15 September 2015

Eighty per cent of software policies fail to include mobile applications, according to research by Snow Software. The Sweden-based software asset management specialist says this is despite the fact that 67 per cent of organisations are using apps for business purposes.

While mobile IT offers huge potential to improve workforce productivity, Snow says it also brings with it significant challenges for enterprise IT. 

In a survey conducted at its annual user forum in London, the company found that 97 per cent provide their employees with smartphones or tablets for business use. 

When considered alongside Microsoft’s recent findings that suggest 60 per cent of employees use personal devices for work, Snow reckons it is clear that the transition to enterprise mobility introduces new issues for IT to consider.

Alan Giles, the firm’s mobility business unit manager, says organisations that don’t consider apps as part of their wider software policies may miss out on cost savings and are increasingly likely to incur unbudgeted indirect usage charges. 

“Organisations need the ability to provide their mobile users with access to pre-approved, managed applications in order to avoid potential compliance issues,” says Giles. “This access to pre-approved applications should be available to users of corporate or privately owned devices, and should be intuitive enough that provisioning and download can be performed by the end user.” 

He adds that organisations are now consuming software on many different devices and end users are no longer reliant on desktop IT and the accompanying business software. 

As a result, Giles believes IT needs to be able to manage the provisioning, licensing and consumption of software on any platform for any user, wherever they may be.

Citing data from Gartner, Snow says 40 per cent of contact with the IT service desk will be related to smartphones and tablets by 2018.