The increasing use of Apple’s products in organizations across emerging markets is noteworthy. To better understand this evolution, Greyhound Research conducted an online survey across the APJ and MEA regions. We surveyed 300 IT decision makers – 150 each in each APJ and MEA across seven key verticals including Manufacturing, Retail, Professional Services, Media & Entertainment among others. Below are some outcomes from the survey that might interest you and your organization.
- In emerging markets, Apple products are making their presence felt in the enterprise. 39% of respondents reported using one or more apple products at the workplace – this includes personally owned devices. Interestingly, while iPhone and iPad continue to be the most used apple product, Mac is increasingly gaining traction.
- So who’s using Apple products? Survey tells us apple users are spread across multiple types – while the younger population in APJ and MEA continues to lead adoption, the senior, well paid executives are the next biggest base of users for Apple’s products.
- IT teams now support the Apple family of products, with iPhone and iPad as key priority. While enterprise IT teams continue to use and support windows as the primary platform, they are increasingly supporting (or planning) to support Apple’s products. 41% orgs in emerging markets are currently or planning to support iPhone and 37% for iPad. While more than 35% stated to have or working on policies to allow Mac personal computers to replace Windows PC, currently only 25% actively support them.
- Google Android is not a platform of choice for enterprises in emerging markets. While Google’s Android platform continues to be well received by consumers, enterprise decision makers remain unsure about supporting Android fully in the enterprise. Many reasons contribute to this including irregularity of support for OS upgrades, bigger base of end-users demanding iPhone and iPad support, a weak app marketplace strategy among others.
Greyhound Standpoint
Enterprises in APJ and MEA regions are clearly beginning to bite the apple! While this definitely raises a question on the dominance of Windows, Greyhound Research believes Windows continues to be the platform of choice for enterprises for the foreseeable future. However, with increasing need to support Apple’s products, IT decision makers must watch out for potential areas of pitfall and answer the following questions before deciding next steps.
- How to support and fill Apple’s weak links for the enterprise?
- How to better manage devices and PCs as users increasingly look at IT to support Apple’s products?
- How to craft a BYOD policy that allows users to use their personal Apple products (or others like Google) and yet adhere to security?
- How to craft a policy for using iCloud and similar cloud storage services in the enterprise?
- How to manage the corporate app stores given the current unavailability of Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) in emerging countries except Australia and New Zealand?
What’s your Standpoint?
Do the trends above also reflect your organization’s story? Are you also struggling with making a decision on supporting Apple’s products? Leave a comment and share with us your experience or send me an email on sgogia@greyhoundgroup.com.
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About The Author: Sanchit Vir Gogia is the Chief Analyst & CEO of Greyhound Research, an independent IT & Telecom Research & Advisory firm. He also serves as Founder & CEO of Greyhound Knowledge Group that operates under four brands – Greyhound Research, Greyhound Sculpt, Greyhound Technocrat and Greyhound Vivo. To read more about him, click here.
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