IT has become consumerised, and consumer technologies, applications and devices are driving change in the way business is being run.
So says Ayanda Dlamini, business development manager at LGR Telecommunications, who adds: "Cloud applications, mobility and social media are among the big disruptive trends affecting enterprise, and they will continue to be for the foreseeable future," noting that the overlap of consumer technologies with enterprise applications causes a complex landscape for IT to navigate.
The blending of consumer and enterprise technology both bolsters the development of the mobile enterprise and poses a potential risk to enterprise security, he adds. "The mobile enterprise must be enabled without risk to the enterprise. IT, seeing itself as the gatekeeper, worries about controls and compliance. But the business benefits of mobility outweigh IT's concerns."
"[IT] must accept that there is no turning back the tide of mobility - particularly because it is being driven to a large extent by executives themselves. IT needs a change of mindset, not only to fall in line with the trends, but to actually become a catalyst and enabler of enterprise mobility," he argues.
Mobility for businesses is not optional any longer, asserts Dlamini, pointing out that, especially in Africa, mobile and Internet penetration is growing at an alarming rate. "As recently as 2000, there were around 360 million Internet users across the world, and only just over four million in Africa. Now there are over 2.4 billion global Internet users, with around 167 million in Africa. Recent surveys indicate that around 50% of these access the Internet on a mobile device. Africa has leapfrogged the landline/modem era and moved straight to mobile broadband," he says.
IT must develop a comprehensive strategy for mobile enterprise management, Dlamini urges. "IT may ask: What are my main points? What is my core business? What are my communication lines? Then, look at users and ask what they want from their mobile applications, how they will use them, and on what devices.
"In managing this new environment and delivering on the potential of mobile enterprise, agility is going to be key," he concludes. "But IT needs to adapt. It needs to roll out new services and focus on user needs, because the early adopters of mobility will reap the most benefits in the long term."
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