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Oracle announced the results of a recent enterprise mobility survey that indicates that mobile-related IT expenses are expected to grow by more than 50 percent in two years, among other findings.
To better understand the challenges of mobile application development and deployment in the enterprise today and in the future, CIO Strategic Marketing Services and Triangle Publishing Services released a global survey, sponsored by Oracle, titled “The Connected Enterprise: Keeping Pace with Mobile Development.”
Oracle portends that the rapid rise of mobile devices connected to enterprise systems is unmatched by any other technology in recent memory. Enterprises face dual pressures when it comes to mobility: They must serve internal stakeholders to increase productivity, while also serving external customers to increase engagement. As a result, they struggle to keep pace with the rapid rate of mobile application development, both for the client and server side.
But even as mobile development has become entrenched in the enterprise, its goals and challenges continue to quickly evolve. The Oracle-sponsored survey shows that not only are enterprises committed to mobility today, but the rate of development, deployment and spending for support of mobile applications and devices is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years. Additionally, the survey showed that there are increasing concerns from IT executives over mobile security and integration with back-end systems.
“Mobility has been ubiquitous for a while but only 10 percent of enterprises have an enterprise wide deployment of mobile,” said Suhas Uliyar, vice president of mobile strategy and product management at Oracle, in a statement. “Its impact and adoption are gaining importance today. This survey is reassuring in that enterprises see potential for great payoff from making a strong mobile commitment. They are recognizing that mobile applications provide a new way to develop and maintain relationships with customers. Oracle’s mobile solutions allow organizations to develop, connect and secure their own mobile applications. Our comprehensive mobile strategy simplifies enterprise mobility for any organization.”
Survey respondents included 414 IT management executives from around the world, including CIOs, CTOs, senior vice presidents or vice presidents, directors or managers of IT, and senior IT professionals.
According to the survey, security continues to be the top concern for enterprisewide adoption and embracing “bring your own device” (BYOD) adds to this challenge. Ninety-three percent of respondents cited concern over data loss and other security breaches related to mobile devices with BYOD being a key contributor to this concern. Moreover, organizations are turning more to centralized management rather than relying on users for security. In the next two years, respondents’ say their organizations will be focusing more on device data encryption (10 percent more than today), centralized updating and troubleshooting (11 percent more), remote wiping of data (11 percent more) and lockdown of features (18 percent more).
The survey also revealed that although 29 percent of IT development time is spent on front-end mobile app development, more than 70 percent of their time is spent on integration, security, quality assurance testing and design work.
Mobile applications change continually. According to the survey, 35 percent of midsize and large enterprise organizations update their application portfolio monthly, while an additional 34 percent update their applications quarterly. More than four-fifths (82 percent) of respondents expect those rates to increase over the next two years.
The survey highlights the technological factors most critical to success and where mobility initiatives can provide the greatest business benefits, both now and in the future. Although the survey results showed a high commitment to mobility, they also showed little consensus about methods of mobile development and deployment, whether across industries or across geographies. The survey also revealed that the preferred method for mobile app development is now internal.
Average IT department spending per device, per employee stands at $157 today. That is expected to grow to $242 over the next two years, an increase of 54 percent. Moreover, respondents reported they are focused more on external customers versus others by a significant margin: 34 percent, versus 27 percent for employees, 24 percent for executives and 15 percent for suppliers. This focus on external customers is expected to grow in the future.
Respondents indicated that 44 percent of their application portfolio is internally developed. Indeed, 75 percent of respondents said that cloud/hybrid cloud is “somewhat important” or “very important” to mobile application deployment. Cloud technologies include platform as a service and a cloud-based mobile enterprise application platform. Eighty-four percent of respondents reported sales and marketing, as well as customers, as the two stakeholders with the most influence in mobile applications today. IT followed with 82 percent.