A new report by CDW looks at integrating mobile technology into work environments, and found a “support gap” between how IT departments perceive their performance and the experience of workers using bring-your-own-device programs.
The report is based on a survey earlier this year of 1,200 IT professionals and 1,200 workers who use personal smartphones and tablets as part of their jobs, across eight different industries.
CDW noted that while security is always a concern for BYOD programs and mobile devices, mobility management actually presented a broader series of issues. When asked to give a grade to their company’s IT policies and tech support, 41% of BYOD workers granted an A or B — while 64% of IT workers thought their service deserved an A or B. However, only 18% of IT individuals said they deserved an A.
Mobility and BYOD are expected to have a huge impact on enterprise networks, with IT survey participants anticipating increased demand for bandwidth, server, and storage requirements, along with greater latency in the networks themselves due to BYOD. Almost 40% of respondents said they had already seen degraded network performance.
However, the survey also reflected the fact that despite the presence of mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) products in the market that could help enterprise networks run better, many businesses aren’t taking advantage of them. Only 37% of the businesses surveyed had a device management solution, and 36% had a system for managing mobile apps.
“Mobility has edged its way into the workplace, increasing and complicating IT’s workload, and often leading to frustration on all fronts,” said Andrea Bradshaw, senior director and general manager of mobility solutions for CDW, which provides technology solutions to enterprise. “Securing devices, along with the data and networks they use, will always be a significant concern, but protecting users and employers is only one of five key aspects of mobility management at work. The network impacts confirm that IT needs a systems strategy to accommodate mobility. Our research also shows that users and IT alike see room for improvement in the level and quality of support that IT provides for mobility today.”
Those five aspects, according to Bradshaw, include planning a strategy for mobile management; executing the strategy efficiently; supporting both workers and IT; security; and empowering users.
Bradshaw said that the survey findings “align with what we see and hear from our customers every day.
“The reason organizations are not moving faster into mobility management solutions is that IT itself is working hard just to keep up with demand for more and more services with limited budgets, and mobility is a complex, multi-faceted challenge; it’s hard to know what to solve first,” she added. “What IT needs itself is the support of a holistic, end-to-end approach that simplifies mobility management and reduces its cost in time and budget.”
For more details from the report, click here or check out this infographic.
