On Tuesday evening, Deloitte Luxembourg held their 4th annual Digital Series Conference, this year entitled "Mobile Innovation – From predictions to reality" at their premises in Luxembourg-Neudorf.
Mobile devices and applications are having a meaningful impact on both our personal and professional activities, and are even reshaping traditional businesses. As such, mobile technologies are an important vector of the digital disruption. The conference addressed the multiple facets of mobile applications development and usage, from opportunities to threats.
Georges Kioes, Partner and TMT Leader at Deloitte Luxembourg, introduced the event and the main speaker, Paul Lee, Partner and Global Head of Research for the TMT industry at Deloitte UK.
Paul Lee addressed "the State of Mobile" and introduced the Global Consumer Mobile Survey of which the Euro cut version of the report analyses the current trends in the mobile industry, and the 15th TMT Predictions: the annual publication gives an overview of the major trends in Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT), with a focus on the Mobile Predictions “Brain at the Edge – Machine’s learning goes mobile” and “Biometrics security reaches the billions”. He first of all addressed statistics on digital usage in Luxembourg, before he addressed the topic of predictions.
He explained that the overall TMT Predictions report covers a wide variety, and he would focus on some specific areas, notably mobile information. He explained that behavious is changing based on technology now being available.
On device ownership, he stated that smartphones, smart watches and fitness bands penetration is higher in Luxembourg than the European average. Looking at the smartphone base, the penetration rate for Apple products is very high, with more than halp of smartphones here being an iPhone - the percentage represents almost twice the European average. Luxembourg is also ahead of Europe in adoption most IoT (Internet of Things) devices.
Around 12% of Luxembourg residents, predominately in the 18-34 year-old bracket, check their smartphones during the night which adversely affects the quality of one's sleep as well as the quality of one's daytime productivity.
He revealed that Snapchat has the most extreme usage, followed by Instagram, with email - still the most popular communication tool - and Facebook having the most reach.
PIN/password is still the most popular security method, but this is expected to evolve into biometrics security which is now "reaching the billions".
On the issue of predections, he explained that we are evolving from device innovation to digital innovation. In 2017, many mobile networks will start to offer 5G "previews" and 5G standards are being developed. With 5G the range of applications will increase dramatically; currently there is a mis-match between what is available and what is demanded. He also predicted that ultrasonic fingerprint readers would be the future, as this technology provides more ease for the user.
Maxime Verac, Senior Manager at Deloitte Luxembourg then introduced "Security for Mobile applications: Where do we stand?" which included an overview of the cybersecurity risks related to the usage of mobile devices and applications, highlighting the most common security flaws observed in practice, and introduced some key recommendations.
Renaud Gruchet, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Pradeo, a Start-up, and addressed "New responses to address cybersecurity risks". In his presentation, he covered mobile devices - the weak link in your security on both customers' and employees' ends; mobility - a booming market and a real opportunity for companies but also a new playground for hackers; and new threats requiring new responses - how to protect employees and customers.
The event concluded with a panel discussion on "The journey towards mobile applications - From business needs towards the agile development of a secure mobile application", modeated by Stéphane Hurtaud, Partner at Deloitte LU, with panelists Paul Lee, Partner at Deloitte UK; Renaud Gruchet, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Pradeo; Laurent Kratz, CEO at Neofacto; Didier Richter, SVP, Head of Operational Marketing & Direct Banking at BIL.
Photo (L-R): Paul Lee, Partner and Global Head of Research for the TMT industry at Deloitte UK; Georges Kioes, Partner and TMT Leader at Deloitte Luxembourg
