XChange 2012: Enterprises Still Looking For Mobility Strategy

Benedict, in a presentation Tuesday at XChange 2012 in Dallas, Texas, said that 40 percent of companies have strategies for enterprise mobility, and 42 percent said they plan to deploy more than six enterprise mobility applications within six months.

"Nobody wants to be tethered to a cubicle or a desktop anymore," Benedict said in a presentation on enterprise mobility. "But there are a lot of plans, and not much strategy, so they are looking at outsourcing."

[Related: XChange Solution Provider 2012 Coverage ]

Benedict said enterprises expect much from mobility. In a survey he conducted, asking enterprise executives what ROI they want from mobility, 79.1 percent named increased productivity; 66.9 percent cited efficiency gains; 48.6 percent named improved customer research and service; and 43.4 percent listed reduced cost.

Deploying mobile, connected devices throughout a company can give the business a competitive advantage through its ability to enable situational awareness and dynamic decision-making as workers communicate easily and quickly and share information across devices and geographic locations, he said.

However, as many as 50 percent of enterprises are not engineered for an up-to-date mobility strategy, he said.

"So much has changed in mobility, yet you [businesses] haven't changed anything," he said.

Benedict said solution providers should be aware of the top challenges facing businesses as they consider a deployment.

They need to develop company-wide strategies; they need to identify the ROI mobility will bring; and they need to educate their executives on the full competitive advantages mobility will bring their business.

"The challenge is to get them to understand that mobility can change the business," he said.

PUBLISHED AUG. 21, 2012