Enterprise mobility has become increasingly complex to manage with the advent of smart devices and changing user behavior. Both the financial (mobility expenditures) and IT (device management) aspects have become increasingly complex and have to be carefully managed.
While mobile operators clearly can add value and the large global operators are already doing so with their large corporate clients, what is less clear is how operators can address the rest of the market in Asia.
Corporates face the challenge of managing the increased complexity that smart devices bring. With these devices connecting to the corporate network and accessing the enterprise’s servers and applications, they are akin to full-fledged PC/computers and require the same level of management in all aspects – from administration, application management, data and systems security and user support.
These devices are increasingly used for media consumption and entertainment, coupled with the BYOD and cloud computing trends, which means that the likelihood of embedded malware and compromised corporate data security also increases.
In terms of mobility expenditure, per-employee spending may be several orders of magnitude higher than before with more usage variability. This, therefore, needs careful scrutiny and management to identify spend leakages as well as prevent expenses from spiralling out of control.
Enterprise mobility management (EMM) is a framework consisting of financial management and device management. Within each focus areas are specific disciplines that require specific and unique levels of attention.
One is financial management, which is concerned with the management and control of mobility expenditures across the enterprise. Corporate finance departments will need to use technology-based tools and industry best practices to track mobile spend data and aid spend analysis to bring visibility and cost savings to this complex and voluminous corporate expense.