Companies on the path to mobility exclusivity

Joining many households that rely solely on mobile phones, it appears as though companies are also abandoning land-line and desktop telephones to instead focus solely on mobility, according to the results of a new report.

This may not be much of a surprise given the exploding popularity of smartphones in the enterprise during the past several years. However, what caught researchers off guard is the rate at which companies are heading toward focusing exclusively on mobility.

BroadSoft, a provider of IP communications tools, polled 400 mobility decision-makers - split evenly between the United States and the U.K. - and found that 44 percent said at least one-quarter of their workforce only use mobile phones. Of these, 69 percent had 1,000 or more employees, while 64 percent had 101 to 1,000 workers.

What's more, 25 percent of all respondents said the devices will almost certainly take the place of all desk phones permanently within the next two years. This means such organizations should get a jump on mobile device management practices to ensure a smooth transition.

"Enterprise end-users are demanding their IT department support a consumer-grade communications experience that includes access to advanced communications services and applications across their preferred mobile communication device," BroadSoft's vice president of marketing Leslie Ferry said.

Other report findings revealed that 82 percent of respondents said employees at their organizations leverage mobile apps - most likely those for voice over internet protocol and messaging - to communicate. That may also be allowing such professionals to expand their means for communication, as 30 percent of respondents also said their companies support tablets.

Similarly, 51 percent support BlackBerry devices, 40 percent support the iPhone and 31 percent allow employees to use Android-based devices.

"While planning for the 'mobile enterprise of the future' most companies already support
a significant portion of their workforce on a growing set of mobile devices that range from
standard BlackBerry devices to tablet computer[s]," the report concluded.

Several recent reports have lent insight into the consumerization of enterprise mobility. According to Zscaler's latest whitepaper, Android-powered devices account for 40 percent of all mobile web traffic among the company's clients. An informal Smallbiztechnology.com report found that 40 percent of respondents said they use an Android device at work.