Getting Smart!
Smart mobile apps and solutions evolved significantly in 2013 and their impact on enterprise gave way to the BYOD (Bring Your Own Mobile) trend. Employees have been supported by mobility while on the move, and productivity has been enhanced due to mobile connectivity. Hence enterprise mobility has come to be a part of the rich pageant of top tech trends of coming years; especially 2014. Indian companies have begun to recognize the inherent and compelling need to integrate enterprise mobility in their workforce management. According to a new forecast, phone users in India and China will together buy more than 500m smartphones in 2014, comprising half of the total that will be sold in 47 key countries. India leads the field, with 92% of the 224m forecast sales expected to go to new users. To top this, global statistics are reflecting that 400,000 iPhones and 1.5 million Android phones are being sold on a daily basis.
Shape Up or Ship Out
Users across Indian organizations are demanding the freedom to choose their own device, to use any application at work, and have access to enterprise data from any place, any device, at any time. Hence, enterprises are realizing the need for a well-planned approach towards enterprise mobility strategy deployment. They recognize the importance to be at par with fast-paced user acceptance, and having a Mobile Application Management (MAM) strategy in place mitigates security concerns and reduces time on ROI. Unified and collaborative communication has become a key driver for enterprise mobility and increased engagement amongst employees.
Enterprises that are pliant with trends benefiting business ecosystems are considering ‘Choose Your Own Device’ (CYOD) instead of BYOD, where companies can define their own mobile policies. Employees can choose from pre-established OS and app menus. Considering data security issues that can arise from BYOD usage, CYOD can actually streamline device management and allow freedom within limited access use. New mobility solutions are in focus now, given that 2013 was the year of enterprise mobility as a fresh concept.
The Silver Lining
This brings to light the need for creating multiplatform EMM (Employee Mobile Management) policies for smartphones and tablet using employees. And the fastest and most economic road to controlling an effective mobility ecosystem is using cloud. A cloud-based EMM strategy can shoulder security and performance solutions. If internet browsing via mobile needs to be facilitated in organizations, then cloud technology is required to grease the wheel so that data storage, retrieval and sharing can be carried on the move without worry of non-compliance, leakages and loss. Since enterprise mobility expansion is inevitable, companies need to adopt and adapt wisely with prescribed technological inputs to avoid corroding bottomline interests. Cloud technology is already causing CIO’s to consider funding technology needs with an opex (operational expenditure) model versus a capex (capital expenditure) model, with vendors offering flexible options for usage, like pay per use software versions.
Innovation in mobility is the writing on the wall, and enterprises realize that critical data from testing phases will provide quick analysis and big business solutions. Hence, anytime, anywhere data access has to be incorporated as a function of corporate and business life. Tim Hundt (Senior Enterprise Architect-Experience Solutions & Innovation, GE Capital) explains how information, imagination and inspiration lend credence to innovation, “For an organization to be innovative, it must combine both a culture of innovation with a process to drive innovation into solutions. Lack of the former will prevent the flow of ideas to feed the process. Lack of the latter will cause the ideas to fizzle and die.”
