Study Finds Employees Expect Mobile Access to Enterprise Applications

May 05, 2009

OK Labs research reveals frustrated IT professionals and corporate end users have differing opinions on who should provide the solution

Chicago - May 5, 2009 - Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs), the leading provider of embedded virtualization software for mobile phones and broadband internet devices, today announced the results of its 2009 Mobile Access to Enterprise Applications Research report, which found corporate end users and IT professionals believe that mobile access to enterprise applications growth will outpace the growth of mobile email over the next two years. Although this type of access is typically provided through a secure virtualized environment managed by corporate IT departments, the study further illustrates that corporate users expect to access this data from their mobile handsets.

The study also found that corporate end users and IT professionals are frustrated with the usability of current enterprise application delivery solutions for mobile handsets. In fact, when it comes to mobile access to enterprise applications, the study shows that 76 percent of IT respondents believe that inadequate virtualization interfaces of mobile enterprise application delivery solutions is a barrier to adoption, and 15 percent of corporate end users describe virtualization interfaces provided by the carrier or handset manufacturer as difficult or impossible to use.

“One of the most significant outcomes of this survey is the realization that whoever – handset developers or carrier networks – is able to secure and deliver mobile access to enterprise applications with the right virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery interface will gain control of the enterprise market,” said Steve Subar, President and CEO of OK Labs.

Expected growth of virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery solutions

The survey found that respondents anticipate major growth of enterprise application solutions during the next two years. Although 62 percent of IT professionals believed access to corporate desktop applications was important two years ago, 84 percent project that it will be important in the next two years, a 22 percentage point increase. As a comparison there was only a nine percent growth in mobile email over the same period expected by IT professionals.

In fact, only four percent of IT professionals don’t think it will be important to have access to corporate desktop applications in the next two years. Such overwhelming numbers demonstrate the potential for a booming mobile enterprise application delivery and mobile virtualization market.

Mobile enterprise application delivery expected on handsets, not just laptops

Surprisingly, there is little difference between the desired functionality of laptops and of mobile phones among corporate users. Seventy percent of respondents say it is important to have access to corporate applications from a laptop, and about the same amount of respondents (67 percent) report they want the same available on their mobile handset.

In addition, 87 percent of IT leaders surveyed report it is critical that mobile workers have access to enterprise applications that are delivered to their mobile phone, including mobile access to corporate desktop applications, access to corporate servers and mobile access to corporate databases.

“New mobile handsets must be designed to provide the functionality that consumers expect with laptops,” said Subar. “Embedded engineers and device manufacturers must provide out-of-the-box virtualization solutions that work with enterprise networks.”

IT professionals and corporate end users differ on who should provide the solutions

Although corporate end users and IT professionals believe the mobile virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery market will exponentially grow, they have opposing views about who should provide the virtualization solution.

  • Twenty-six percent of corporate end users believe a virtualization solution needs to be provided by the carrier, and 18 percent believe the solution should be provided by the handset manufacturers.
  • In contrast, 31 percent of IT professionals say the solution needs to be provided by the handset manufacturer, while 18 percent believe it should be provided by the carrier network.

Ninety percent of IT respondents report that if better mobile enterprise application delivery features were available, it would impact their organization’s choice of carrier or handset manufacturer. Corporate end users appear to be at the mercy of enterprise IT contracts with carriers, as only 56 percent report the same. However, the research demonstrates carriers could increase their subscriber base by providing new mobile enterprise application delivery solutions to enterprise organizations.

Sharp conflict about virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery interface preferences

Both IT professionals and corporate end users say available mobile virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery interfaces are inadequate. However, they have opposite opinions about what the mobile enterprise application delivery solution should look like.

  • Forty-five percent of IT professionals prefer a web-based mobile enterprise application delivery interface, while one out of five report they prefer a desktop-like virtualization interface for their mobile device.
  • In contrast, 45 percent of corporate end users prefer a desktop-like virtualization interface and a third (30 percent) want a web-based mobile enterprise application delivery interface.

Corporate end users do not believe they have an effective desktop-like solution. Thirty-eight percent of corporate end users describe their IT department as behind the times in providing remote access of desktop applications, documents, databases, and other corporate data, including CRM information.

“End users are looking for more intuitive ways to get access to their corporate desktops and applications from mobile devices. This has only become more important with the introduction of improved user interfaces like that on the iPhone,” said Martin Duursma, Vice President, Citrix Labs. “We continue to work with our enterprise customers to provide an attractive, intuitive interface for users to access their data and applications from any device, whether it be a laptop, corporate desktop, or mobile device. Our virtualization solutions have consistently met customer expectations for the mobile workforce and are easy to manage for IT professionals.”

Perceptions of what is available, mobile enterprise application delivery interfaces and availability hinder adoption

Although there are current solutions often included in phones, they are not always enabled for end users by carriers, handset manufacturers or corporate IT departments. In addition, some solutions may not have a rich user interface. The survey reflects perceptions from IT professionals and corporate end users that show a lack of understanding of what is available.

This lack of understanding is reflected in perceptions highlighted in the survey about what is considered by IT professionals and corporate IT as large barriers to adoption. Three-quarters of IT respondents attribute lack of adequate virtualization solutions as the biggest barrier to adopting mobile virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery. Seventy-six percent of IT respondents say current mobile virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery interfaces are inadequate. Approximately the same amount – 77 percent – say the lack of management tools hurt their ability to adopt current solutions.

Although recent concept demonstrations that show devices running multiple operating systems have received much attention, the end result is typically not user friendly, intuitive, or very useful. More user-friendly embedded virtualizations – some that are already in the market on mobile handsets – allow for a more robust and friendly virtualization interface that is seamless and unnoticeable to the end user.

Only six percent of corporate end users say that current mobile enterprise application delivery interfaces are “intuitive” to use. An overwhelming three-quarters (76 percent) of corporate end users say they would consider purchasing their own solution and managing the device without their IT departments sanction if a more intuitive mobile enterprise application delivery interface were available. Nearly half (46 percent) say they are likely to do so.

In fact, nine out of ten (88 percent) IT professionals say they would switch to a different carrier or change handsets in order to provide access to a better mobile virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery interface, again showing a large market opportunity for carriers and handset developers.

Security and management considerations and other recommendations

Surprisingly, 12 percent of corporate end users want to manage their own devices and solutions as opposed to the view by IT professionals that three percent of end users should. While this is currently a security risk, allowing end users to “bring their own device” (BYOD) and manage their own solutions could result in exponential cost savings for organizations.

In either case, IT professionals and corporate end users realize security must be built in to mobile handsets and mobile enterprise application delivery solutions. In fact, only 11 percent of IT respondents are neutral or unconcerned about a security breach into their networks caused by a mobile device.

OK Labs believes semiconductor manufacturers, handset OEMs, and carriers can do more to provide a better solution for mobile professionals in the enterprise. The company makes the following recommendations:

  • Semiconductor manufacturers can provide OEMs with a microkernel-based virtualization environment and rich application stack that can work with any operating system. Doing so would allow carriers, handset OEMs and other developers to create more secure and user-friendly applications, and customize the mobile virtualization and mobile enterprise application delivery interface for enterprise use. Providing such a complete solution is especially important to drive innovation in the current economic environment.
  • Handset manufacturers and carriers can provide secure access to the corporate network by using a secure microvisor as the base of a virtualized mobile enterprise application delivery solution.
  • Moving forward, enterprise customers should only select mobile phones from handset OEMs that provide secure virtualized environments to contain and protect corporate information. Within these secure virtualized environments, these handsets should also provide a built-in capability to enable intuitive enterprise application delivery access to the widest possible set of enterprise applications.

About the 2009 Mobile Access to Enterprise Applications Research Report

The 2009 Mobile Access to Enterprise Applications Research report is a study commissioned by Open Kernel Labs to highlight business trends regarding enterprise application virtualization. Conducted by independent market research firm Applied Research West in February 2009, the study polled more than 500 IT professionals and corporate end users from the United States and United Kingdom to gain insight and understanding into some of the more complicated factors associated with mobile enterprise application delivery and virtualization for mobile devices from the view of IT professionals and corporate end users.

Open Kernel Labs

Open Kernel Labs is the global leader in open source virtualization software for mobile devices, consumer electronics and embedded systems. Backed by the largest, independent team of microkernel developers, the OKL4 microvisor is deployed on more than 300 million mobile phones worldwide. Chipset suppliers, handset OEMs, and mobile network operators depend on OK Labs to deliver high performance solutions that decrease BOM cost, reduce complexity and speed time-to-market.

For information on the OK Community, please visit the Community Portal at www.ok-labs.com/community/community-portal. Participants can join the Developer's Mailing List at http://www.ok-labs.com/community/mailing-list-signup.

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Open Kernel Labs, OK Labs, OKL4 and Secure HyperCell are trademarks or registered trademarks of Open Kernel Labs or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Chris Walker
Connect Public Relations
(801) 373-7888
chrisw@connectpr.com

Marti Konstant
Open Kernel Labs
(312) 933-0101
marti@ok-labs.com

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