A survey released today by Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. has charted the progress of enterprise mobility adoption.
The independent study conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of Synchronoss found that 38% of enterprises still only use mobility solutions for basic tools like email and calendar, and do not have a firm requirement to secure their staff’s devices.
However, these enterprises are 15% less productive and 29% less profitable than those with more advanced mobile capabilities, such as file-sharing apps, collection and analysis of data, app integrations and multi-factor authentication.
The study examines the different rates of adoption of enterprise mobility across more than 500 businesses in the UK and the US and classifies them into a four-stage maturity model: entry level, opportunistic, additive and transformational.
>See also: 5 trends impacting enterprise mobility in 2017
Progress through each stage was determined by the degree of use of productivity tools and data, and the security measures required.
Synchronoss Enterprise has shown that despite enterprise mobility being an accepted norm, 38% of enterprises have failed to progress beyond the entry level stage of its four-stage mobility maturity model, and that 81% remain in the bottom half however the incentive for enterprises to improve is clear.
The survey also proved that those 19% in the third stage of the model, additive (typified by app integrations, the collection of devices’ contextual usage data, multi-factor authentication and secure data transmission), were on average 15% more productive than those in entry level, and 29% more profitable.
“The findings of this study underline the case for companies to dedicate investment to their enterprise mobility strategy. Until now, the benefits of mobility maturity have been anecdotal or theoretical. We now know that those who invest in advanced mobility tools – balancing efficiency with security – benefit from double-figure improvements in productivity, in turn contributing to massive profitability gains” said Dave Schuette, executive vice president of the enterprise business unit at Synchronoss.
The survey also revealed the commercial impacts of advanced mobility maturity.
The most mature enterprises are 29% more profitable and 15% more productive than those in the lowest stage.
CIOs and IT teams who have delivered the most advanced enterprise mobility are perceived 14% and 12% more favorably within their organisations than those who have only introduced the most basic of functionality.
The simple step from entry level to opportunistic (first stage to second stage) delivers the greatest and quickest performance improvements.
>See also: Mobility predictions for 2017
Just by introducing file-sharing tools, monitoring usage data and requiring at least native OS security measures to be in place on the device, enterprises see a 9% profitability improvement and 7% productivity boost.
“Productivity doesn’t come from the availability of mobility tools alone,” continued Schuette. “Collecting contextual data from employees’ devices lets a company make informed, deliberate changes that improve its operations and processes.”
“That same data can also be used for more robust user ID verification, boosting security. The higher the security on a device, the more capabilities an organisation can confidently add to it – which in turn improves productivity. It’s the ultimate virtuous circle for enterprise technology.”
>See also: It is time for enterprises to embrace mobility?
“Mobility has always held significant promise for enterprise’s digital transformation programs – for operational efficiencies, workforce productivity, customer engagement, and overall competitive differentiation,” commented Chris Marsh, Research Director of 451 Research’s enterprise mobility practice.
“Technologies have evolved at such a rapid pace however and mark such a break from the PC era that many companies have really struggled to take full advantage. For too many, securing existing mobile assets is still their preoccupation rather than looking for those higher value business outcomes.”
“Budgets are growing but companies don’t always know how and where to invest. We have seen though a marked shift over the past two years of a leading edge of companies striking out and doing the hard thinking of what the right combination of people, process and technology is to make mobility a really strategic driver of business value.”
