Mobile operators have long sought out corporate and enterprise business, as it is profitable and loyal. Recent events prove that the strategy may at last be working
The market for enterprise mobile data services in Western Europe is growing rapidly, and will reach EUR 8.9 billion by 2013 according to Analysys Mason. Although the market is currently being driven by push email, says Analysys, this growth will be outstripped by other applications that use email devices, and by machine-to-machine applications.
"The popularity of BlackBerry devices has demonstrated that significant growth in enterprise mobile data usage is possible, given a well-designed application," says the report's author, Margaret Hopkins. "Now that executives have these mobile data devices in their hands, they can be persuaded to use them for other applications, such as continuously updated key performance indicators (KPIs)."
Key findings from the new report include the finding that potential additional revenue from customised applications (such as field-force and sales-force automation in large enterprises) is estimated at EUR1.5 billion, while that from horizontal applications (such as small company access to salesforce.com and mobile timesheet updating) may be EUR400 million in Western Europe by 2013. In order to unlock this revenue, MNOs must learn from RIM's success with the BlackBerry: applications must be easy to use and be priced predictably. MNOs need to invest in middleware platforms that make it easy for them to mobilise existing enterprise applications without incurring high costs for integration. In order to sell the value of mobile applications to businesses, MNOs must demonstrate how their services improve relationships with customers and bring competitive advantage, as well as time and efficiency savings.
According to a report from global advisory and consulting firm Ovum, the top three budget priorities for CIOs at large enterprises are mobile data, IP convergence, and overall cost management. However, there are signs that budgets are being directed towards mobile data in particular.
Ovum's latest research among members of the Enterprise VPN Users Association (EVUA), whose members include companies such as PWC, Mars, GSK and Shell, suggests that more companies are moving from talking about fixed-mobile convergence as a concept to undertaking practical integration projects.
As a result, MNCs expect spending on mobile data to increase faster than any of the telecoms services they buy. Balanced over all areas of expenditure, Ovum expects telecoms budgets to change little over the coming year. However, 71% of EVUA members expect mobile data budgets to increase significantly over the same period. Having said that, mobile data traffic is predicted to grow much more quickly than budgets. EVUA members expect their service providers to come up with increasingly competitive deals, especially internationally.
Ovum's ongoing research with EVUA members shows that cost management remains a major area of concern for all telecoms services. While many MNCs have had success in bringing core fixed voice and data network costs under control, there are still issues around the cost of provision in less developed countries. It almost goes without saying that in multinationals it is the cost of mobile (and, increasingly mobile data) that needs most attention.
This need for greater visibility and control of mobile costs is seen as a barrier to greater acceptance and usage of mobile data applications and convergence. The uptake of mobile data services has been fairly slow in multinationals to date.
"Arguably the rate of growth has been limited by lack of global contracts, multinational service availability & consistency and continuing high prices for international data roaming" says Pauline Trotter, Principal Analyst at Ovum's Enterprise practice.
In the past, EVUA members have not held back in expressing their frustration with the level of support from mobile operators in supporting mobility on an international scale. This is a continuing area of concern, since it makes managing mobile usage and costs difficult for MNCs. However, there has been progress in getting 'enterprise-grade' service from mobile network operators. One sign of this progress is that major managed services or outsourcing contracts for mobile dominate new sourcing strategies. Forty-seven percent of respondents in our latest survey said that they are considering such contracts in the coming two years.
While many companies still procure and operate mobile nationally, there is a trend towards regional and even global contracts and agreements, as well as a trend towards longer contracts.
Cost management, performance (delivery to agreed SLAs) and geographical coverage are the highest rated delivery criteria for service providers among EVUA members. For mobile services, the quality of billing and reporting is also high on the agenda – this (along with cost management) is the main area where they would like to see improvement from mobile providers.
But there's also evidence of another major concern for business customers – security. New research from Vodafone UK reveals many UK businesses appear unsure as to how to secure mobile devices effectively – with nearly a quarter of all businesses having experienced security issues as a result of employees using laptops or mobile email devices outside of working hours and in contravention of company security policies.
Managing the new generation of mobile devices, from connected laptops to smart phones, is the new challenge faced by IT departments. Today's devices not only have the capability to access corporate networks, but can also store large amounts of potentially sensitive data. Vodafone's research highlights the potential risks that mobile workers are inadvertently creating through non-compliance with IT security policies.
Curt Hopkins, Head of Enterprise Mobility Solutions at Vodafone UK commented, "It's clear from the research that although many companies are setting remote and mobile working policies, they often prove to be ineffective because staff just don't follow them. Not only is this due to lack of knowledge or understanding on the part of the user, but also to lack of awareness in the IT department of effective solutions to extend and enforce security policies and practices to the mobile device estate. "
The research, conducted by Opinion Matters in June 2008 from a sample of 1,116 UK workers, shows that while many organisations are reaping the benefits of mobile working with improvements in productivity, flexibility and business continuity, in many ways their efforts could be undermined by failure to enforce IT policies and protect valuable business data outside of the office. The study reveals that a third of workers have never read their employers IT policies, or are otherwise unsure if they even exist, while approximately half of those surveyed were unsure if they are subject to different IT policies for when working inside or outside of the office.
The change in working patterns of a more flexible workforce has uncovered a host of problems for the IT department as many businesses are finding it hard to enforce IT policies and protect valuable business data outside of the office. This problem is only set to grow as businesses balance security risks against the growing need to provide secure network access for remote workers in an ever-widening range of locations, and across many different networks and devices.
Vodafone UK addresses issues identified in this latest research with it latest release of Vodafone Secure Remote Access (VSRA) – a comprehensive solution that enables companies to secure information, devices and connectivity and enforce IT policy. Features such as Full Disk Encryption to protect data that resides on laptops and Data Leak Prevention to stop the removal of sensitive data along with policy-defined access control provide much higher levels of security. Available as a complete managed service, VSRA gives IT managers the assurance that security policies are enforced, devices are protected, data is secured and access is closely managed by user and by device wherever they are.
"Today's mobile devices are complex and have the potential to open holes in corporate security policies. Businesses that implement a remote access solution across their network will benefit from reduced risk, improved compliance and productivity as well as improved peace of mind, knowing that their corporate information is secure," concluded Hopkins.
And Orange too has announced the launch of a Device Management service, the first product of its kind that enables businesses to effectively manage their employees' mobile devices in-house, without having to bring them into the office or contact customer services.
Anthony Keyworth, Director of Business Products, Orange Business Services UK said: "With business mobile needs constantly evolving, it is becoming increasingly important for organisations to be able to manage their device fleet in a cost-effective and time-efficient way. Orange Device Management helps increase the productivity of the mobile workforce, as well as providing businesses with greater security for their data."