Symantec survey shows more Phl firms view mobility as tool to improve productivity

MANILA, Philippines - More local companies are embracing mobility, viewing it as a tool to improve productivity in the organization, according to  Symantec Corp.’s State of Mobility 2013 survey.

“Few issues command the attention of information technology today like mobility,” said Marie Pettersson, Symantec’s senior product marketing manager for Mobile and Security in Asia Pacific and Japan.

“Today, more and more enterprises in the Philippines view mobility as a tool to improve productivity and that its benefits outweigh the risks. The difference in attitudes and results between the organizations that actively embrace mobility and those that are reluctant is significant. Organizations taking a proactive approach benefit much more than those that put it off until they eventually find themselves trying to catch up to the competition,” Petterson says.

The survey also showed two  distinct types of organizations based on their ability to embrace mobility – “innovators” or those who readily embrace mobility and “traditionals” or those who are reluctant to implement it.

The report indicates that  86 percent of  innovators  globally  are moving ahead with mobility,  and they are experiencing significant benefits.  Traditional organizations, on the other hand, are implementing mobility more slowly, largely in response to user demand, and are seeing both fewer costs and benefits.

The report says that among innovators globally,   65 percent say the benefits are worth the risks, while 34 percent of traditional businesses feel the risks are not worth it.

In the Philippines, 63 percent of enterprises felt the benefits of mobility were worth the risks. This is reflected in the rate of mobility adoption, with 50 percent more employees using smartphones for business among innovators than among traditional organizations.

Globally, more than half of innovators (54 percent) are also taking control of purchasing phones for employees, compared to 47 percent of traditionals.

Enterprises in the Philippines tracked more closely with innovators here, where 55 percent of employee phones were purchased by the company. 

Furthermore, innovators are more likely to deploy business apps on mobile devices, with 86 percent of innovators discussing such app stores for employees compared to 64 percent of traditionals. Seventy-six percent of enterprises in the Philippines are also discussing private app stores.

When it comes to the innovators, company involvement doesn’t stop with purchasing the phones. They also more often have mobility policies and they are twice as likely to use technology to enforce their policies (61 percent in the innovators as opposed to 43 percent among traditionals). In the Philippines, 45 percent of enterprises are using technology to enforce mobile policies, according to the  survey.

Costs and benefits

With the innovators taking more advantage of mobility,  they are also seeing more costs associated with it, the survey says.  In fact, it says they averaged twice as many mobile incidents during the last year, such as lost devices and data breaches, leading to consequences such as regulatory fines and lost revenue. The innovators are also experiencing far more benefits, in three key areas:

Increased productivity, speed and agility

Improvements in brand value, customer happiness and overall competitiveness

Happier employees and improved recruiting and retention rates

Most importantly, however,  the report says that  innovators are experiencing nearly 50 percent higher revenue growth than traditionals (44 percent vs. 32 percent).  In this case, Philippines’ enterprises show an average of 48 percent revenue growth. All things considered, the survey indicates that businesses perceive net positive results with mobility.

Effective mobile implementation

The survey results illustrate the positive impact mobility can have on the business, with the right preparation. The following guidelines can help organizations make the most of their mobile deployment while reducing risks:

Invest in security in parallel to embracing mobility. Organizations should take a proactive approach to protecting their endpoints and make sure that the mobile devices allowed onto their network are subject to the same IT security policy requirements.

Start with apps with greatest productivity benefits for employees. One of the best ways to get started with mobility is to implement mobile apps that will have an immediate impact on the business.

Get the benefits while minimizing the risks. For innovators in particular, continue to benchmark against mobility best practices to future-proof your mobility investment.