Businesses are reevaluating how they manage devices, applications, and data across a sprawling mobile landscape, according to a new Vanson Bourne report commissioned by Tangoe. The study reveals a troubling challenge: Every company is reliant on mobile devices, but that dependence creates a sizable drag on already stretched IT resources. As businesses confront demands for greater security, productivity, and employee satisfaction most are rethinking their approach to mobile management. 

The research surveyed 300 IT decision-makers from organizations with global annual revenue from $500 million to more than $50 billion to explore mobile device usage trends and how companies satisfy the requirements of administration with Managed Mobility Solutions (MMS) keeping inventories, services, and security under control. View the full report and infographic.

"As companies of every size and across every industry become more mobile-centric, managing a vast array of assets becomes a bigger, more difficult, and yet more important task," said Chris Ortbals, chief product officer for Tangoe. "The IT complexity of managing mobile assets and service providers alongside the criticality of securing them can quickly undermine innovation if companies don't have the right support partnerships in place to help them administer and secure a sprawling landscape of devices." 

Findings show 100% of companies are struggling in mobile device management due to recruitment and retention issues, and 89% agree their mobile device helpdesk requires improvement. The top challenges include sourcing new mobile assets (73%), managing mobile inventory (70%), help desk support (61%), and reverse logistics - collecting, recycling, and wiping assets (53%). IT teams also have trouble keeping track of users' devices, but this is less of a challenge when their helpdesks are managed by an external vendor. 

Mobile Dependency Comes with High Stakes 

Growing dependence on mobile devices is taking a sizeable toll on IT resources - to the tune of one third (1/3) of IT team productivity and cost. And with overall staff churn rates at 17%, managing a mobile fleet is challenging for companies of all sizes, particularly when 65% of companies are completely reliant on mobile devices and the average company has 68,000 devices (laptops, phones, tablets, wearables, others) in use.  

Business continuity and mobile services are tightly intertwined, meaning the fleet is a key player in avoiding revenue losses. Also, most employees are using personal devices to do their work, which means companies cannot afford not to address mobile security risks. Findings state:  

• 30%+ of annual revenue would be lost without working mobile assets.  
• $4M: projected loss per hour of downtime across mobile assets  
• 65% of devices accessing company information are personally owned
  

BYOD vs. Corporate Managed Devices 

Companies are trying to balance the requirements of security with the freedoms of employee choice and satisfaction, and most are not convinced their existing ownership approach will stick. More than half of respondents cited security concerns (53%) and data breaches (50%) among their concerns with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) approaches. With mobile experiences redefining how employees perform from the frontlines to the back office, more than 81% of companies plan to change their approach to batten the hatches and improve return on investment (ROI).  

Combatting Complexity with Mobile Management Services (MMS) 

Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst for ZK Research said, "For most businesses, managing mobile devices is significantly more complicated than traditional PCs and laptops as there are a wide range of apps, operating systems, device types, and other factors that are unique to mobile phones and tablets." 

The study shows investments in MMS are paying off with 90% reporting positive ROI. Respondents also report a 15% reduction in IT costs from leveraging a full lifecycle MMS solution. More than 90% credit MMS for improved business uptime and enhanced productivity, and 88% state it provides better security while reducing costs and wasted spending.  

In fact, results reveal an estimated 52% of IT operations time could be saved from outsourcing mobile device management, further indicating the efficiencies to be gained from a partnership covering the end-to-end lifecycle - spanning the work of sourcing and procurement all the way through recycling and wiping mobile assets clean for their next owners. 

Download the complete Vanson Bourne research report and view the infographic.