Mobility is a reality for enterprise – whether decision makers like it or not. Given the advent of mobile devices in the workplace, the increase in usage by employees and significance of BYOD, industry analysts have pointed to the relevance of Mobile Device Management (MDM) strategy and application.
At the most recent Innovation Dinner, hosted by Africa’s technology news leader IT News Africa, on 30 October, C-level executives discussed the mobility landscape and how best to leverage off this resource to uncover business value.
Issues such as user demand for access to mobile applications, security, risk, access to data and mobile strategy management in business were included in discussion.
Philip du Plessis, Mobility Lead, Avanade South Africa, confirmed that in terms of response to mobility in the workplace and adapting processes, the Country is not lagging behind international counterparts.
He spoke of the need for the market to move towards access from multiple devices, the ability to access and use devices with all corporate applications and the view of social networking as a business tool, exclusive for business.
Mobile applications are gaining traction in the market. Mark Bannerman, SA Country Manager, MicroStrategy, spoke about the commercialisation of mobile strategies, the increased volume of mobile applications and other drivers behind the mobile industry. “Aspects like time constraints and time to market must be evaluated when considering the deployment of mobile strategies. User adoption is tied to what apps look like and user experience.”
The customer will expect performance and this will become increasingly relevant as the need to manage big data grows. Bannerman also reflected on the feature phone vs smartphone scenario.
“In Africa there is still prominence around the feature phone…,” he said. However, the smartphone is expected to grow in significance and relevance within the connectivity market.
It is advisable to always evaluate application, how is being used, how should it be improved to ensure a better user experience he added. “It has to be a disruptive technology… we are looking at mobility identity management…. this is part of the next wave.”
There are three absolutes when it comes to mobile and technology – it has to be manageable, secure and reliable according to Chris Buchanan, Director End Using Computing, Africa, Dell.
Chris Tredger – Online Editor
