users can intuitively access, navigate, and analyze reports without special training, allowing organizations to quickly put BI into the hands of their mobile personnel.”
MicroStrategy Mobile is currently in beta-testing and expected to be generally available in the second half of 2007, as part of the MicroStrategy 8.1.1 release.