The rapid proliferation of consumer mobile devices is changing the traditional IT environment in organisations, as 90 per cent of organisations have already deployed mobile devices, with smartphones being most widely deployed, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. Eighty-six per cent of organisations surveyed said that they plan to deploy media tablets this year.
Respondents came from organisations with 500 or more employees and an in-house data centre in the United States; the United Kingdom; Germany; Australia; Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC); and Japan. The survey was conducted in October through November of 2011. The survey centred on the deployment status of, and plans for mobile device adoption; bring your own device (BYOD) policy; and investment in data centres and adopting technology drivers, including hosted virtual desktop (HVD) for enterprise mobility.
"Healthy growth in smartphone and media tablet shipments over the next five years will enable a much higher level of IT consumerisation than is currently possible," said Chae-Gi Lee, research director at Gartner. "Organisations should recognise this and look to 'mobile enable' their IT infrastructure for employees to meet the growing demand for mobile device use in the enterprise IT environment."
A further impact of consumerisation is the proliferation of BYOD in organisations. Gartner's survey found that many organisations allow personal mobile devices to connect to their network. BYOD demand was higher in the BRIC countries where more Generation Y (Gen Y) employees are working. With the proliferation of BYOD, there are many security issues for organisations to consider before they invest in mobile computing. According to the survey, the top issues were "use of privately owned devices" and "deployment of new enterprise mobile platforms." Organisations should focus on mobile data protection (MDP), network access control (NAC), and mobile device management (MDM) tools to support their BYOD and new enterprise mobile platform efforts. These technology factors are essential to establish a standard mobile platform for organisations.
Many of the organisations surveyed indicated that they provide technical support for personal devices - 32 per cent of smartphones, 37 per cent of tablets and 44 per cent of laptops. However, the results around technical support varied significantly between regions, with 28 per cent of respondents in non-BRIC countries receiving technical support for connecting personal devices versus 44 per cent in BRIC countries.
"Mature countries consider BYOD programmes as bringing with them both legal and technical issues, whereas emerging countries only see technical issues. For instance, mature regions are more concerned with security and data privacy regulations for immature MDM than emerging regions," Mr Lee said. "In BRIC countries, employee turnover can be high in some sectors, leading to more theft of devices and data. BYOD and virtualisation can reduce those losses."
Gartner believes that BYOD is an inevitable requirement and recommends that a mobility strategy team should be established as part of the IT department for data management and control. In addition, organisations should create a BYOD policy for balancing cost control and reimbursement.
In terms of investment areas for enterprise mobility, the survey revealed that non-BRIC countries have achieved much progress in terms of data centre modernisation. As a result, when personal mobile devices are allowed to be used in the network and across data centre infrastructure within the organisation, businesses from non-BRIC countries indicated that they would need to invest in and improve their architecture in order to allow for the deployment of mobile devices. This is because non-BRIC countries are more interested in security and privacy regulation than BRIC countries.
Investment in HVD adoption is slightly higher in BRIC countries, where 22 per cent of respondents indicated they had already deployed HVDs, against 20 per cent in non-BRIC countries. In terms of companies that have already implemented, are currently implementing or plan to implement HVDs in the next 12 months, 91 per cent of BRIC countries will have transformed their traditional desktop PC client environment to HVD by 2013. In contrast, 67 per cent of respondents in non-BRIC countries said the same.
Additional information is available in the Gartner report "User Survey Analysis: Impact of Mobile Devices on Network and Data Center Infrastructure." The report is available on Gartner's web site at http://www.gartner.com/....
About Gartner Catalyst Conference 2012
Gartner analysts will examine the key issues facing mobility, cloud and information technologies during the Gartner Catalyst Conference. Focused on the growing challenges of the "information everywhere" environment and the evolving role of the technologist, Catalyst Conference 2012 will centre on the theme of "Any Device, Any Service, Any Source." Sessions will explore the combination of high-level themes and related technology trends of business intelligence, cloud computing, security, infrastructure and operations, mobile architecture and applications, among other hot topics.
For further information about the Gartner Catalyst Conference taking place 20-23 August in San Diego, please visit www.gartner.com/us/catalyst. Members of the media can register by contacting Janessa Rivera at janessa.rivera@gartner.com.
Respondents came from organisations with 500 or more employees and an in-house data centre in the United States; the United Kingdom; Germany; Australia; Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC); and Japan. The survey was conducted in October through November of 2011. The survey centred on the deployment status of, and plans for mobile device adoption; bring your own device (BYOD) policy; and investment in data centres and adopting technology drivers, including hosted virtual desktop (HVD) for enterprise mobility.
"Healthy growth in smartphone and media tablet shipments over the next five years will enable a much higher level of IT consumerisation than is currently possible," said Chae-Gi Lee, research director at Gartner. "Organisations should recognise this and look to 'mobile enable' their IT infrastructure for employees to meet the growing demand for mobile device use in the enterprise IT environment."
A further impact of consumerisation is the proliferation of BYOD in organisations. Gartner's survey found that many organisations allow personal mobile devices to connect to their network. BYOD demand was higher in the BRIC countries where more Generation Y (Gen Y) employees are working. With the proliferation of BYOD, there are many security issues for organisations to consider before they invest in mobile computing. According to the survey, the top issues were "use of privately owned devices" and "deployment of new enterprise mobile platforms." Organisations should focus on mobile data protection (MDP), network access control (NAC), and mobile device management (MDM) tools to support their BYOD and new enterprise mobile platform efforts. These technology factors are essential to establish a standard mobile platform for organisations.
Many of the organisations surveyed indicated that they provide technical support for personal devices - 32 per cent of smartphones, 37 per cent of tablets and 44 per cent of laptops. However, the results around technical support varied significantly between regions, with 28 per cent of respondents in non-BRIC countries receiving technical support for connecting personal devices versus 44 per cent in BRIC countries.
"Mature countries consider BYOD programmes as bringing with them both legal and technical issues, whereas emerging countries only see technical issues. For instance, mature regions are more concerned with security and data privacy regulations for immature MDM than emerging regions," Mr Lee said. "In BRIC countries, employee turnover can be high in some sectors, leading to more theft of devices and data. BYOD and virtualisation can reduce those losses."
Gartner believes that BYOD is an inevitable requirement and recommends that a mobility strategy team should be established as part of the IT department for data management and control. In addition, organisations should create a BYOD policy for balancing cost control and reimbursement.
In terms of investment areas for enterprise mobility, the survey revealed that non-BRIC countries have achieved much progress in terms of data centre modernisation. As a result, when personal mobile devices are allowed to be used in the network and across data centre infrastructure within the organisation, businesses from non-BRIC countries indicated that they would need to invest in and improve their architecture in order to allow for the deployment of mobile devices. This is because non-BRIC countries are more interested in security and privacy regulation than BRIC countries.
Investment in HVD adoption is slightly higher in BRIC countries, where 22 per cent of respondents indicated they had already deployed HVDs, against 20 per cent in non-BRIC countries. In terms of companies that have already implemented, are currently implementing or plan to implement HVDs in the next 12 months, 91 per cent of BRIC countries will have transformed their traditional desktop PC client environment to HVD by 2013. In contrast, 67 per cent of respondents in non-BRIC countries said the same.
Additional information is available in the Gartner report "User Survey Analysis: Impact of Mobile Devices on Network and Data Center Infrastructure." The report is available on Gartner's web site at http://www.gartner.com/....
About Gartner Catalyst Conference 2012
Gartner analysts will examine the key issues facing mobility, cloud and information technologies during the Gartner Catalyst Conference. Focused on the growing challenges of the "information everywhere" environment and the evolving role of the technologist, Catalyst Conference 2012 will centre on the theme of "Any Device, Any Service, Any Source." Sessions will explore the combination of high-level themes and related technology trends of business intelligence, cloud computing, security, infrastructure and operations, mobile architecture and applications, among other hot topics.
For further information about the Gartner Catalyst Conference taking place 20-23 August in San Diego, please visit www.gartner.com/us/catalyst. Members of the media can register by contacting Janessa Rivera at janessa.rivera@gartner.com.
