Companies need integrated mobility management solutions

Transcription

1 Spotlight analysis Companies need integrated mobility management solutions January 2014 f

2 This spotlight analysis is based on the PAC trend study Mobile Device & Application Management in Germany, France, the UK, and Switzerland which was published in September For this trend study, PAC interviewed more than 320 European ICT and mobility managers. The trend study is available for free download at: Published by: Cortado AG Alt-Moabit 91 a/b Berlin, Germany Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) GmbH Holzstr Munich, Germany Contact: Robert Noonan (+49 [0] , Nicole Dufft (+49 [0] , PAC & Cortado

3 Many companies feel overwhelmed by the new mobility challenges Mobile technologies have become a firm fixture of everyday business life. Their influence on the way we work, the way we interact with customers and on business processes is tremendous and will grow further in the years to come. However, despite the rising importance of mobile technologies in business life, many companies are not well prepared for the chances and challenges that these technologies bring along: A PAC survey among European IT decision makers revealed that about 60% of the companies in Germany, France, Switzerland and the UK do not have a long-term mobility strategy. Even 40% of the large companies with more than 1,000 employees decide ad hoc rather than strategically on mobility investments. At the same time, every second IT manager is highly concerned about enormous security risks and high administrative overheads. Even more striking: only 17% of the European IT managers feel well prepared for the challenges in the mobility area, most are overwhelmed by the increasing volume and diversity of mobile devices, applications, and operating systems (see figure 1). We feel sufficiently prepared for the challenges in the mobility area. Completely applies Rather applies It depends Does rather not apply Does not apply at all Don t know/no answer Shares (weighted) in percentage of all companies, n = % 34% 4% 17% 30% PAC 2013 Figure 1: Preparedness of European companies for mobility challenges PAC & Cortado

4 The majority of European companies are taking a wait-and-see-approach towards BYOD BYOD (Bring your own device), i.e. the use of private devices for business purposes, has lately been discussed intensively as one of THE key challenges related to enterprise mobility. However, in Europe currently only 17% actively promote BYOD concepts 1 one out of four companies is prohibiting the business use of private devices, (see figure 2). The majority of companies currently follow a wait-and-see approach: they tolerate BYOD, but they do not proactively deal with this growing trend. Is the business use of private end devices in your company rather forbidden, tolerated, or promoted? Forbidden Tolerated Promoted Shares (weighted) in percentage of all companies, n = % 56% 27% PAC 2013 Figure 2: BYOD in Europe But BYOD is not the prime challenge It is important to understand though that the parallel use of mobile devices for private and business purposes generates significant security risks and administrative challenges for companies irrespective of how they deal with BYOD. The secure administration of an increasingly large and heterogeneous device landscape is presenting a tremendous challenge to IT managers no matter if devices are company- or privately-owned, no matter if they are desktop or mobile. In the mobile space device heterogeneity brings along specific challenges, 1 Approaches towards BYOD vary significantly among countries: The use of private devices for business purposes is promoted particularly strongly in the UK (34%), while only 10% of companies in Germany and 7% in France are promoting BYOD. PAC & Cortado

5 as devices are equipped with different operating systems. Today, an average of 2.3 different mobile operating systems are deployed in each company. In the UK, where BYOD strategies are more widespread, the average is at 2.9 not even accounting for different versions of the respective operating systems. But at least equally challenging as the rising heterogeneity of devices is the rising diversity of applications used on those devices for both private and business purposes. Companies usually have only limited control over the applications downloaded and used on devices. In fact, strict rules for application usage are difficult to enforce. And many employees are more willing to accept limitations in the choice of devices than in the choice of applications. Actually, around two thirds of companies give their employees free reign in terms of the use of mobile applications. There is a strong need for integrated mobility management solutions Against this backdrop, it comes as a surprise that only one quarter of all European companies currently have a mobile device, application or content management solution implemented (see figure 3). The good news is: a significant number of 35-45% of companies in Europe are now responding to the challenges and have either concrete plans to invest in mobility management or at least see the need for action. Based on these results, PAC expects double-digit growth rates for mobility management solutions in the next 1-3 years. Does your company have a solution in use for the following areas, or is this planned for the next 12 months? In use Planned Not planned, but there is need for action Mobile Device Management Mobile Application Management PAC 2013 Mobile Content Management Shares (weighted) in percentage of all companies, n = 326 Figure 3: Mobility management solutions in use or planned PAC & Cortado

6 Requirements on mobility management solutions But mobility management solutions also need to meet a number of specific demands and will have to respond to the general trend that mobility management is becoming more and more an integral part of holistic IT (service) management concepts and solutions: Mobile technologies are now much less of a specialized topic and are becoming an integral part of the ICT landscape in many companies. That means that their management also needs to be integrated with other IT management solutions. The survey results confirm this trend: around 40% of respondents report the need for action regarding the integration of mobile management functions into a holistic ITC management concept, including rights and access, version and license, or content management. Only around one quarter have so far addressed the topic of a uniform access and rights management for mobile and desktop technologies, another 40% see the need for action in this area. Solutions that enable the integration of mobility management into existing access and rights management systems (e.g. Active Directory) are an attractive option. Companies are looking for integrated mobility management solutions that not only address device and application management, mobile collaboration and security, but also cover the whole lifecycle of end devices and applications from procurement, administration, lockdown and auditing through to further development. More than 80% do not need a solution that covers ALL available mobile operating systems but want to focus on a few of the most prominent ones to limit the administrative overhead of device and application management. Currently, 60% want to focus on Apple s ios, 46% on Google s Android. More than 50% of the IT managers in Europe currently favor on-premise solutions over cloud or managed services. While this holds true for only 27% of the respondents in the UK, France and Germany currently have a large number of cloud skeptics with respect to mobility management (France: 63%, Germany: 72%). While PAC expects a rising demand for cloud-based solutions in the medium term, mobility management providers today need to address the current skepticism and offer on-premise solutions that can be operated behind the company firewall without the need to transfer sensitive data to a third-party cloud provider. PAC & Cortado

7 Recommendation: define a firm mobility strategy! The increasing diversity of mobile devices and applications brings both opportunities and challenges: On the one hand, companies can motivate employees with a good range of mobile devices and applications and can boost their productivity on the go. On the other hand, the diversity and parallel business and private use of mobile technologies harbors enormous security risks and administration costs. To profit from the opportunities and limit the risks, companies should take an active approach towards enterprise mobility and define a firm mobile strategy for their company. Their strategy should include but not be limited to BYOD because security risks and administration costs are rising irrespective of a company s attitude towards BYOD. Instead of strictly regulating the use of mobile devices and applications, IT managers should better proactively deal with this issue by deploying mobility management solutions that help to exploit the chances of mobile variety but limit security and administrative challenges at the same time. Supporting BYOD and device heterogeneity, however, does not necessarily mean that IT has to support all device types and operating systems on the market. It can limit its support to a certain range of operating systems that adheres to the various needs of employees and administration alike. To deal with the parallel use of mobile technologies for business and private life, they might consider container approaches that isolate business environments (applications and data) from private environments on mobile devices, provided e.g. by Samsung KNOX or Apple s ios 7. PAC believes that mobility management will become more and more an integral part of holistic IT (service) management concepts. Companies should therefore make sure that their mobility management solutions not only cover the whole device and application lifecycle, but can also be integrated with existing rights and access management systems. Mobility management solutions generally need to respond to the demands of different stakeholders within the company: Business managers want to motivate their staff with a modern work environment and boost the productivity of their employees whether working in the office, at home or on the road. Employees want freedom of choice in the mobile devices and applications they use and very good usability. And IT managers want to safeguard the security of devices, applications and content as well as low administrative efforts to do so. Effective mobility management solutions need to find the right balance between all of those various needs. PAC & Cortado

8 About Cortado Cortado formerly ThinPrint has delivered solutions for the modern working world since Enterprise mobility, printing, virtualization and BYOD are the main focus of the company. Cortado combines innovative devices such as smartphones and tablets with the customary requirements of office work, in teams and beyond space and system boundaries. Easy for users, innovative, reliable, and with a high return on investment. These are the distinguishing features of Cortado products. No other company focuses so much on the issue of Consumerization. By constantly evaluating feedback from users of its free cloud services available in all major app stores, Cortado continuously improves its products. These foundations allow Cortado to optimally implement an enterprise mobility strategy for businesses of all sizes. Over 18,000 enterprise customers with 5 up to 150,000 employees, as well as hundreds of thousands of individual users worldwide rely on Cortado solutions. As an internationally operating company, and founder of the Cloud Printing Alliance, Cortado employs over 220 highly skilled employees at its headquarters in Berlin, Germany and in its branch offices in the United States, the UK, Australia, France and Japan. About Pierre Audoin Consultants From strategy to execution, PAC delivers focused and objective responses to the growth challenges of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) players. Founded in 1976, PAC is a privately held research & consulting firm for the software and ICT services market. PAC helps ICT vendors to optimize their strategies by providing quantitative and qualitative market analysis as well as operational and strategic consulting. We advise CIOs and financial investors in evaluating ICT vendors and solutions and support their investment decisions. Public institutions and organizations also rely on our key analyses to develop and shape their ICT policies. For more information, please visit