Corporate Liable Mobile Devices Storm the Enterprise
Gartner (NYSE:IT) is predicting that a large portion of enterprises will end up adopting a mobile device management solution for their corporate liable users. The market research firm says in a new report that 65 percent of enterprises will adopt a mobile device management solution for these users. The company also reports that much of the network traffic and corporate data, which was once the primary domain of enterprise PCs, is now being shifted to mobile devices.
Through 2017, 90 percent of enterprises will have two or more mobile operating systems to support, predicts Gartner. Which platform will enterprises adopt? According to Gartner, in the past year, many companies have moved to Apple's iOS as their main mobile device platform, with others to follow over the next 12 to 18 months. In addition, another prediction that favors managed services providers (MSPs), Gartner also reported that all smart devices will account for 70 percent of total devices sold in 2012.
Tablets, one of the fastest-growing enterprise devices in the past 18 months, are a driving force for enterprises adopting MDM. According to Gartner, users are pushing for more enterprise applications to be supported on the tablet. More of these apps will become available, and, in return, more enterprise content will be stored on these devices. Users are already synchronizing corporate content into public clouds for later retrieval on the devices.
Mobile device proliferation is inevitable
Gartner believes that mobile device proliferation is inevitable, and the only way that IT staff can maintain control is by separating mobile computing devices into three distinct device classes. Gartner says these three device classes include: trusted standard devices provided by the company, tolerated devices and non-supported devices. Users are given a predefined list of supported technologies in each class.
