More than 90 percent of ITDMs agree that enterprise mobility is a critical function for customer engagement, competitiveness and operational productivity in 2016. However, only a 73 percent say that their companies are planning to mobilize the entire organization.
The survey was done online in October this year, and fielded 306 ITDMs to understand the technology outlook for 2016.
Returns will come from Cloud
Among the key findings, the majority of ITDMs believe cloud-based applications/solutions (70 percent) and enterprise mobility (61 percent) will yield the biggest returns to their company in 2016. Profitability comes with a catch — enterprise mobility. Eight seven percent agree that enterprise mobility is critical to their company’s profitability.
“Companies are shifting their focus from mobile applications to full enterprise mobility,” said Matt Calkins, President and CEO of Appian.
“IT professionals understand that a strategic focus on mobile apps will fail to deliver the full digital transformation that must occur within the enterprise.”
Who will go mobile
Telecommunications (40 percent), financial services (36 percent), manufacturing (34 percent), energy and utilities (32 percent), healthcare / pharmaceutical (32 percent), transportation (32 percent) and retail (31 percent), were cited as the industries most likely to adopt enterprise mobility in 2016.
Custom apps will lead the path
An overwhelming majority (92 percent) of respondents agree that new approaches are required to mobilizing an entire enterprise, with approximately 85 percent agreeing that custom software applications are key. With this:
- Over half (59 percent) of ITDMs say they will increase their custom application development budget in 2016 regardless of company revenue.
- The top drivers for custom application development in 2016 include: efficiency (56 percent), security (53 percent) and speed (48 percent); about four in ten reported operational productivity (42 percent) and customer engagement (37 percent) as top drivers. Regarding speed of delivery, more than four in 10 (43 percent) of respondents indicated it takes their company three-to-six months to deliver a new application to their business.
- Companies with higher annual revenue ($100M+) are significantly more likely than those at lower revenue companies (under $100M) to report the following three benefits: competitiveness (49 percent vs. 32 percent, respectively); customer engagement (45 percent vs. 31 percent, respectively); and agility (40 percent vs. 27 percent, respectively).
The obstacles
Nearly, all ITDMs (95 percent) cited challenges for achieving full enterprise mobility in 2016. Of those, 64 percent cited agility, speed and security as obstacles.
The findings also show:
- Companies with higher revenue ($100M+) are significantly more likely than those at lower revenue companies (under $100M) to report ease of use / user interface as an obstacle (33 percent vs. 22 percent).
- Additionally, nearly nine in ten of ITDMs are concerned about security in both custom applications (86 percent) and security in pre-packaged applications (86 percent).
The report can be accessed here.
