As I wrap up the editing on my forthcoming report on mobile in the enterprise, I’m mulling the conversations, interviews and data findings I came across in writing this piece of research. It publishes on June 7.
One element of mobility that has stood out to me is just how early we are in the journey for mobility. Looking at data on how companies are expanding their mobile initiatives as users stream in the door with devices – most of them aren’t acting today with firm policies. This comes at a time when one in two mobile users is carrying a smartphone – at least in the US. Mobile to date has been a consumer trend and, due to the lack of comprehensive controls in many organizations, concerns around data protection and choosing the right apps and tools to properly empower users, many businesses have refused to act on the trend of mobility driven by Bring Your Own Device (BYOD.)
The truth is that the users are in power, and not letting their devices in will only stifle productivity and potentially welcome security breaches as users adopt consumer-grade solutions for everything from mobile information access to collaboration and sharing, even virtualization of their applications or computing environment. We’ve left the age of a single server to manage all elements of mobility and despite the efforts of those who once held sway, the battle for mobile isn’t about provisioning and access to things like email, it’s about empowering users to take mobile devices in hand for their actual, day-to-day tasks. In the report, we’ll outline how all users fall into one of three use patterns:
- Consumption – largely focused on accessing and consuming information when away from a traditional desktop client. Data i static in this model.
- Collaboration – the ability to create, share and access/edit information across mobile and non-mobile platforms. Data is dynamic in this model.
- Computing – taking the entire computing experience with the user, whether apps or desktop, the tablet or even the smartphone becomes the gateway into and primary platform for the user’s computing environment.
The users given top priority to go mobile are the same users you might expect. The usual suspects of sales and field service we’ve been seeing for some time but quickly thereafter other users like executives, technical workers and that large group of information workers are following. It turns out that the benefits of a flexible, portable workplace are almost immediately apparent to companies that have started their mobile journey already.
Stay tuned here for the report it’s publishing in just a couple of days, you can register for the report webinar now, it’s taking place June 14. We’ll outline the successes we’ve seen in organizations in verticals as diverse as education, high tech industrial, healthcare and others. We’ll also outline the four steps all businesses should take in order to identify the users most in need of mobility, understand their needs (both technical and process) and choose the right partner. How is your organization grappling with the growing push for mobility?
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