The use of technology is continually changing based on devices available, connectivity options, and user activity. As our applications and data increasingly shed their dependence on wired connections, mobility is becoming one of the main drivers of change in the way enterprises plan for changes in their infrastructure.
Wayne DeCesaris, SVP of Managed Solutions at Tangoe, Inc. works with CIOs adapting to the challenges of mobility and offers his views on how these changes will affect the enterprise over the next 2 years.
"Mobility will continue to take center stage as a top CIO concern. While this is a challenge that has been plaguing the enterprise for a while, 2014 is the first year that every enterprise, large or small, will be forced to take mobility seriously. The next two years will be evolutionary in terms of the overall management of mobility technologies and some of the bigger trends will have a real impact on the IT infrastructure. Following are a few trends CIOs should start preparing for now:
The Shift to Real-Time Services
Mobility will continue its growth path as the pervasive and predominant computing platform, and the number of associated services to support this will be based on a real-time model. Mobility is serving an always on and always now demographic, so CIOs should be looking to move to real-time readiness on both the front-end fulfillment and the back-end replacement side of the mobility lifecycle.
Unmetered Mobility
Mobile consumption is moving towards OTT (over-the-top) transactions via apps and many of these transactions are going unmetered. Data is being consumed, but enterprises aren’t able to measure it and, in many cases, are unaware that potentially harmful amounts of this data are being consumed. We’ll start to see a push towards metering or measuring this connection type at a level relevant to the enterprise. To do this, CIOs will need to empower their teams with the resources needed to know which OTT apps are being used, how they are being used, what the consumption patterns look, etc.
Enterprises Look Beyond the Device
As enterprises begin to look across the entire lifecycle of the connections they manage, they’ll realize that device management is only one part of an equation that goes far beyond what smartphone users are consuming. How that device works, how it interfaces with the organization, and what role it plays in achieving a goal becomes critical. Ultimately, the enterprise is going to manage resources, not devices and firewalls. CIOs should be looking for an integrated solution that takes into consideration the needs of every line of business (IT, HR, Finance) and the strategies and goals of the corporation."
The complexity this mix of technology presents for CIOs is likely to consume a significant amount of time and energy as employees and data continue to move away from the existing structure CIOs are accustomed to managing. Forward thinking CIOs are already planning and dealing with these issues.
