Mobility Trends That Will Change Business

I came across this article thanks to the Enterprise Mobility Forums Twitter feed, and wanted to share it with you all. The article comes from InformationWeek, and discusses a few interesting topics that are very applicable to our space. There are a couple of things it highlights that I’d like to point out, and urge you to read the rest and tell us what jumps out at you. Onto the article…

First, that with the emergence of enterprise-level smartphone use, it’s becoming increasingly important for an enterprises strategy to incorporate a vender agnostic approach.

“An important outcome of this trend is that a majority of the workforce, not just the top executives, will have mobile access and will expect access to more than email. This will require businesses to change their application, development, and services strategies…”

The other item that I found particularly well put, was the summary/idea of enterprise mobility management. The author has done a great job in defining it as the next generation of mobile device management; one that incorporates new mobility and traditional aspects of MDM such as security and application management.

“[Enterprise Mobility Management] is a combination of mobile device management, security management, applications management, and services and expense management.”

Check out the complete article and tell us what you think!

30% Growth In Rugged Computer Market?

This article from InformationWeek should make all of our device manufacturer friends out there happy. David Krebs, one of the most respected voices in the industry, with VDC Research is projecting solid growth in ruggedized handheld computers across the globe, and especially in Europe.

One of the items in the piece of particular interest is the expected increase in “beyond the fence” devices. As Mr. Krebs points out, “The real growth driver for rugged handheld devices continues to be with the ‘beyond the fence’ field mobile workers, which is the least-penetrated market segment and is only now beginning to see the benefits of making certain processes mobile.”

I know our readers cover a broad base of industries, so what do you think about Mr. Krebs thoughts on “beyond the fence” mobility?

Good News on the Security Front?

I was reading an article today and I thought it had some great information on data breaches and overall security issues.  The article highlights some findings from a study conducted by Verizon Business and the United States Secret Service. Some of the more interesting bits were the drop in breaches from 2008 to 2009, and the drop in prices for stolen data on the black market.

The piece also presents a bit of a conundrum with properly securing your ecosystem. It attributes most security breaches to easily fixed problems. To quote, “Specifically, 85% of attacks were not considered to be highly difficult, 86% of victims had evidence of the breach in their log files, and 96% of breaches were avoidable through simple or intermediate controls.” However, with the strict level that companies are held to with maintaining secure and sensitive data, can enterprises ever be too safe when taking measures to avoid compromising data?

Slow Wireless Implementation in Healthcare?

Happy Friday everyone!

I think everyone is aware that one of the more evolving marketplaces for our industry is healthcare. As evidence, InformationWeek published an article today that explains how the healthcare field is poised for a big shift towards mobility over the next 2-3 years.

It makes perfect sense, especially as data capture is becoming almost entirely digital and many ruggedized devices are being introduced to function as light-weight handheld computers (where mobility, flexibility and durability are key), so it would seem that the healthcare environment is perfect for such a movement.

But the interesting part is why did the industry take so long to begin the “mobility revolution” while others, such as retail and banking (as the article describes), embrace the concept years before?