Mobility in the enterprise has taken off and it’s headed only in one direction. I’ve read the hand-wringing in the press about the lagging adoption of enterprise mobility. I suppose that it makes for provocative headlines. But that’s not what we are experiencing in our business as an enterprise mobility solutions provider. We see professional services organizations moving forward with requirements, timelines, and budget.

They can’t wait any longer. The business demands it.

Beyond Email, At Last

For years the concern has been that enterprise mobility had not moved beyond Email, Contacts, and Calendar. Fortunately, a couple of leading enterprise software companies have shared their real-world data and colorful charts. Let’s take a look at the data.

Good Technology’s “Mobility Index Report” for Q2 2015 shows that their typical customer has deployed 3.43 apps in addition to Email.

The Secure Browser is the leading application (after Email) with strong adoption in high tech, insurance, and manufacturing.

 

Okta, the rapidly growing cloud-based identity management company, has a rare view of enterprise applications because they have data on logins to cloud and mobile apps. They looked at 2,500 customers over 4,000 apps and millions of daily logins. Okta published the key findings in “Okta’s Businesses @ Work Report” for 2015.

The chart below shows the percent of users logging in from mobile devices across industries over the preceding 30 days. Education leads the way with over 35% of logins from mobile devices. Retail is second at near 28%. Six more verticals are at or over 20% of logins from mobile devices. These figures show mobile usage which is well beyond the early adopter stage. They indicate significant adoption.

Platform Usage Illustrates the Enterprise Story

We can see the platform shift in the chart below, compiled by Benedict Evans. People are increasingly using smartphones and tablets to reach the internet. While this is not enterprise data, it illustrates a key point driving enterprise mobility. What is the device which professionals will have with them at nearly all times? Their smartphones.

Businesses Can’t Afford to Lag

CSS Insights reports, “Competition today is rapidly changing and is being fueled by digital technology. The “Uber threat”, in which agile start-ups like Uber, Netflix and Airbnb quickly overturn established industries, has become a concern in many boardrooms…In this new environment, CIOs and business leaders are facing greater pressure to initiate the changes needed to put digital and mobility innovation at the heart of any competitive advantage.”

In 2015 it is common for a client to engage us to enable specific workflows from smartphones and tablets. Executives are out of the office. They need to be able to refer to financial data or to approve an invoice wherever they are. Professional staff needs to review a doc, check a shared calendar, or look up billing history.

There is simply no reason to let these tasks pile up throughout the day. The business risk is poor responsiveness to clients. The personal toll is having to catch up in the evening at home. Mobile solutions for these workflows exist today which are easy to use and can be deployed in a day.

In our deployments, our secure browser is also a top application, especially for access to the firm intranet portal. Our clients are in document-centric professions, therefore, document management and seamless integration of document repositories with email are key to their mobile productivity. However, access to numerous browser-based applications ranging from billing to network management round out the productivity picture. What can you get done while walking to your next meeting?

The transition to working while mobile is well underway.

–Maureen

Follow us on Twitter: @mobilehelix

First published on the Mobile Helix “Helix Pulse” blog.