Enterprise Mobility a 'Mixed Device' Environment: Challenges Still Ahead

Organizations continue to gravitate toward a mixed-device environment, according to a recent industry study. Aberdeen (News - Alert) Group released its latest research report on enterprise mobility: “Enterprise Mobile Strategies 2010: More Mobility, Same Budget.”


Of the more than 200 organizations that took part in the study, over 70 percent currently support more than one mobile platform – further evidence that a mixed-device environment is becoming a larger part of the enterprise mobile landscape.

According to Aberdeen officials, four major themes emerged from their research:

1)      The rapid expansion of new mobile platforms entering the workplace;

2)      The adoption of employee-owned mobile devices used for work purposes;

3)      The rise of mobility management to increase operational efficiency and drive down support costs; and

4)      The emergence of new models of development and deployment for enterprise mobile software, including the use of consumer apps for business, as well as enterprise “app stores.”

Now that many potential combinations of hardware, firmware and software are entering the enterprise, organizations need to implement a comprehensive management strategy that acknowledges the realities of today’s mixed mobile platform environment, according to Aberdeen officials.

 

“As organizations enter 2010, it is no longer sufficient to simply provide mobile devices to employees and expect concrete business value to somehow magically appear,” said Andrew Borg, senior research analyst for wireless and mobility, Aberdeen.  “Mobility has evolved from its role as a general productivity tool to a core driver of operational efficiency and streamlined business processes.”

 

However, industry experts also point out the issue of convergence and the lack of a comprehensive strategy when “non smartphone” devices are still being utilized across the enterprise. For example, with the dominant market that carriers like Nextel had, there are still many enterprises that have to support a Motorola device, according to Troy McCracken (News - Alert), CEO of telecom lifecycle management provider Spectrum (News - Alert).

“I agree that the management strategy needs to include the emergence of new models that are being deployed, however, there cannot be a comprehensive strategy when ‘non-smartphone devices’ are still being utilized within the enterprise,” said McCracken. “It is great for companies to be able to perform remote kill functionality, or efficient content transfer, etc., but it still cannot be 100 percent efficient until all devices are smartphones.”