Apps largest segment of growing enterprise mobility market

Companies around the world haven't been shy about expressing their desire to deploy and expand enterprise mobility programs. Whether it's new smartphones and tablets, applications or wireless services contracts, investment in mobile technologies has soared, and will continue to do so, according to Global Industry Analysts.

The research firm recently took a closer look at the enterprise mobility market, which has rebounded significantly this year following a slow period during 2009 and 2010. This year, researchers said, companies have rededicated themselves to supporting mobile initiatives.

Overall, the market for enterprise mobility - which includes devices, apps, solutions and contracts - will reach nearly $174 billion by 2017. Within the market, applications will experience the most significant increases, with an expected compound annual growth rate of 11.4 percent during the next six years.

All told, such investments in the technology demonstrate the importance enterprise mobility now commands for most companies.

"Given its widely accepted role in improving the overall responsiveness, agility and flexibility of an organization, enterprise mobility has truly transformed into a competitive requirement in today’s worldwide marketplace," the report stated.

With applications earning an especially large amount of attention, it appears that companies may also want to explore means for governing their use. Such a capability can be provided by a mobile application management solution, which gives the company full control of the development, procurement and deployment of mobile apps.

By implementing an app solution into the larger mobile device management program, company IT departments can see what apps are being leveraged by employees. The information can then be used to support future deployments, as companies will know which apps work best.

However a company chooses to spend its wireless dollars, it appears that many organizations are prepared to increase both their investments and reliance on mobility.

"This therefore throws the spotlight on enterprise mobility, a combination of hardware, software and business applications that enable employees to carryout their daily transactions connecting to the corporate network from a remote location using mobile devices," GIA researchers said.

It's not surprising that GIA found the applications segment the fastest growing aspect of the enterprise mobility market. InformationWeek also recently released a report, Enterprise Apps 2011: Focus on Business Relevance, that found mobile apps were the top software priority for many companies.