With the success of the iPhone and Android platforms, consumer interest in smart phones has expanded and the market is consolidating around these two platforms. Given that these devices offer an easy to use mobile application platform as well as security capabilities required before the devices can be connected to enterprise systems, these devices also started entering into businesses in a rapid way. This posed a challenge for the enterprise IT as they had not defined the business processes for preparing, distributing, and managing these devices. IT enterprises usually have standard laptops that they give to their employees and there are standard policies and platforms to distribute and manage the laptops. However, mobile devices are different types of devices and require a different way to manage them. IT enterprises are therefore scrambling to put together the infrastructure and plans for mobile devices.
With the incorporation of security and access controls, the availability of mobile device management software, and the sheer prevalence of mobiles phones and productivity benefits of a mobile-enabled workforce, enterprise mobility is becoming a reality. Within the next 1 to 2 years, the enterprise will learn to manage these devices as a standard part of their IT architectures, and will develop a plethora of mobile applications to provide access to their backend systems.
