The results of Symantec's 2013 State of Mobility Survey challenged an old adage, revealing that good things don't always come to those who wait.
"Few issues command the attention of IT today like mobility," said Gordon Love, Symantec's regional director for Africa. "The difference in attitudes and results between the organisations that actively embrace mobility and those that are reluctant is significant."
The survey identified two types of organisations - innovators and traditionals. The two groups perceive the benefits and risks of mobility differently. 'Innovators' are those that readily embrace mobility, while 'traditionals' are still uncertain and reluctant to implement it. For two-thirds of innovators, the benefits of mobility outweigh the risks, while three-quarters of traditionals feel the opposite is true.
According to the survey, business drivers motivated 84% of innovators to embrace mobility. Traditionals, on the other hand, are implementing mobility more slowly and largely in response to user demand.
"Organisations taking a proactive approach benefit much more than those that put it off until they eventually find themselves trying to catch up to the competition," says Love.
In SA, 76% of enterprises considered business drivers to be important, while 75% felt user demand was important, and 64% consider the risks to be worth the opportunity. According to the survey, many organisations implement mobility policies to mitigate risks. In SA, 63% of enterprises are using technology to enforce mobile policies. Globally, innovators are nearly twice as likely to enforce mobile policies using technology and are also more likely to use mobile devices for running business applications.
In SA, there was a median of 94 mobility-related incidents last year, which ultimately costs businesses money. But the costs associated with mobility are not deterring innovators, as they are experiencing the benefits of improved productivity, speed and agility, as well as happier customers and staff. And businesses perceive net positive results with mobility, according to the survey results.
The survey represents the experiences of 3 236 businesses, from 29 countries, with a range of five to more than 5 000 employees.
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