* Mobile messaging imposes burden on IT
We recently conducted a study of Exchange-enabled organizations on the impact of mobile messaging in corporate environments. The study was done on behalf of PostPath, which markets an alternative to Exchange. While mobile messaging is clearly advantageous for users because it makes them more productive while out of the office (even when away from their desks), it imposes a significant burden on IT.
For example:
* Twenty-seven percent of organizations in our survey told us that mobile device management increases IT administrative workload.
* Twelve percent of organizations told us that mobile device synchronization imposes an additional performance burden on Exchange servers beyond just the burden of Outlook itself.
To address these problems, organizations have undertaken a variety of approaches. For example:
* Thirty-four percent of organizations have upgraded existing servers to address the additional workload placed on them by mobile device management.
* Thirty-one percent have limited the number of mobile devices that their IT organization will support.
* Thirty percent of users have distributed users across multiple servers.
* Twenty-three percent have added additional servers.
What is particularly telling, however, is that mobile devices are used by a relatively small proportion of users today. As the number of mobile users increases, the problems associated with mobile device management will become significantly more pronounced, as will the need for disruptive corrective measures and increased IT management.
Adding a greater burden on the IT organization in most companies is the fact that they are asked to support a growing variety of mobile devices. Many organizations today support BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Treo devices, meaning that most IT organizations must support three different mobile operating systems, three different vendors, three different upgrade cycles, and so forth. Further, we found that a wide variety of mobile handsets are supported by many organizations.
However, it doesn’t end there. Our research found that 62% of organizations are being asked by their users or management to support additional devices. Leading the pack among requested devices is the Apple iPhone, mentioned by 72% of organizations. That means that a fourth major operating system and vendor may well be added to the mobile messaging mix.
The bottom line here is that mobile messaging is critical to user productivity, but it imposes problems on the IT department charged with managing the infrastructure.
I’d like to get your thoughts on this – if you have had problems managing your mobile infrastructure and users, or if you’ve found it be very easy, please send me an e-mail.
