Matrix42, a top provider of software for workspace management has announced the results of a survey of over 1,000 small and medium enterprises. This has shown that almost 70 percent of IT managers are not fully aware of which business apps their employees have installed on mobile end devices. Furthermore, the managers are only able to offer rough estimates of costs incurred by using these mobile apps.

Many roads lead to a device - often taking a shortcut past the company

Not much transparency is in play when it comes to the question of just how an app finds its way onto a company's mobile device. Around half of those surveyed (53 percent) do not have a solution for the provision of apps, thereby frequently leaving it up to the commercial app stores of device manufacturers (23 percent) or to the user's own initiative (22 percent) to manually install this software on the mobile device of their company. Only 24 percent of the IT managers surveyed indicated that they used a mobile application management solution (12 percent) or a proprietary enterprise app store (12 percent).

Even after the fact, it appears to be very difficult for companies to determine which apps employees have installed on the company's various mobile devices. As a result, 28 percent of the companies surveyed are completely unable to make an evaluation of the business apps on their employees' end devices.

Major potential to optimize costs

A company is unable to control the costs of these apps without being able to have a complete overview of the ‘random' app purchases their employees make online. When asked about the estimated costs, 20 percent of the administrators agreed that their companies spend more than €25 per user per month for business-related apps. Around half of those surveyed (54 percent) estimate monthly costs to be between €10 and €25.

The results clearly indicate that companies possess enormous potential to optimize these cost segments. In order to be able to tap into this potential for optimization, administrators must be in a position to establish and impose cost controls on the apps being used on smartphones and tablets and thereby on the internal network. And here is where we find another problem: Around a third (32 percent) of those surveyed indicated that they are not currently using a solution that allows for cost control. Eleven percent even admitted that they have absolutely no idea whether and how the costs for mobile business apps are managed in their company.

Conclusion: Mobile workspaces require mobile SAM solutions

The study clearly shows that 75 percent of those surveyed are faced with all the problems brought on by the rapid introduction of new mobile devices and mobile apps on their network and their IT organization. Nevertheless, more than half of the companies surveyed do not currently employ a solution that supports IT staff in providing this software. The results are a lack of transparency regarding apps used for business purposes and the related costs.

"When introducing enterprise mobility and mobile business apps, many companies fail to address the effects on software asset management," says Oliver Bendig, CTO at Matrix42. "The blending of private and business activities on mobile devices and apps, as well as the parallel use of mobile and virtual apps all present companies with new challenges. IT managers must be in a position to maintain an overview of mobile devices and apps and to dynamically visualize the inventory and usage of mobile solutions. They require a software asset management solution that can manage business apps just as well as the IT managers do with the software on PCs and servers."