Enterprise mobile devices to rise by 56% between 2008 and 2014, claims research

Mobile Europe has just posted this on their web site, I thought you would find the article interesting;

Enterprise mobile devices to rise by 56% between 2008 and 2014, claims research

Boosted by increased usage of mobile broadband

A new report from Juniper Research is said to confirm that the ‘Unwired Enterprise' is becoming a reality with more businesses allowing employees to ‘go mobile'. Many enterprises are seeing the benefits of cost reductions and increased profitability won via efficiency and productivity improvements.The report found that revenues from mobile enterprise users will grow to $284 billion by 2014.

The mobile enterprise report found however that despite compelling arguments for mobilising business processes, numerous hurdles still remain in persuading significant numbers of businesses to become ‘unwired'. Specific barriers to adoption include: limited functionality resulting from the small size and form of devices, problems in adapting applications for mobiles while not compromising on usability, and the thorny issue of ensuring device security.
Indeed, report author Andrew Kitson believes that device management and security are critical issues that businesses need to address when going mobile: "Enterprises need to be assured of total control over the devices their employees use. To do this, they need to limit the types and numbers of devices connecting to their networks, deactivate or restrict devices that are lost or stolen, minimising functionality and access, and employing user authentication, content encryption, and other security solutions as appropriate. There are upfront cost issues involved, but the greater cost lies in compromising on security features."

Other findings include:

Enterprise-grade applications and services require advanced devices and rely on high-capacity networks: the proportion of devices connected to 3.5G/3.9G networks will rise from 13% in 2008 to almost 80% in 2014

Usage of wireless dongles is losing ground to usage of plug-in datacards and devices with embedded wireless modems and will peak in 2010/2011