I have always been excited by massive change. As a high school and undergraduate student I loved to read about historical turning points, revolutions, political upheavals … where things were turned upside down and the system/structure/government that was left in its place was completely different from what had been there before.
It would appear that we can no longer hope for such monumental changes in the mobile space. No longer is mobility something we hope for. No longer is it something we dream about. It is so much a part of our every day lives that we are even taking it for granted.
But is it really that much a part of our lives? I would argue that true mobility (read mobile enablement) has not yet penetrated the enterprise. In many ways mobility has been kept outside of the enterprise fortress. It is the last bastion to be conquered in 2012. The extension of email and calendaring is not true mobile enablement.
In 2012 we will see the enterprise mobility space reshaped. Long dominated by the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution by the end of 2012 the mobile enterprise will look very different than what it does today. Do not think that this monumental change will start on January 1st … it started a few years ago. Palm, Good Technology and Research In Motion all paved the way for what will happen in 2012. As old devices come up for a refresh and the pent-up demand for functionality increases IT departments everywhere will be forced to seriously consider opening the doors to true mobility.
Enterprise mobility is about extending the enterprise to mobile employees where ever they are on a wide variety of devices. This can be done securely and efficiently through the many mobile device management solutions out there (i.e Afaria and the future BES/Ubitexx combo among others). If the enterprise stops only at the device management aspect of it they will completely miss the boat and it can not in good conscience be called ‘enterprise mobility.’ On top of managing the devices you will need to provide access to critical enterprise applications as well as some consumer apps available through the app stores (or all – depending on your security concerns). Speaking of app stores you will also need to decide how will control and to whom you will distribute each mobile app – you can also do this with an internal enterprise mobile application store.
In 2012 the enterprise will truly become mobile. The key term mobile strategy (or mobility strategy) will begin to be identified more and more with your enterprise mobile strategy (roadmap) as much as it has been over the last few years with your approach to your market through the mobile channel.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Agree Completely but i believe in terms of solutions we are not there yet and do not see many solutions breaking in to that space yet.
I completely agree with your comments about extending mobility beyond email/calendaring and device management. I would like to add that as a Symantec employee, I’ve seen that faster mobile enablement happens when IT teams figure out a way to support new business models with less effort. That happens when enterprises can fully leverage their existing IT infrastructure. Instead of reinventing security and management technologies, enterprises will benefit by taking an information centric approach (corporate data is what IT is really concerned about) and unified endpoint strategies. These approaches will provide give a clear roadmap to realize true mobility. TCO is an additional benefit.
I agree that in 2012 enterprises will start to see beyond MDM and begin formulating true mobile strategies.
Vizay Kotikalapudi
Symantec
Agree mobile in the enterprise has the potential to really break out in 2012. I just wonder if small businesses are also going to benefit from mobility.
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