Adopting mobility into enterprise IT solutions has reached the point where it is nearly standard. Whether companies allow it or not, employees are using their personal smartphones and tablets or a company issued device to at least answer email and make phone calls when out of the office. However, an interesting trend has emerged as the progression on mobile solutions within the businesses have stalled out.
Recently, Accenture released the results of a survey of 1,475 executives. It was discovered that mobility has risen to the top of the priority list in terms of importance to an organization. Seventy-seven percent of participants in the study consider mobility among the top five priorities for 2014, and 43 percent placed it within the top two.
On top of that, a majority of executives said the investment in mobility is done from a strategic standpoint as a way to help the company grow. Some 35 percent of respondents hoped that digital technologies would help increase sales in existing markets, and just under 30 percent hoped it would help penetrate new revenue landscapes.
In total, 87 percent currently have some kind of formal mobile strategy, which is an increase of 29 percent from the year before.
However, there is a problem, as only 20 percent of respondents said they have made significant progress in their mobility efforts and 86 percent believe that the strategy has paid for itself yet.
A recent article from CIO features an interview with Terri Rinella, the managing director at Accenture Mobility, who addressed this trend. She believes that there are a number of factors contributing to this including the lack of industry and company standards when it comes to mobile device use, difference of opinions between executives, managers and employees and the growing mobile app market, which is making it more difficult for companies to decided on a single package of programs to run their business.
"A mobile strategy also might not be the right strategy or not comprehensive enough," Rinella says. She adds, "Organizations might have a strategy but not the skills to execute it."
This is a more common concern as the use of mobility becomes more popular. Companies that jump in without the skills can find themselves in the deep end without a floatation device. However, with the help of an Apple support service, any company can gain a hand when it comes to an iPhone or iPad deployment and make sure that the mobile strategy is handled successfully.
