Executive Summary

Where Are Organizations in Their Mobile-First Journey?

The pandemic hyper-accelerated digital transformation initiatives in every kind of industry. Solutions were needed—practically overnight—for remote work, contactless transactions, logistics, at-home learning, telemedicine, automation to lessen the impact of labor market shortages, and much more. The speed at which transformation happened shook up a lot of past assumptions about how quickly technology can be implemented and adopted. It also put a spotlight on the many advantages of mobile tech, like higher productivity, increased efficiency, nimbleness, and improved user experiences.The benefits are so evident that organizations are adopting mobile-first—or mobile-only—principles that put mobility at the heart of strategy, operations, and the user experience. With 5G now widely available, new use cases like augmented reality, enhanced communications, and more sensor-based systems mean that mobile-driven digital transformation will speed up over the next few years.As an enterprise mobility leader with a history of innovation, Stratix conducts research every year on emerging trends. In this year's Enterprise Mobility Outlook, we wanted to see where organizations are in their mobile-first journey and what might be holding them back. We partnered with Hanover Research, surveyed a broad sample of company leaders and IT decision-makers across a wide range of industries to get a comprehensive picture.The Self-Perception is Quite Different from the Reality
With this year's research, we wanted to get a sense of where organizations think they are on mobile-driven digital transformation vs. how they scored on a battery of questions designed to reveal their true status. The results were quite interesting—with a wide gap between self-perception and reality.It's significant because it shows many organizations have yet to fully understand what it is to be mobile-first and the benefits. Many consider themselves mobile-first because they use mobile devices in some workflows but have yet to wrap their arms around a holistic mobile strategy that drives far greater benefits.

Other Findings Show How Devices are Used and the Challenges Organizations Face
The 2022 Stratix Mobility Outlook report also examines practices around mobile solutions in organizations to see what's working and what isn't—including how they're distributed and maintained. We found many common challenges.

The overwhelming majority of enterprises provide corporate-owned mobile devices to employees when they're required for their jobs. Only 14 percent have Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies—despite all the buzz around BYOD in recent years. Using personal devices in the workplace does bring security concerns, and employees often don't want to give employers the control necessary to improve security, citing privacy uneasiness.

Many industries—especially retail—use shared device strategies but are re-thinking how they do it because of significant management issues—such as getting the devices back to the charging cradle and hiccups with check-in/check-out processes, etc.

Off-the-shelf technology is rarely an option for enterprises, with two-thirds saying they need very or extremely customized devices. Because it allows more customization and a wider range of device types—including rugged—the Android operating system is the leading choice for enterprises. Still, iOS is only 12 percentage points behind and popular with end users who have Apple devices in their private lives and are familiar and comfortable with how they work.

Very few enterprises have internal repair capabilities, so maintenance usually involves a Mobile Managed Services Provider (MMSP) or an OEM relationship.

While most organizations have in-house teams for mobile technology, they face challenges managing it like repair, endpoint management, and device tracking. The majority have some degree of difficulty staffing their IT teams with qualified people.

Enterprises Have a Long Way to Go
While the pandemic dramatically sped up the pace of digital transformation at enterprises across the entire range of industries, the 2022 Enterprise Mobility Outlook shows just how much remains to be done. With constant disruption now the "new normal" in business and exciting opportunities for organizations to get a leg up on competitors with 5G, this year's report card on enterprise mobility offers notable data and conclusions. Read on as we dig into the details.

2022 Enterprise Mobility Outlook Analysis

Stratix Senior Vice President of Marketing Elizabeth Klingseisen shares some of the most interesting findings from this year's research.

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