Why growth in use of mobile devices fuels outsourcing, security worries

Giving staff the ability to choose their own devices exacerbates data concerns, says Bryan Bassett.


The rapid adoption of mobile technology presents IT management with a growing number of complex and persistent challenges.

The use of mobile devices and applications continues to expand, challenging IT to optimize the balance between mobile device and application management, security, and facilitation of new mobile application deployments, concludes the report, conducted by International Data Corp. (IDC).



Some 76 percent of the more than 700 enterprise IT decision makers in the U.S. surveyed by IDC see the value of using third-party management in part or all of their enterprise mobility strategies. Still, security issues and cost overruns persist in a number of enterprise deployments of mobile devices and applications.

Also See: Mobile Health poses regulatory challenges for data sharing

About three quarters (74 percent) of organizations surveyed either already offer or plan to offer a "choose your own device" (CYOD) program for employees in the coming year. And 65 percent plan to increase their mobility spending over the next year, with a heavy emphasis on purchasing mobile devices for employees. They will also invest in application security and content security solutions.

"Cost savings and security risk mitigation are the biggest drivers of mobile device deployment strategies," said Bryan Bassett, research analyst, mobile enterprise device solutions at IDC. "But with 48 percent of enterprises not seeing improvement in their [bring your own device] cost savings and 30 percent citing security problems with mobile app deployments, IT management must inspect strategies for improvements."

More for you

Loading data for hdm_tax_topic #better-outcomes...