Mobile technology is rapidly penetrating the enterprise. The business use of mobile phones and other devices by senior management and sales staff, already widespread today, will be nearly universal in three years' time, according to a global survey of 395 senior executives conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit for AT&T. Mobile usage will also escalate among customer service, IT, marketing and field workers with 72% of business leaders expecting to migrate mobile voice and data application by 2008.

The combination of mobile voice and data applications with IP convergence means a considerable expansion in the reach of the enterprise and its workforce. Not only can employees continue to work from almost anywhere—home, plane or train platform—but thanks to VoIP and IP VPNs they can also connect on the move. No wonder, then, that the roll-out of wireless applications, ranging from CRM and customer information databases to field force automation, will soar over the next three years.

Enterprise mobility promises significant gains in employee productivity, but as the survey plainly shows, it also poses sticky network and employee management challenges. Devices have proliferated in companies, often without the supervision of IT departments. Reining them in at this stage, and establishing reasonable standards of usage, is not easy. Users do not want to be told what to do with such personal devices. The survey shows that many organizations for their part are failing to take firm leadership, and are not issuing proper guidelines.

Challenges abound. For one thing, companies are struggling to integrate mobile applications with the existing IT infrastructure. Security also needs to be tightened, with far more corporate data now out and about beyond the boundaries of the workplace. And informal knowledge sharing between remote workers must be maintained, as employees congregate less often.

As they think through these factors, executives at most companies are seeking to establish a balance. Priority must be given to protecting corporate data, but too strict a regime will stifle productivity gains.

This is the final in a series of four thought-leadership papers produced by AT&T in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit based on the Network Convergence 2006 survey.

Return to full list of White Papers.