BYOD, Enterprise Mobility Markets Poised to Hit $266B by 2019
October 01, 2015
By Steve Anderson
Contributing Writer
Taking one's own electronic device of choice to work is becoming part of the everyday landscape as more businesses turn the choice of device over to employees. It's called the bring your own device (BYOD) doctrine, and it—along with enterprise mobility in general—is set to be part of a major new market. According to a new report from MarketsandMarkets, BYOD and enterprise mobility will account for $266.17 billion worth of major new market by just 2019.
The MarketsandMarkets report—titled “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) & Enterprise Mobility Market [Mobile Device Management, Mobile Application Management, Telecom Expense Management, Content Management and Email Management] – Global Advancements, Market Forecast and Analysis (2014 – 2019)—offered up a look at the various components of this rapidly-gaining market. Not only is the market poised to hit that impressive mark by 2019, but it will have done so coming from comparatively humble beginnings, reaching over three times the level it hit in 2013, when the entire market was worth just $71.93 billion. Further, the report projects that North America will prove the largest market for such tools in terms of sheer market size, but the European and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets will gain plenty of ground during the period in question.
Several key points are coming together to drive this market, and not just a sea change in favor of the mobile workforce. The rise of cloud infrastructure use is considered one major fueling point, as is the rapid increase in smartphone purchase and use, as well as a simple growth in the popularity of having such tools on hand. A variety of firms have entered this particular market with varying degrees of success, including Cisco (News - Alert) Systems, IBM, Avaya and a host of others.
It really isn't shocking to see that BYOD and enterprise mobility are making major gains in the field; after all, we're talking about a technology that not only allows opportunities for the perfect work-life balance, but also the kind of flexibility that businesses need these days more than ever.
While there have been some stirrings that, increasingly, work is no longer about a place you go to but rather about a thing you do, that ideology has fallen short in terms of execution. But with the various technologies involved in BYOD—cloud-based infrastructure, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service, videoconferencing and a host of others—making gains, why not take advantage of this tool that allows someone to work while waiting for a doctor's appointment, or from the beach in Cabo? Sure, it has some problems—accountability is one of the big ones—but we're rapidly making gains on that front too, and the ability to not only gain productivity but also reduce costs is hard to pass up. Imagine an office that still produces work, but where the employees pay the heating bill, the water bill, and the electric bill. That's what a mobile workforce is.
The mobile workforce will likely continue to feed the BYOD and enterprise mobility markets for some time, and bring advantages along with it. All that's left is for hidebound elements of corporate culture to step aside and let this new development grow to its fullest. Though there are points to watch out for, some simple advance planning can put most of these to rest fairly quickly.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi