Enterprise Mobility Strategy – An IT Imperative

Harish Taori

Summary Bullets:

• Enterprise IT teams are struggling to manage secured access to enterprise data and systems, standardization of platforms/mobile devices, monitoring personal vs. work related usage and unplanned growth of BYOD devices due to consumerization of IT.
• Enterprises are investing in optimizing their business workflows, applications and user interfaces to derive the maximum value out of enterprise mobility initiatives.

Growing usage of individual liable mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets and in some case even notebooks, is driving the first wave of unplanned adoption. Enterprises are forced to provide access to communication and collaboration applications like email, messaging and conferencing in a secured manner and to develop mobility related policies and guidelines to support usage of personal devices. As a result IT teams are struggling to manage the device and data security, secured access to enterprise systems, standardization of platforms and mobile devices and unplanned growth of BYOD devices due to consumerization of IT.

Enterprises are investing in optimizing their business workflows, applications and user interfaces to derive the maximum value out of enterprise mobility initiatives. This key characteristic of the second wave will be manifested in optimized enterprise systems that employees can securely access on the go. Enterprise IT systems such as CRM, HR, salesforce automation, finance/accounting and other field force related vertical solutions will be among the first few applications to be accessed through any mobile devices. However, for the second wave to be realized, enterprises need a well defined mobility strategy to help maximize the ROI on technology investments, improve employee productivity, and increase customer satisfaction through personalized experience.

A few considerations for enterprises in developing a mobility strategy:

1. Bring in all the key stakeholders together to form a mobility steering committee. This committee may have representatives from various business units – IT, sales, marketing, and LoB heads. It is important that all the stakeholders have consensus on the objectives that organization would like to achieve through mobility.
2. Mobility strategy is more than mobile sites or apps. Take a holistic view to encompass people, processes, technology and governance aspect of mobility while developing the strategy. Think mobile first.
3. Consider the business goals and objectives, provide the detailed deployment roadmap, define mobility governance framework and identify key metrics to measure the success of mobility strategy. Ensure the mobility strategy is well planned and aligned to your enterprise IT and business strategy.

I have tried to put a broad guideline for organizations embarking on their mobility strategy or thinking about developing one. This is not the only way to develop your strategy and I am sure you may have better ways. I look forward to learning from you some of the best practices you may have deployed in your respective organizations.