Successful enterprise mobility deployment goes beyond supporting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and requires specific strategies targeted at balanced servicing of customer, IT and employee needs, according to a new global study from Vanson Bourne that was commissioned by CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA).
Entitled Enterprise Mobility–It’s All About the Apps, the study surveyed 1,300 senior IT leaders worldwide and shows that while the benefits of mobility are well understood, concerns over security and privacy, multiple platform support, budget constraints and lack of appropriately skilled personnel are seen as the biggest obstacles to mobility adoption.
According to the study, nearly all (83 percent) of U.S. respondents recognized a greater need for realizing business opportunities with mobility. Organizations that have been successful with their mobility initiatives have experienced anywhere from a 17 to 24 percent improvement in business in the form of increased revenue, faster time-to-market, improved competitive positioning, enhanced customer experience, better employee productivity and lower costs.
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The report also reveals that external customer initiatives like secure application management are now outpacing internal BYOD projects on IT priority lists. It indicates customer-facing mobile initiatives are business-critical and need to be addressed with the same sense of urgency as internal efforts. Customer-facing initiatives are seen as means to better address customer demands and improve the customer experience and satisfaction overall.
“Today, CIOs are under enormous pressures to address the rapid pace of technology change and evolution. Mobility has dramatically elevated the complexity of what is needed both for internal users and customer-facing systems,” said Ram Varadarajan, general manager, New Business Innovation, CA Technologies.
He added, “The potential of not complying with key regulations, inadvertent dissemination of corporate information, or negatively impacting brand reputation because of poor customer experience though a mobile application shopping experience, are just a few examples of risks faced by organizations that do not have an enterprise-wide mobility strategy.”
Among the study’s specific findings:
-- Mobile apps are key. Traditional focus for IT has been on devices, but the real opportunity is to focus on mobile apps. 63 percent of respondents selected mobile apps for customers or employees as their number one priority (versus 37 percent for internal BYOD and managing employee devices).
-- Customer focus is key. IT's mobility focus started with BYOD and satisfying their employees. Now, the demand is coming from the customers as well, and IT must address both. The number one driver of mobility initiatives is increased demand from customers as reported by 42 percent of respondents. Others include improving the customer experience (33 percent) and improving customer support (26 percent).
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-- IT must be proactive, not reactive. BYOD was all about IT reacting to demands from employee. Now, demand for mobile apps provides a new opportunity to drive new business initiatives. IT spending on mobility will increase 50 percent over three years. Spending on mobility outside of IT will grow from 9 percent to 15 percent, making this another reason for IT to be proactive.
-- Security and privacy concerns remain paramount: Not just for securing devices, but for securing the apps. More than one third of respondents cited security and privacy concerns as their number one challenge.
-- Enterprise mobility adopters have been experiencing real and measurable benefits: While challenges remain and investment is needed, there are real, quantifiable benefits to be achieved. Respondents who have already achieved specific benefits reported between 17 to 24 percent improvement in time-to-market, revenue, increased customer satisfaction, better employee productivity and retention/recruitment, and lower costs for BYOD programs.
“CA Technologies is in a unique position to address the gaps in holistic enterprise-wide mobility management,” concludes Varadarajan. “The report emphasizes the important investments we are making in mobility and other advanced technologies. It’s clear the existing systems for managing mobility have not been meeting the needs of IT.”
Learn more about the research and download the white paper.