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, TechInsights Report: Enterprise Mobility–It’s All About the Apps, from Vanson Bourne commissioned by CA Technologies.

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.

Nearly all (83 percent) of US respondents recognize 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.

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. 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:

Now it is about the apps

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).

Now it is about the customer

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).

Now 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 important

Security and privacy concerns remain more important than ever—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 report 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.

Survey Methodology: Vanson Bourne conducted the CA Technologies-sponsored study of 1300 senior IT leaders in financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, public sector and telecommunications in 21 countries around the world in May through July 2013. The study’s respondents assume IT executive, management, project lead or enterprise architect positions at enterprises with revenues of $100 million or more. For more information on the research and to download the whitepaper, visit here.

ABOUT Ram Varadarajan

Ram Varadarajan is General Manager, New Business Innovation, at CA Technologies.

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