Taking Care of Mobile Business. Not!

While you might get the impression from the postings in this blog and elsewhere that mobile media is strictly reserved for consumers who have way too much time on their hands, there is a definite enterprise angle to the medium.

In fact, a number of companies in the U.S. are now using mobile video and graphics-rich messaging to channel information to customers and suppliers, and improve their customer-facing capabilities. Companies are also driving new revenue and expanding channels of opportunity through mobile media.

More on this in later postings, however. Today, I would like to present the findings of an interesting study commission by Visage Mobile that focuses on managing the increasing flood of mobile devices in the enterprise.

One major point revealed in the study, which involved some 600 mobile users: Although IT managers have spent the last decade working to get their technology infrastructure under control, many are stumped when it comes to managing employee mobile assets such as smart phones . In fact, IT departments are stretched thin to support these devices, and as a result may be holding off on buying decisions (our theory, anyway).

Most employees are uninformed and disengaged when it comes to monitoring and managing their corporate issued mobile devices, says the study, pointing out that more than 60% of the respondents in the survey report not having a formal policy for managing mobile devices.

Other key findings:

-- More than 60% of employees waited three weeks or longer to be issued
their mobile devices after being hired.

-- 80% of respondents are using their corporate issued mobile device for
personal use.
-- 8% of respondents have had a corporate-issued device with potentially
sensitive enterprise data either lost or stolen.

Add cellular wireless cards to the mix, as well as the looming presence of WiMAX and truly capable mobile broadband and you have a magilla that goes way beyond just IT into sales, human resources, finance and that guy on the loading dock who spends more time thinking about lunch than doing his job!

Want more info on the study? Visit Visage Mobile at http://www.visagemobile.com. Have your own thoughts on the problem? Drop me a line or comment and start a dialogue.