Pain Points in Mobile Messaging

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We have just completed a major survey focused on the use of mobile messaging in mid-sized and large organizations and will be publishing an industry analysis report shortly based on that research. Part of what we wanted to discover was the pain associated with managing mobile devices, the risks they pose to organizations, what IT decision makers and others would like to see addressed, etc. Here’s some of what we found:

• While three out of four survey respondents (IT decision makers and influencers) said that mobile messaging can significantly improve users’ productivity, fewer than two in five said that mobile messaging is easy to manage; significantly fewer believe that mobile messaging security is easy to manage.
• There are a variety of concerns associated with mobile messaging, including the potential loss of intellectual property or confidential information when a mobile device is lost (a serious concern to three in five), backing up content from mobile devices and managing compliance. Further, the vast majority of IT decision makers and influencers are not confident that all elements of their mobile messaging platform are fully protected against downtime.
• Further, the survey found that most organizations have not encrypted the content on mobile devices, and nearly one-third cannot remotely kill mobile devices if they are lost or stolen.

What these results underscore is the critical need to manage mobile devices more carefully and with a greater emphasis on compliance and protection of sensitive data. The issue will become more serious over time as the number of smartphones and tablet computers increases. For example, our own research from this survey shows significant growth in corporate use of smartphones, iPads, Windows laptops and Macbooks. Other companies’ forecasts (which include consumer use of these devices) is even more aggressive: for example, Forrester published a report yesterday showing that US sales of tablet devices will increase from 24.1 million devices this year to 44.0 million by 2015.

So, what should you do? First and foremost is to establish corporate policies about how, when and where mobile devices of all types are used. Next, deploy the right technologies that will enable a) encryption of data and remote wiping of sensitive content in the event that these devices are lost or stolen, and b) the ability to archive content on mobile devices for compliance and other purposes.  Failure to do so is an option, but a poor one.