Hannah Byrne, Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.’s director of Enterprise Mobile Solutions, and Russ Clark, a senior research scientist in Georgia Tech’s School of Computer Science, led an interactive discussion on business and mobility before nearly 50 people yesterday. The session was co-hosted by Technology Association of Georgia and Georgia Tech-Savannah.

Byrne, who said Gulfstream “builds the most mobile device on the planet,” told attendees how the speed of mobility adoption will impact business -- whether they work for a small start-up or a large corporation.

“Startups can react, fail and go to market quickly with innovative technologies while enterprises want proven and risk-averse technologies,” she said. “The good news is it is possible to have bi-modal information technology, an organizational model that segments services into two categories: one traditional, emphasizing efficiency, safety and accuracy, and one emphasizing agility and speed.”

Byrne also noted that small businesses don’t have to build apps from scratch.

“Whether you have a development team of one or 21, you can use a mobile device like an iPad with what’s already built on it,” she noted. “Allowing your employees to innovate within the product makes them better in the long run.”

Clark, who discussed the academic perspective of mobile apps, noted the rampant spread of mobile devices connected to the Internet and the limitless possibilities for businesses.

“In 2012, it was predicted that mobile devices would outnumber the world population by 2016. We actually broke that record by 2013, with 10 billion devices,” he said. “When I started teaching mobile app development in 2005, you couldn’t sell directly to a customer. Today, you can design and build an app and start selling directly.”

With all of the potential benefits, though, Clark warned business owners to be sure to consider the risks.

“When thinking about the Internet of Things -- machine-to-machine communication built on cloud computing and networks of data-gathering sensors -- time scales, security and privacy can all be a challenge,” he said. “It can transform your business operations, but you need to be solving a real problem and be prepared for continuous upgrades.”

Added Byrne, “It’s exciting and terrifying all at the same time.”