Enterprise Mobility – Value Lies in Data, Not Device Alone!

Times have changed, and so has how we use smartphones. From their earlier simplistic use of fetching email and contacts, smartphones are now the powerhouse for consumers and business users who use mobile gadgets for accessing applications and surf the web. Powered by big screens, more than sufficient memory and processing power, smartphones of today’s age support 3G networks (some now even support 4G) and run sophisticated apps developed from across the globe.

So what’s new with mobility that deems a mindset change for traditional CIOs operating with dated mobility policies and apps? Greyhound Research spoke to 100 CIOs over the last 4 weeks across emerging markets – 50 respondents each from Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa regions – and observed the following key trends:

• MobileFirst approach is a priority for most orgs in emerging markets, but challenges prevail. More than 70 percent of orgs are either already running or planning a mobility technology expansion project. This speaks volumes about enterprise mobility being a key priority for orgs across the emerging markets. However, more than 30 percent of these orgs are facing challenges like lack of clarity on policies for multiple users and roles in the organization, making the choice between app wrapping or deploying an MDM solution among others.

• Variety and spread in mobile devices is flooding organizations. More than 32 percent organizations in Emerging markets stated to be struggling with developing apps that run across multiple operating systems and form factors. From being blackberry centric, users across most organizations are increasingly migrating to Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android hence making it complex and expensive for IT teams to manage.

• Business leaders are increasingly demanding access to enterprise apps on mobile. This definitely stood as a key outcome for both Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa regions. More than 70 percent of the organizations Greyhound interviewed stated to have plans to spend on projects for mobilizing enterprise apps – while apps like CRM, BI and HCM are gaining traction on the mobile, traditional apps like email and calendaring continue to be the highest used apps.

• Increasing employee productivity and supporting mobile workforce key reasons to spend on mobility. More than 65 percent organizations continue to dedicate IT budget to improve employee productivity and support mobile workforce. Increasing customer intimacy and satisfaction was also quoted as other key priorities why orgs in emerging markets are adopting mobility.

• Confusions on best approach slowing down projects. More than 50 percent IT decision makers Greyhound interviewed were unclear about the best approach to source mobility applications and better manage security. More than 30 percent respondents stated to be confused on choosing a preferred partner for enterprise-grade mobility apps – 27 percent of these stated to be developing apps using in-house team.

What’s your Standpoint?

Do the trends above also reflect your organization’s story? Are you also struggling with making a decision on which app to mobilize and how to better manage security? Leave a comment and share with us your experience or send me an email on sgogia@greyhoundgroup.com.

Note for Technology Users – Join Our Exclusive Community!

Greyhound Research values your opinion and invites IT decision makers and business leaders involved in IT projects to join our exclusive, vendor-free research panel, Greyhound Golden Gate. If your story if exclusive and we have your permission, we will write a post about you and the project to share it with the larger community. Over and beyond, this also gives you access to some of our thought-leading research and experts. Please write to me on sgogia@greyhoundgroup.com and we’ll take it further from there!

Note for Vendors and Providers – Did you see our Research Agenda?

Do check out our extensive research schedule that covers a vast variety of topics including new-age business themes, disruptive technologies, business and technology roles. Please write to me on sgogia@greyhoundgroup.com and we’ll gladly share a copy of the research schedule with you.

Related Material On This Topic

• Mobility & Cloud – A Marriage Made In Heaven?
• So what’s the Fuss With These Technologies Really About?

Wish To Use This Material?

Greyhound Research is happy to provide reprint rights and official reprints in PDF format. Please send us a note on connect@greyhoundgroup.com.

Copyright © 2013 Greyhound Research. All rights reserved.

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.