New research from SOTI, in a report titled Mobility in Motion: When Technology Transformation Meets Operational Intelligence, has highlighted a global gap in organizations that needs to be addressed to help them optimize their device management. Despite 91% of global companies adopting a form of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) or Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, a lack of features that deliver operational intelligence and enhance visibility is hindering productivity.
Across several popular industries including those who have already embraced digital transformation due to the pandemic such as retail, healthcare and financial services, device challenges are driven by a need to own a device and support increasingly remote and distributed workforces. This has led organizations to seek better methods of optimizing and securing mobile devices and aiding digital maturity.
SOTI surveyed 3,650 IT professionals across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands and Australia. The research indicates that adoption of EMM solutions is widespread. Nearly half (48%) of U.S. enterprises need mobility management support teams between six and 20 people, and 40% deploy teams of more than 20 staff members.
Despite this, businesses are still far from perfecting device management, with ineffective processes, lack of expertise and multiple choices limiting the potential utility and opportunity of EMM. Surprisingly, 85% of organizations raised a need for better operational intelligence to measure business mobility performance, with 83% in need of better tools to diagnose issues and 83% of organizations requiring enhanced solutions to predict potential future issues.
“Having the right tools in place is the first step to digital transformation; it is not a one-and-done deal. That is why organizations are struggling to find the right path toward operational intelligence,” said Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy at SOTI. “EMM solutions can centralize these concerns and optimize mobility performance. Organizations are missing a huge opportunity to truly optimize operations and increase ROI with mobile devices and the analytics EMMs can offer.”
Lesson learned: Digital Transformation Cannot Occur Without Expert Guidance
When asked about digital transformation more broadly, 70% agreed that their mobile device portfolio had grown to a point where it was difficult to manage, and they need more help than ever before. Moreover, 43% of respondents confirmed that their organizations have already started the process but now require a partner who can help.
The research also highlights the obstacles preventing organizations from achieving much-needed device visibility. SOTI found that 53% of businesses do not have the budget to ensure real-time visibility of mobile devices. More than half of organizations (61%) admitted that an overall lack of awareness of potential options is holding their company back from reaching their digital transformation goals.
“The next phase of digital transformation requires a holistic strategy across an entire organization. We have seen this is only possible with a trusted partner that can not only successfully plan an organization's digitalization journey but help scale many critical areas of its operations to sustain results,” added Anand.
Printer Problems – a Prime Example of Device Mobility Challenges
The necessity for enhanced operational intelligence is apparent when it comes to printer management, with 57% of U.S. organizations expressing their top challenge is concerns that printers with out-of-date firmware could be vulnerable to hackers. Challenges highlighted in this survey also included costs associated with configuring and updating Wi-Fi security settings, including provisioning certificates (51%) and lack of tools to remotely troubleshoot problems, which results in devices having to be physically returned to the IT team (50%).
Half of U.S. respondents also indicated devices had to be physically returned to the IT team for diagnostics and repair, wasting time and resources. This indicates that not all EMM and MDM solutions being utilized by organizations can manage printers as part of the mobile fleet.
“A comprehensive EMM solution is instrumental in making more informed decisions and pre-empting potential costly device failures that can lead to downtime, especially in fields where every second matters. Organizations should no longer be facing issues that affect speed, control, cost-savings or security. EMM is the next step for many of the organizations surveyed,” concluded Anand.
Report Methodology
Using an online methodology, SOTI conducted 3,650 interviews with IT professionals (at experienced/professional level or above) working for organizations with 50+ employees across nine markets. All participants are aged 25 and over. Fieldwork was conducted from July 19 to July 31, 2023. The interviews are split as follows: U.S. (600 interviews), Canada (350 interviews), Mexico (350 interviews), UK (600 interviews), Germany (350 interviews), France (350 interviews), Sweden (350 interviews), Netherlands (350 interviews) and Australia (350 interviews).
About SOTI
SOTI is the world’s most trusted provider of mobile device management solutions, with more than 17,000 enterprise customers and millions of devices managed worldwide. SOTI’s innovative portfolio of solutions and services provides the tools organizations need to truly mobilize their operations and optimize their mobility investments. SOTI extends secure mobility management to provide an integrated solution to manage and secure all mobile devices and connected peripherals in an organization. For more information, visit soti.net.
