New research reveals end-users’ wants for enterprise mobility
The rapid introduction of new mobile devices, all with advanced computing power and features better than the last, to market has caused the preferences of end-users to change just as rapidly. When it comes to enterprise mobility, employees want the latest and greatest technology that is going to make their job that much easier.
New research recently released by ABI Research tracks the expectations of enterprise mobility users across the globe. In doing so, the firm has compiled three surveys – Business Mobility Survey by Size of Business: United States, Mobility Survey: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and Business Use of Mobile Phones and Smartphones.
Combining all three reports, respondents came from the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, China, India and Indonesia. Overall, the results revealed exactly how companies expect to take advantage of mobile devices, said Dan Shey, ABI Research's enterprise practice director.
"Businesses now want to translate platform capabilities into real business results. The winners will be those that offer the best combination of functionality, security and – increasingly – multimedia capabilities," he said.
Of course, the preferences of mobile end-users also has service implications for a company's investments in mobility. Meeting all demands could force costs to skyrocket, considering the latest devices and technology rarely come cheap. To deal with the issue, experts advise organizations to deploy a mobile expense management solution to track costs and aid efforts to meet budgetary goals.
According to ABI's research, 60 percent of U.S. respondents said they are more concerned about data services than voice services when it comes to using their smartphone for business. In terms of highly desirable features, 40 percent of U.S. respondents listed Wi-Fi connectivity, location-based services, speakerphones and touchscreens as topping the list.
More than half of Indian respondents said they choose a device based on multimedia capability. Another 47 percent cited corporate email and enterprise applications as the top reasons they have upgraded to a smartphone.
Multimedia features were also viewed as very important among respondents from Western European countries.
Preferences for mobility could be directly determined by the overall smartphone market, which continues to experience strong gains. According to the latest report from comScore, Google's Android mobile operating system continues to lead the market with 34.7 percent share, an increase of 6 percent since December. Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry, is second with 27.1 percent share, but has dropped 4.5 percent since December.