In the past, this path has not been pursued by manufacturers, customers or the value added distributors (VAD) that work to bring these devices and solutions to market. That’s because mobile operators work to prevent “non-sanctioned” devices from being offered to their customers and activated on their networks.
The proliferation of the smartphone, however, as well as the ever-increasing power and flexibility offered by the various operating systems, has allowed the enterprise or small and medium business to consider “true mobility” by deploying their applications utilizing a handheld device. The major U.S. carriers also are shifting their thinking and now becoming increasingly eager to partner with these customers in their endeavors — to a point. The Tier 1 carriers are still limited to offering handsets that are in their portfolios and trying to make one of those devices work for a specific customer need. In many cases this is accomplished — easily or otherwise — and their particular health care or construction customer deploys their applications on a set of Research in Motion or Microsoft Corp. Windows devices.
However, as mobile applications continue to become more complex, and devices flood the market, the enterprise can and, in many cases, must look outside the carrier lineup for a solution to their particular needs. This is where the direct manufacturer to enterprise (with a distributor sometimes thrown in the mix) has increasingly come into play.
Tier 1 carriers neither can, nor want, to approve every device released by major OEMs and capable of running on their networks. In some cases, it is a matter of the device duplicating one they already offer; in others it may be the price — the cost of the device from the manufacturer and where it lies in relation to the other devices in the lineup. Enterprise-specific devices customarily are niche in nature and do not appeal to a wide spectrum of buyers. A high price tag contributes to this situation. Other times, it is due to exclusivity rights precluding adoption during a specific time frame. Whatever the cause, the effect is that there are multiple handsets from multiple manufacturers that are not available through the Tier 1 carriers.
Even when a device is available from a specific operator, it may not be what the enterprise needs. That’s because it comes pre-loaded with a number of applications that the enterprise does not want or, in some cases, conflicts with the smooth performance of the enterprise-specific application that is driving the device purchase in the first place.
The solution to this bottleneck is for the enterprise to source product outside of their normal carrier sales channels, so they can then customize — usually with the help of a distributor, VAR or independent retailer/dealer with a business-to-business focus — to meet their specific needs.
