Singapore, November 19, 2013 – Too few companies have been successful leveraging enterprise mobility solutions to drive tangible business benefits even though the industry is one of Asia/Pacific’s (Excluding Japan) (APeJ) fastest-growing markets.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the APeJ addressable market for enterprise mobility, which includes applications, devices, security, middleware, and professional services, is expected to grow from US$1.4 billion in 2013 to US$2.3 billion by 2017. The market’s significant growth reflects the race for organizations to mobilize their people and business processes.
However, the harsh reality for many Asia/Pacific organizations is the severe lack of understanding, expertise, and foresight to truly unlock the value that is enterprise mobility. To address the inherently misunderstood enterprise mobility space, IDC has developed the Asia/Pacific focused mobility maturity model to provide a higher level of clarity.
IDC’s Mobility Maturity Model is based on a survey of 1,603 companies across 11 countries. In this survey, IDC assessed each company’s maturity based on the status of their mobility offering, including strategy, device and application deployments, infrastructure and platform investments, and dedicated physical and financial resources.
Surprisingly, 21% of the companies surveyed did not even score high enough to be classified in the earliest phase, Ad Hoc, which is where 57% of the companies were positioned. 11% were positioned in the Opportunistic phase, and a mere 11% were in the more mature phases of Repeatable, Managed and Optimized.
When the companies were bundled by their country of operation, only the developed markets of Australia, New Zealand and Singapore would be classified as Repeatable, which is the stage when mobility goes from being a reactive to a proactive strategy.
“The reason many companies and countries are stuck in early phases of mobility does not always have to do with technical limitations,” says Ian Song, Research Manager with IDC AP’s Mobility team.
He observes that more often than not, addressing mobility is reactionary out of necessity rather than a structured approach based on long term strategy and security.
“Our research shows that countries that are more advanced on our maturity model are usually more strategically minded. In Singapore, for example, we’ve found that over 60% of respondents are adopting mobility strategically, and integrating mobility into their business processes.”
Song recognizes that there are industry verticals in every country that are at a more mature level than others.
“Financial services, for example, driven by the need for security and customer service, are more mature regardless which country they’re based in.”
Charles Reed Anderson, Head of Telecoms and Mobility for IDC Asia/Pacific adds that the other challenge this creates is for the vendors in the enterprise mobility solutions ecosystem. “Most vendors target their offerings at customers in the more mature stages of Repeatable and beyond, where only 11% of the regional customers reside.”
Anderson notes, “Surprisingly few vendors actively target the mass of companies in the early stages, even though those customers provide the best opportunity for a long term customer relationship as they progress down the path to mobility.”
IDC believes there are vast opportunities in markets residing in the beginning phases of its maturity model. For many enterprise mobility solution vendors and service providers, tapping into the not-yet-mature markets can mean a more sustainable relationship with customers so long the mobile solutions are grounded by strategy and security.
About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 49 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com