Mobility Readiness Index of Asian companies

Posted on | July 28, 2006 |

Companies in Bangkok and Singapore are the most ready to mobilize their businesses, according to a recent study conducted by independent research house Saffron Hill.

The Nokia sponsored study surveyed key business and IT decision makers across 300 companies in Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

These included questions about the organization’s usage of mobile applications such as mobile e-mail and calendar, distribution of mobile devices to employees, supporting infrastructure and device management and security policies.

Saffron Hill collated the data to plot each company’s rating or what Nokia coins, “Mobility Readiness Index” that indicates the awareness and intention to adopt a mobility strategy.

Bangkok emerged with the highest level of readiness, at a mean score of 225, followed by Singapore at 193 and Bangalore at 170.

However, Nalappan noted, the companies’ readiness to go mobile did not always correspond directly to how well they had executed a mobility strategy.

None of the 50 respondents in New Delhi have implemented policies to manage mobile devices in their company, even though 58% have made at least two mobile applications available to their staff.

In other countries 82% view security as a key concern when they purchase enterprise mobility tools. In India only 32%–the lowest percentage–see security as a key concern, where 55% view best connection as the most important component.

The three most-used mobile applications among respondents are:

• Mobile e-mail (58%)
• Mobile calendar and contact (47%)
• Access to intranet (42%)

Other key findings, across all four countries, include:

• 21 percent currently do not provide employees access to mobile applications
• 81 percent have installed antivirus software on the mobile devices
• 45 percent plan to increase mobile device purchases for their employees
• 92 percent use password protection
• 56 percent have security policies, while only 13.3 percent have policies to manage mobile devices
• 43 percent allow employees to work from home
• 74 percent recognize importance of providing employee training for mobile tools

Source: ZDNet India

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