Capgemini Group, through its Mobile Solutions (MS) unit, has briefed us on its recent mobile device management (MDM) offering, called Mobile Secure, launched with SAP and Amazon Web Services in May 2013

Capgemini MS has designed this offering to be as affordable as possible: the offering is marketed at a price of €1/$1.11 per device per month. It is based on SAP Afaria (acquired by SAP through the 2010 Sybase acquisition), but is not SAP back-end systems dependent; available on a SaaS model; and is hosted on AWS. To favor its adoption, the offering includes a 30-day trial.

Functionality includes MDM and reporting. The offering supports devices running Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 8 operating systems. Administration is done through a self-service portal.

The service exists under three options:

• Tool only: SaaS under a minimum one-year contract for €1/$1.11 per device and per month
• Service: as above with device administration done by Capgemini
• Solution: as above, plus
  - Mobile application management
  - Content management
  - Additional SAP-based Capgemini proprietary templates e.g. Crescent (retail) and Energy Path.

Service delivery is India-centric, representing 75% of the effort.

Capgemini stresses that the three parties in the offering will make a profit. The company considers the €1 price will be attractive to clients, providing a base to drive additional conversations and services marketed by Capgemini Mobility Solutions.

Capgemini MS claims strong early success for its offering. In the first two months, the offering has 185 clients on trial representing several hundred thousand devices. Early clients include Lubrizol (2010 revenues of $5.4bn and headcount of 6,900) and Sun Products Corp. (revenues of ~$2bn and headcount of 3,000).

The company announced the creation of its Mobile Solutions business unit in March 2012. The unit is part of Capgemini’s top line initiatives (TLI), which also includes testing, the recent cloud computing SkySight offering, and BIM. TLI can be considered as an incubator for new service lines or services that require coordination across several Capgemini units. Capgemini MS draws on personnel and offerings from several business units including App Services 1 and 2,and Sogeti.

Capgemini MS has a headcount of 3,000. It was built on the 2010 acquisition of Abaco Mobile, an Atlanta-based vendor specialized in SAP mobility software and services. Abaco had a headcount of 100.

The unit has a worldwide focus, with notable growth in France, Germany, the Netherlands, North America, the Nordics, Southern Europe and Brazil. Capgemini has ambitious growth plans for Mobile Solutions, targeting a triple digit growth in new revenues by 2015.

Approaches being taken by Mobile Solutions include:

• Taking a factory-based approach to address small project opportunities around mobile apps development, having several Mobile Application Factories, of which one in Bangalore is is the largest. The company offers three options, taking a fixed price approach, when relevant
  - Simple: 5 screens, 1 to 3 use cases, one single data source: 4 FTEs * 4 weeks: €40k
  - Medium 6 to 15 screens, 3 to 5 use cases, up to 2 data sources, 4 FTEs *n 7 weeks: €60k
  - Complex: 15 to 20 interactive screens, 6 to 10 use cases, 2 and more data sources, 6 months and 4 updates, 4 FTEs * 11 weeks: ~€95k
• Investing in creating mobile-related SAP templates. Capgemini is a preferred partner with SAP for the consumer goods sector. The partnership builds on work that Capgemini has done for eight clients. The first outcome of this initiative focused on the CPG sector is Capgemini’s SAP Mobile Sales Execution template.

Capgemini MS has a comprehensive service portfolio that expands from its MDM service. Services offered include

• Mobile strategy i.e. consulting
• Mobile applications e.g. development
• Managed mobility e.g. management of application and of devices as well as cloud hosting
• Mobile platforms e.g. tools and related services around MDM, mobile application management, secure content management, EMM services e.g. TEM.

MS has centered its effort around:

• Internal IT: support mobile business personnel to access applications and data
• B2B2C and B2B: helping clients interact with their mobile end-clients through several channels
• M2M/Internet of things: projects to connect user-owned wireless devices to IT applications.

It will be interesting to see how Mobile Solutions evolves. The unit has several options: focusing on mobile apps, potentially working alongside the several Digital Services units that Capgemini has in its Consulting Services business, or aligning further with its IT infrastructure services unit around virtual desktop services and BYOD services offerings.