Evolving to a mobile enterprise platform

Security angst

"The current fragmented nature of the mobile email ecosystem does not always facilitate the simplest route to enterprise mobility deployment and poses a challenge to mobile email service providers," Clement said. "This issue will be exacerbated by organisations' growing demands for more complex applications and solutions."

For most providers, the biggest challenge in mobility continues to be security. Fears of data loss through theft, company espionage or lost items are big stumbling blocks. Users are also recognising that data is more valuable than the hardware. HP commercial notebooks business development manager, Jerel Chong, claimed corporates were losing about 70 notebooks a month just in cabs.

"It's like leaving your keys behind, and giving hackers a chance to get into the network," he said.

Another concern is what happens to data stored on a laptop after its lease term has expired.

"Will the user feel confident the data is cleared off?" Chong said. Despite these problems, he argued users shouldn't be afraid of mobility because there'd been a stack of security advancements improving notebook reliability and use. These come in the form of biometrics and smart card readers, device access manager (which locks off USB ports from being used as storage links); hard drive encryption (which ensures the hard drive is linked to the individual user); and a privacy filter (which limits the viewable angle of a notebook).

Toshiba's Whittard agreed users could feel a little more at ease with the availability of tools like unique ID and bundled insurance on enterprise notebooks.

"There's nervousness around security and wireless, but the reality is if everything is done correctly, than it can be more secure than a wired environment," he said. "There's a lot more capability on the security front, and a host of wireless encryption protocols."

Fujitsu PC technical manager, David Niu, said resellers could play a pivotal role in ensuring a company's security policy isn't too stringent, and instead deploy a safe, workable model.

"If it's too stringent, then the ongoing maintenance costs will be higher," he said. Microsoft's Vista operating system would also help users take advantage of improvements in data encryption, password handling and certificate validation, he said.

Additionally, concerns stemming from a lack of control and out-of-sight/out-of-mind angst are being addressed with technology advancements in remote management tools, Whittard said.

"The management of mobility is getting easier, and more and more people are becoming mobile literate," he said.

Spectra's Bowker said the lack of control stems from giving users too much access.

"It's not so much the data that's insecure, but new users getting access to systems and the business workflow doesn't control it," he said.

Adding to this argument, Dexterra Asia-Pacific mobile solutions director, Brett Mackie, said enforcing business policy was a major concern when relying on a mobility model.

"Many organisations hold back on utilising mobile technology because they think there are either too many risks or a plethora of hoops they have to jump through to keep their data safe," he said. Organisations need to ensure their mobile workers are educated about the benefits and use of the device to have a high level of user adoption. Dexterra's approach is to help companies look to the future and add applications and data depending on what stage they are at, rather than mobilising single applications.

"Enterprise mobility is not using a BlackBerry to send an email or just a simple add-on to an existing IT system," he said.

Mackie said mobility technology is mature, real and tangible. Many organisations are starting to see enterprise mobility as bringing enormous gains to the business by streamlining processes, eliminating paper and reducing the complexity and delay of doing business outside the four walls of the office. Hardware advancements in the ultra mobile PC front was also fuelling demand and generating interest in enterprise mobility.

For the folks at Jackel, improved productivity and administrative cost savings are leading the marketing campaign on going mobile. For them, the technology is letting field reps develop strong relationships with the 2500 pharmacies that produce 90 per cent of its sales, Hancock said.