Summary Bullets:
- Use of mobility management services is up, with the bulk of service contracts going to IT SPs and mobile operators.
- The mix of services in use has evolved to include more M2M, mobile payments and app management.
A new Current Analysis survey, completed in August, asked 650 companies about their use of transformational services including cloud, collaboration and mobility services. The results regarding mobile services show some consistency with, but also some evolving differences relative to, the two previous mobility studies that Current Analysis conducted in 2011 and 2013. Both the 2013 survey and the new study showed that about 60% of companies use external providers or a mix of internal and external sources for mobility management, but some services have grown significantly in usage. As before, companies are primarily seeking services from large IT service providers (33%) and mobile operators (27%) while a lower percentage use VARs, consulting companies, and network equipment or software vendors. The services in use range from mobile strategy consulting to telecom expense management (TEM), mobile device management (MDM), mobile applications management (MAM), enterprise app stores, application development, mobile security, M2M, mobile payments and mobile content management. Of these, TEM, MAM, mobile security, M2M and mobile payments have grown the most in usage or planned usage.
The survey also uncovered some nuances in BYOD policy. While 47% of respondents said they allowed some form of BYOD, 56% said that only some employees were eligible, while 43% have gone over to a ‘choose your own device’ (CYOD) option. 28% of respondents noted employees that use personal devices are reimbursed by the company; only 11% said that personal devices were prohibited at work.
The survey findings examine many other areas including planned spending for mobility, security requirements and other technologies. At a high level, the results are in line with our expectations for the evolution of enterprise mobility as mobility becomes an increasingly important technology for business communications. As mobile applications become more mission-critical and more sophisticated, the ability to use the tools and expertise of outside service providers is becoming increasingly necessary – and adopted – by companies across all sectors.
IT Connection 