Targeting Mobility Management

By Cara Sievers

When I consider putting myself in the shoes of the IT guy or gal charged with managing mobile applications and devices at any company, I have to be honest, I get a little dizzy thinking about it. It has to be like trying to shoot a moving target ... trying to maintain and control apps and handsets, and the people who use them who could be 10, a hundred or a thousand miles away.

Similar fears and challenges among SMBs and larger enterprises are causing them to stand up and take notice of offers to help manage these mobile or wireless solutions, and all of the confusing costs, plans and tariffs that come with them. Telecom expense management (TEM) providers and agents for such providers are now seeing wireless TEM solutions go from unique to ubiquitous, from optional to mandatory.

And if the idea of managing all these widely dispersed devices isn’t intimidating enough, Visage Mobile, which offers the MobilityCentral management product, recently released results of a survey, which collectively showed that proper mobility management requires not only enterprisewide programs, but also actively engaging the end users.

The survey, which was issued to almost 600 mobile users nationwide, revealed that managing mobility has expanded from an IT issue to one that affects many throughout the entire enterprise, from finance and human resources, and on to every manager and employee.

However, the data showed that the majority of employees are uninformed and disengaged when it comes to monitoring and managing their corporate-issued mobile devices. In fact, 74 percent of respondents said they do not have access to their corporate wireless bill. And not surprisingly, 80 percent of respondents are using their corporate issued mobile device for personal use. (Click here to see more results of the study.) Hey ... why not? Out of sight, out of mind, right? How can employees be expected to embrace mobile usage policies if they aren’t even really aware of their net usage? It’s like asking a child to bring his grades up but then not ever letting him see his report card.

Quite frankly, in light of all of this, I am surprised that any TEM provider would even have to work to sell wireless TEM solutions or mobility management platforms. Survey after survey shows that this market is ripe for the picking. Yes, the use of mobile phones for work is becoming more and more popular, but it didn’t just start yesterday; it’s now habit, necessary, expected and it’s not going away. Simply put, I think that unless a company has a policy AGAINST using mobile devices for work purposes – which is just plain crazy, c’mon – then it should have a formal mobility management program and solution in place. Most companies already have a wealth of moving targets bouncing about; they just need agents and TEM providers to step up and help them take aim.

To learn more about the wireless TEM market and where it’s headed, read “Air Apparent: Could Wireless be TEM’s Crown Jewel?” And check out how one agent is experiencing growth thanks to offering a wireless TEM solution in “An Advocate for Wireless TEM.”