A focus on tablet deployment, vendor switching and mobilising business processes through apps are the three top trends identified by IDC Asia/Pacific in its annual Enterprise Mobility survey.
The survey was expanded in 2015 to include over 3500 companies across 13 countries in Asia.
According to a blog post by IDC managing director, Australia and New Zealand, Ullrich Loeffler, the number one 2015 mobility initiative was deploying iOS or Android tablets, while the fourth ranked initiative was deploying Windows 8 tablets.
“For iOS and Android tablets, the driver is mobilising the business process, and for Windows 8, it’s all about laptop replacement. This provides customer demand exist; however we are not seeing vendors pushing the tablet/business process message as much as they should to address this emerging opportunity,” Loeffler said.
Other top-ranked initiatives show that enterprises now understand the importance of mobilising business processes, not just providing a mobile device. These initiatives included launching horizontal applications such as CRM or business intelligence, and launching line-of-business applications such as workflow management.
“If you focus solely on the device, whether through company-issued smartphones or via BYOD, it is a cost to your organisation. To drive a positive ROI, enterprises must mobilise the processes that support their internal operations and customer interactions as this can deliver tangible business benefits (increase revenues, decrease costs, streamline operations),” Loeffler said.
He added that a renewed focus on providing company-issued smartphones indicates that enterprises have recognised the complexity of getting applications to work properly on the range of devices brought into the organisation under the auspices of BYOD initiatives.
In an indication of market maturity, customers are falling out of love with their initially selected mobility vendors. Over 50 per cent of customers surveyed in Australia and Singapore said they had either “reached the limit” or are “dissatisfied” with their current vendors and are looking to switch, while 45 per cent of New Zealand customers said the same.
“Vendors need to adjust their go-to-market and customer retention strategies to address this worrying trend,” said Loeffler.
The full blog post can be accessed here.
