Study: Most Enterprises Are Not Equipped To Handle Smartphone Adoption

According to the latest research from Osterman Research, which provides research and insight for companies in the messaging industry, most enterprises are not equipped to handle the fast increase in smartphone adoption.

 

The research, “IT Best Practices: To Support or Not Support Consumer-Owned Smartphones,” was released by Zenprise, a provider of mobile management solutions.

 

Not only did the research find that downtime is still a critical concern for enterprises, but over 80 percent of the respondents indicated that downtime would negatively impact their business.

 

Also, the North American workforce with employer-supplied mobile devices is projected to double from 23 percent of the workforce in 2008 to 46 percent by 2011.

 

“Our most surprising finding indicates that IT will be asked to support a greater variety and number mobile platforms, despite a clear lack of confidence in their current mobile infrastructure,” said Michael Osterman, founder of Osterman Research.

 

“These juxtaposed positions send a clear signal that IT needs help. Software that can automatically troubleshoot mobile user issues and simplify management is fast becoming a staple of the data center.”

 

This will result in a demand for high-end mobile gadgets and operating systems like the BlackBerry (News - Alert) and Windows Mobile as well as an increasing demand for iPhone and Symbian-based devices over the next year.

 

With this increase, IT organizations will need to support growing complexity on flat or reduced budgets.  As a warning, the report notes that enterprises should be aware that rapid smartphone adoption can result in serious problems including loss of productivity and revenue as well as escalate IT support costs.