Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

April 13, 2009

IT Not Equipped to Handle Smartphone Adoption

By Anuradha Shukla

TMCnet Contributor

Automating mobile management provider Zenprise (News - Alert) has released the findings of an Osterman Research study on "IT Best Practices: To Support or Not Support Consumer-Owned Smartphones."

The study indicates that the majority of enterprise IT departments surveyed are not equipped to handle the rapid increase in smartphone adoption. In fact, very few of the respondents were confident that all elements of their mobile messaging platform are fully protected against downtime.

Michael Osterman, founder of Osterman Research, noted that despite a lack of confidence in their current mobile infrastructure, IT departments will be asked to support a greater variety and number mobile platforms.

Osterman also informed that data centers are standardizing on software that can automatically troubleshoot mobile user issues and simplify management.

According to the report, the number of the North American workforce equipped with employer-supplied mobile devices will double from 23 percent of the workforce in 2008 to 46 percent by 2011.

Osterman Research also expects the demand for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile as well as iPhone (News - Alert) and Symbian-based devices to increase over the next year. This increase will drive the IT organizations to support this adoption on flat or reduced budgets. This rapid smartphone adoption can result in serious problems if left unmanaged. Some problems can be lost productivity and revenue, as well as escalating IT support costs.

Zenprise provides a unique software that automatically troubleshoots end user issues across BlackBerry (News - Alert), iPhone, and Windows Mobile environments. Commenting on the research, Zenprise CEO Jayaram Bhat said that it presents a very clear picture of the mobile management challenges facing today's enterprise.

Bhat observed that organizations will be pushed to support multiple mobile platforms over the next 12-18 months. All of these organizations will have unique management needs.

“Our ZenPro automation technology allows companies to more cost effectively manage multiple platforms. Our customers routinely experience a 55-plus percent reduction in calls, and greater than a 75 percent reduction in mean time to repair.”

A free copy of the report can be downloaded here.

Don't forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users

Anuradha Shukla is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anuradha’s article, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Tim Gray

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