Monday, February 11th, 2013
Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing
This is part #3 of our blog talking about the recently released Mobile Enterprise Report. Part 1, we talk about ‘BYOD in the Enterprise’, and in Part 2, we talk about ‘Device Choice in the Enterprise’. In our final blog post, we will be talking about some of the IT challenges we uncovered in the Mobile Enterprise Report.
Since iPass is in the business of helping organizations manage mobility costs, we of course are very interested in what IT professionals have to say about the cost of mobility across their organization. First we asked how much IT professionals estimate that mobile employees cost the organization on a monthly basis.
This average factors in the costs of 3G/4G subscriptions as well as employees expensing back Wi-Fi. With that in mind it is interesting to see North America come in with the highest average costs, since free Wi-Fi is abundant across North America and not as common around the rest of the world. This shows that while Wi-Fi may be free, data costs from 3G/4G subscriptions have a big impact in North America- nearly $1200 per year in costs per employee.
We asked IT professionals if they thought mobile data costs (3G/4G) would increase in 2013, and the majority (57%) said yes. When we asked why costs would increase, the biggest responses were due to the impact of smartphones and tablets on the organization.
The top two responses clearing more than 40% of responses both directly deal with the impact of smartphones and tablets- more devices being deployed and more data being consumed on those devices.
Throughout this series of blog posts as well as with previous iPass Mobile Workforce Reports we have been very focused on the impact of BYOD to organizations. We’ve noted how BYOD makes mobile workers feel more productive as they can more easily balance their personal and professional lives.
One of the questions we wanted to get the IT opinion on is whether or not organizations are compensating employees for their data costs on personal devices. We looked at this from all responses, but also looking at organizations that said if they had a formal BYOD policy in place- or not (which we covered in the first blog post in this series- where we noted that 54% of organizations have a formal BYOD policy in place).
What we found was interesting. There definitely was a correlation between having a BYOD policy and more likely to compensate employees for data access from their personal devices, but there still is a sizable percentage of organizations that don’t compensate employees for access from personal devices. This is something we expect to change over time as BYOD becomes more common within organizations- that increasingly organizations will provide some sort of compensation.
Why is that? We have seen in our user focused Mobile Workforce Reports that when employees are balancing work and personal uses for a device- if they are responsible for the data costs on that device they will use it less for work related purposes. What organizations don’t want to see by shifting more users to personal devices is that overall productivity goes down. Thus we expect some sort of policy driven compensation model for data access on personal devices to become increasingly the norm.
The last data point I’ll cover from the Mobile Enterprise Report is around an overall mobility strategy- do organizations have a strategy in place?
What is interesting here is that the majority either said they don’t know what it is, they don’t have one or the one they have is insufficient (63.2%). As things like BYOD introduce more fragmentation into an organization (due to less central control) the risk is that the organization also fragments their overall mobility strategy. The risk of having no strategy, or one that is insufficient or out of date is that the potential for security lapses increase, or mobility costs start to get out of control. I believe most employees want to do the right thing and abide by corporate guidelines, but if those guidelines are not communicated, not in place or not understood, that can lead to problems that impact the bottom line. If your organization fits into the Insufficient/No category, perhaps it is time to sit down and think through your mobility strategy.
I hope you found this blog series useful and informative.
Download the Mobile Enterprise Report>>
We will also be hosting an informative webinar to cover the details of the report with MobileIron.
IT Challenges- The Cost of Mobility >>
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
The 2013 iPass/MobileIron Mobile Enterprise Report tells a story of the rise of BYOD, and with it increased frustration and loss of control by IT, and concern over rising mobile data costs. Results from our survey show that while Mobile IT brings with it a huge potential to improve workforce productivity, it also introduces significant new challenges for enterprise IT.
Our Infographic captures some of those changes and challenges:
Download the report >>
Register for the webinar >>
Rising mobile data costs with smartphones and tablets >>
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
Meet the new contender for the family budget. The smartphone and tablet.
The article Cellphones Are Eating the Family Budget in today’s Wall Street Journal discusses that the data plan is currently winning. Androids, iPhones, iPads and other smartphones and tablets are eating more than their share of the budget.
“Government data show people have spent more on phone bills over the past four years, even as they have dialed back on dining out, clothes and entertainment—cutbacks that have been keenly felt in the restaurant, apparel and film industries.
The tug of war is only going to get more intense. Wireless carriers are betting they can pull bills even higher by offering faster speeds on expensive new networks and new usage-based data plans. The effort will test the limits of consumer spending as the draw of new technology competes with cellphone owners’ more rudimentary needs and desires.”
“Labor Department data released Tuesday show spending on phone services rose more than 4% last year, the fastest rate since 2005…Families with more than one smartphone are already paying much more than the average—sometimes more than $4,000 a year—easily eclipsing what they pay for cable TV and home Internet.”
Many families have made the cut in spending in other areas to make room for these bigger phone bills. Maybe one benefit is that since they have cut out travel, they are no longer spending on roaming fees?
“Carriers fully expect people to use more data and pay more for it. “Speed entices more usage,” Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said at an investor conference last week, according to a transcript. “The more data they consume, the more they will have to buy.”
Read the full article >>
For more on data consumption increases and carrier plan increases, see our Q3 Mobile Workforce Report >>
Dinner, movie or, …an iPhone? >>
Tuesday, September 18th, 2012
Chris Churilo, VP Product Management & User Experience
Those who bring their own device from work have quickly gone from the minority to the majority, and the benefits are countless. Yet modern smartphones are rendered almost useless without an Internet connection, and 3G can get pricy quickly. Wi-Fi has gone from being an extra perk to a necessity. I know how shocking it has been when I’ve traveled abroad for work and forgotten to turn my data usage off and returned home only to find a hefty bill waiting there for me.
This is why I’d like to introduce BYOD’s new counterpart— BYON – “Bring Your Own Network.” If you already are bringing your own device to work, why not bring your own network? At iPass, we’ve just announced a new IT-Sponsored billing option that does just that – allows the individual business user to add the iPass service to their personal device that they use for work.
IT negotiates the rate, configures the client options and helps to manage the service. The end-user signs up for the service with their credit card, gets the same great service that they received on their corporate managed devices all at their low corporate rate.
Traveling for work can be rough; going from airport to airport, trying to fit a week’s worth of business casual in a small carry-on, inevitably forgetting a smartphone charger or pair of socks at home. Working while traveling shouldn’t be difficult or expensive, but it is when you don’t know when you’ll be able to access the Internet next.
If you BYON, you can relax knowing that you can use your Wi-Fi at any of our thousands of hotspots, look up the hotspot locations in advance using our Hotspot Finder, and use that money you just saved to buy an extra pair of socks or belt when on the road.
Bring Your Own Network – Wi-Fi for corporate end-users >>
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
Steve Livingston, Sr. Vice President of Carrier Development
Last week I participated in a panel at the WBA Wi-Fi Global Congress in Seoul, Korea. Other panel members included representatives from Accuris Networks, AT&T, Oi WiFi, and Strategy Analytics. We discussed how to maximize international data roaming revenue and coverage through Wi-Fi. I found the dialogue fascinating, particularly due to my familiarity with this topic; iPass specializes in providing this opportunity to mobile operators through our Open Mobile Exchange (OMX).
The global mobile computing market that the panel members work in is experiencing a period of significant change. With subscriber penetration at 100% or above in the developed world, mobile operators must target not only subscribers, but their multiple devices. The average traveler today carries 2.8 devices, and consumes increasing amounts of data due not only to the number of devices, but new apps coming to market daily. A carrier with a proposition to connect all devices, including Wi-Fi only devices, will provide valuable services that the consumer craves, and at a more affordable price. Consequently, large carriers are putting together compelling offers and propositions which will result in 2012 being the year that Wi-Fi roaming for the consumer will begin in a meaningful way.
The real jewel for a mobile operator offering an international Wi-Fi roaming proposition is to provide domestic customers with a proposition that their competitors do not offer. By differentiating with this capability, carriers are able to address the high value customers, the most critical to retain and attract. Bundling these domestic services in the right way delivers higher ARPU (average revenue per customer) and customer loyalty.
One European carrier forecasts that for every subscriber they have today in their entire base, by adding an International Wi-Fi roaming proposition they will recognize €9/subscriber per year. Extrapolating, a carrier with 10 million subscribers could potentially increase revenue by €90 million per year, a substantial amount for any company. Why wouldn’t a mobile operators take advantage of this lucrative business model?
WBA Panel: Using Wi-Fi to Maximize Coverage and Revenue >>
