VERNON HILLS, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CDW (NASDAQ: CDW), a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare, today announced its Mobility at Work Report, a close look at issues of integrating mobile technologies into work environments, based on a survey of 1,200 IT professionals across eight industries and 1,200 workers who use personal smartphones and tablet computers at their jobs. While security around mobile devices is a constant issue, CDW’s survey found that managing mobility in the workplace presents a much broader set of challenges. IT departments and users alike agree that there is a “support gap.” Asked to grade their organization’s IT policies and technical support, only 41 percent of individuals using personal devices at their job give IT an A or a B. IT professionals had a more positive view of the support they offer, with 64 percent giving their own departments an A or a B, yet only 18 percent said they deserved an A.
Looking ahead, 90 percent of IT professionals surveyed expect growing use of personal mobile devices to have major impacts on their organizations’ networks, including:
- Increased bandwidth requirements (63 percent)
- Increased network latency (39 percent)
- Increased server requirements (44 percent) and storage requirements (37 percent)
In fact, many (39 percent) say they have already seen network performance suffer.
“Mobility has edged its way into the workplace, increasing and complicating IT’s workload, and often leading to frustration on all fronts. Securing devices, along with the data and networks they use, will always be a significant concern, but protecting users and employers is only one of five key aspects of mobility management at work,” said Andrea Bradshaw, senior director and general manager, mobility solutions, for CDW. “The network impacts confirm that IT needs a systems strategy to accommodate mobility. Our research also shows that users and IT alike see room for improvement in the level and quality of support that IT provides for mobility today.”
Bradshaw noted that the key aspects of mobility management other than security are: planning a strategy; enabling the strategy efficiently; supporting users and IT alike, and empowering users.
Despite ready availability of mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) solutions that can help IT by supporting and enforcing security policies, CDW’s Mobility at Work survey found that only 37 percent of organizations have deployed or are deploying MDM, and just 36 percent have deployed or are deploying MAM solutions.
“Some of our research findings are remarkable, but they align with what we see and hear from our customers every day,” Bradshaw said. “The reason organizations are not moving faster into mobility management solutions is that IT itself is working hard just to keep up with demand for more and more services with limited budgets, and mobility is a complex, multi-faceted challenge; it’s hard to know what to solve first. What IT needs itself is the support of a holistic, end-to-end approach that simplifies mobility management and reduces its cost in time and budget.”
For its Mobility at Work Report, CDW surveyed 1,200 IT professionals (in April 2013) and 1,200 non-IT professionals (in January 2013) who use a personal smartphone and/or tablet for work purposes at least once a week. The total sample for each group represents eight industries and equates to a margin of error of ±2.7% at a 95 percent confidence level.
For a copy of the complete CDW Mobility at Work Report, please visit http://www.cdw.com/mobilityatwork. For more about CDW’s mobility management capabilities and offerings, including CDW Total Mobility Management, please visit http://www.cdw.com/mobility.
About CDW
CDW is a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare. A Fortune 500 company, CDW features dedicated account managers who help customers choose the right technology products and services to meet their needs. The company’s solution architects offer expertise in designing customized solutions, while its advanced technology engineers assist customers with the implementation and long-term management of those solutions. Areas of focus include software, network communications, notebooks/mobile devices, data storage, video monitors, desktops, printers and solutions such as virtualization, collaboration, security, mobility, data center optimization and cloud computing. CDW was founded in 1984 and employs approximately 6,800 coworkers. For the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2013, the company generated net sales of more than $10.4 billion. For more information, visit www.CDW.com.
CDWPR-CO
