IDC: As mobile workforce grows, IT support could lag

Computerworld - The global mobile workforce is expected to grow by more than 20% in the next four years, with 878 million mobile workers toiling away on laptops, handhelds and cell phones by 2009, according to a recent study by IDC.
But as the number of mobile workers rises, the research firm is sounding an alarm that IT staffers assigned to support them may not be ready.
IT managers today often don't deal with the complexities associated with managing, securing and supporting handheld devices and applications for mobile workers. Current spending levels on software to provision mobile workers and support them once they are working has been less than robust, according to two analysts.
"Mobile management tools have made sense for IT to deploy for many, many years ... but only a small portion of companies are using them, because they don't want to spend the money," said Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn.
Tools to manage mobile devices remotely, make sure the software on them is updated and provide other support can cost $50 per user, he said. While installing the tools can "keep things operational and avoid unexpected costs with a bug or something else ... companies just wait until a train wreck before using them."
As a result, companies such as iAnywhere Solutions Inc. (now a subsidiary of Sybase Inc.), Intellisync Corp. and dozens of smaller vendors that offer mobile solutions have often "languished in the market, waiting to be acquired," he said.
One complicating factor, Dulaney said, is that virtual private networks (VPN), which are offered by hundreds of vendors, are proprietary and inefficient, meaning few companies use them.
IDC analyst Kevin Burden, one of the authors of the recent study, said interest in mobile support has increased as IT shops try to figure out what they should be doing.
"IT managers are starting to realize that mobile [technology] support is different from supporting a laptop in an office," Burden said. "IT departments have traditionally just wanted it to be easy and have been building mobile solutions piecemeal.
"Cost is the biggest barrier to providing mobile IT resources, since IT managers have demands coming from all over," he added. He argued that over-the-air support has to be given more consideration than it has received so far.

Sometimes, for instance, IT shops find that offering wireless e-mail is easy, Burden said -- but that doesn't necessarily hold true for other functions mobile workers need. "Staying connected on the road through e-mail and voice -- now,