The Future of the Mobile EnterpriseThe Future of the Mobile Enterprise

The two major challenges: Managing "BYOD" and business transformation.

Mobility is playing a major role in the move to unified communications (UC). At UCStrategies we talk about two major plays for UC, UC for User Productivity (UC-U) and UC for Business Productivity (UC-B), and mobility will have a place in each. I was thinking about this because I'll be presenting the keynote for the Enterprise Connect virtual event on The Future of the Mobile Enterprise next Wednesday.

As I began putting my talk together, I hit on two important challenges that managers are facing in enterprise mobility:

1. Balancing user requests and personal device preferences with enterprise requirements for security, control, and support

2. Enabling business transformation based on new mobility capabilities

In the near-term, the major impact from mobility will be on the UC-U front. Most UC vendors emphasize the user convenience and business value of "single number reach" and directory-based calling from the enterprise number. Those vendors also emphasize the value of integrating the mobile device into generic office tools including e-mail, calendar, contacts, meetings and workspaces.

In this context, one of the major challenges faced by mobility managers is the deluge of user requests to use their preferred mobile devices--smartphones and/or tablets--for work: the "Bring You Own Device" or "BYOD" movement.

It is still difficult to get a clear picture about how far BYOD has advanced. A recent survey of mobility managers conducted by CCMI/BizTech Reports found that while 44% of respondents support corporate-liable devices (devices funded by the enterprise), 35.5% supported a mix of individual and corporate-liable and 7% are fully individual liable; the rest had no stated policy.

Anecdotally, it appears that larger users are more likely to support corporate liable devices, particularly those in regulated or security-sensitive industries. In the CCMI/BizTech Reports survey, 56% of respondents supported over 500 mobile devices and 32% supported over 2,500 mobile devices, however there is no specified correlation regarding whether larger or smaller users were more likely to go corporate- vs. individual-liable.

As the BYOD option has become more of an issue , the industry has responded with more functional mobile device management systems. Companies such as Sybase (now part of SAP), MobileIron, Zenprise, and Airwatch provide the tools to do policy enforcement, asset management, and remote wipe and lock, along with other functions, on all of the major mobile operating systems. Even RIM is widening its perspective on non-BlackBerry device management and will soon be managing iPhone and Android devices on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) with the addition of the recently acquired ubitexx technology.

The key to making a smart decision will be to look beyond the immediate concern of responding to user requests and think about the long-term impact. The real payoff from mobility will come when we can use these technologies to change the way we do business--that’s where UC-B comes into play. Companies like FedEx and UPS have revolutionized the package delivery business by incorporating mobile data capture. UC case studies from healthcare, field services, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, retail sales, insurance, utilities, education, local government, and other sectors are all showing the value of deploying mobile applications and mobile devices to improve results. In most of those cases, the business processes and the high-return benefits are justifying a corporate liable stance on mobile device selection, provisioning and funding.

Making that transition successfully will require that businesses have a plan. From an IT perspective, the simplest solution would be for everyone to be on the same mobile operating system, and a corporate liable plan that ensures lowest cost and maximum control over the full inventory of mobile devices. Clearly, that's not going to be the case in many organizations, so planning needs to go beyond the near-term problem of responding to user requests for BYOD, and address the question of how to foster business transformation based on mobile assets in the polyglot environment.

The overhead required to maintain custom applications on multiple mobile operating systems may make that strategy impractical, however, there is still the possibility of deploying applications in a Web-based environment where all that is required on the device is a browser. Enterprises have to weigh the functionality and convenience of a customized app against the user experience provided on a Web-based solution. Again, the key is to have a long-range plan in order to make the best short-term decisions and policies.

Mobile solutions are composed of networks, devices, and applications as well as the management systems to support them. Executing in mobility and enabling those business-transforming applications will require that all three of these elements work in unison.

I'm not saying that I'll have an answer for every conceivable permutation, but we will have a lot to say in the virtual event keynote about what’s going on in each of these areas and about how a view of the future will inform the areas where mobile managers should be focusing today. Hope to see you there.