Up to 87% of US companies agree that their organization must improve agility and adaptability in unprecedented scenarios

Poor integration is destroying the benefits of mobile technology, finds SOTI report – Latest Digital Transformation Trends | Cloud News. 2021 is experiencing a mobility revolution, becoming a necessity to business continuity. In fact, it is projected mobile operators will invest $900 billion USD upgrading their services to meet ballooning demand for mobile connections and technology by 2025. However, poor integration is threatening businesses’ potential in a defining year for enterprise mobility, according to a new research report by mobile and IoT device management solutions provider, SOTI.

To better understand the impact of mobile technology over the last year as well as how organizations can position themselves at the forefront of the post-pandemic mobile revolution, the SOTI report, A Defining Year: State of Mobility 2021 Report, interviewed 1,400 IT decision-makers across eight countries (USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Sweden and Australia).

Mobile Technology Investment in 2021: Seizing Opportunity or Just Surviving?

As organizations embrace digital transformation to better navigate repercussions of the global pandemic, it is becoming more crucial for leaders to fully integrate mobile technology into their core workflows to capitalize on its potential to offer intelligence and flexibility within the whole enterprise. SOTI found more than 61% of US enterprises have invested in mobile technology or mobile security in the last year, but up to 73% admit their technology needs to have improved data analytics, troubleshooting and issue resolution.

Close to 87% of US enterprise leaders also agree that their organization can do more to improve agility and adaptability to new scenarios, and employees would be more productive (90%) and engaged (88%) if they had the right technology in place. In addition, over 81% agree that their organization’s C-Suite understands the importance of mobile technology much more now than it did before the start of the coronavirus pandemic. It indicates that the key to the most efficient use of mobile technology concern is becoming an organizational priority.

But, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Over half of US respondents (57%) said their organization’s portfolio of mobile devices had grown, but the increased number of devices was proving difficult to manage. This illustrates businesses might not have the right device management technology in place or they have nothing at all. Many existing tools don’t appropriately help organizations troubleshoot device problems or manage devices. This leads to increased downtime, a loss in productivity and revenue.

Meanwhile, 46% say that their organization is not using mobile technology to help adjust to the challenges of the post-pandemic marketplace. The challenges for these companies have been to fully integrate technology into their everyday operations and scaling its potential, which leads almost three out of four (72.3%) of US decision-makers to agree that their company needs better lead for business intelligence to navigate future unforeseen issues, as well as better tools to diagnose issues before they become a problem (73%).

“While organizations have both realized the importance of, and increased the spending for mobile technology, there is still more work to be done to increase adoption and efficiency,” said Shash Anand, VP of Product Strategy at SOTI. “To fully realize the benefits of mobile technology, companies need more intelligent and precise systems for monitoring, troubleshooting and optimizing mobile devices that not only handle issues in real-time but also plan for any unprecedented challenges.”

Planning For a Post-Pandemic Marketplace

The covid-19 pandemic, lockdown, and after changes in consumer behavior have accelerated the digital transformation of the business by about six years.

Anand adds, “Businesses are faced with the prospect of a post-pandemic marketplace that is more fluid, more digital, more dynamic and marked by a rise in consumer demands and employee expectations. For enterprises, this raises both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to meet these changing customer expectations, adapt to current climates, and remain flexible to change with the right technologies.”

The mobility revolution has scaled rapidly across all areas of businesses. To prevent growing pains and ensure maximum efficiency and productivity, as well as the best user experience, enterprises need to integrate and manage multiple form factors, operating systems and legacy systems. This is echoed in the findings, with enterprise leaders saying that their organizations need the following post-pandemic:

Looking Towards the Future

In the immediate future, the rate of change will continue. Over the next 12 months, more than two-thirds (73.7%) of organizations are considering increasing their expenditure in mobile devices, systems and/or security, while more than half (55%) of organizations will increase spend in cloud/employee monitoring software and 59% are considering investing in technology for better device and system integration and/or replacing legacy systems. Furthermore, 94% of US decision-makers believe their organization’s mobile technology is fit to enable employees to work remotely, illustrating preparation for a post-pandemic workforce and changes to attract a wider talent tool.

Anand concludes, “While we are seeing a clear interest in technology from US leaders, there are still significant efficiency and cost gains to be made by better integrating these technologies into workflows, employee practices and the customer experience. Only with the right intelligence, can IT decision-makers prevent downtime and pre-emptively optimize to remain competitive under any crisis.”

A Defining Year: State of Mobility 2021 Report can be downloaded here.

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