Mobility Service Market

A new research report from Frost & Sullivan finds that “being under-penetrated, the enterprise mobility market in India displays enormous growth potential. Companies are deploying enterprise mobility solutions to enable better accessibility for their employees and enhance customer care services. Enterprise mobile users are realizing the significance of being able to access mission critical or operational data and information from any location and at any time. Apart from enabling faster turnaround, quick decision making, and higher efficiency, it can also help to ratchet down operational costs. Owing to these and other multiple benefits, the enterprise mobility market is poised for a robust growth.”
The report also finds that the market earned revenues of over Rs 346.1 crore in FY 2008-09, and estimates this to reach Rs 1,880.7 crore in FY 2015-16.
The enterprise mobility scenario in India is very healthy and is at par with global trends. The area which held India back for sometime was mobile data, bandwidth and costs, but with the emergence of new technologies like 3G, WiMax, lower cost of smart devices and rapid increase in the adoption of smartphones, Android, Blackberry, iPhones, etc, India is looking at the benefits of enterprise mobility. As the competition is heating up, Indian enterprises are forced to unlock further efficiencies using mobility.
“The emergence of 3G and WiMax is likely to further accelerate market momentum,” says Lavanya Palani Batcha, senior research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. “With the growing number of high-end affordable mobile devices possessing features such as high storage capacity and greater operating system speed, it is anticipated that this will trigger interest among enterprise mobile users.”
Realizing the potential of enterprise mobility in the Indian market, companies like Motorola, Verizon, etc, are very bullish in this space. New technologies like iPad, mobile CRM are set to revolutionize the enterprise mobility market. Enterprises in India are aware of the benefits of enterprise mobility. They understand the value of anytime, anywhere access to corporate data from any location and its competitive advantages. The promising growth of mobile Internet is also boosting the growth of enterprise mobility in India.
Although the overall outlook looks bright, some roadblocks are preventing the market from touching new heights. Considering that highly confidential and sensitive corporate data is being made accessible through public networks, security concerns have come to the fore. Threats from email borne viruses, spam, and device theft are some of the more significant security concerns.
Cost has also been a limiting factor for the adoption of high-end phones. High investments in terms of infrastructure, enterprise servers, and license fees have deterred several enterprises from adopting these solutions. However, faced with declining average revenue per user (ARPU), telecommunication service providers are exploring various avenues including value added services (VAS) to stem the decline.
Device compatibility is another pertinent issue surrounding handsets. Applications that can run on one handset are unlikely to run on another. To address this concern, applications must offer compatibility with any handset. The lack of awareness on the advantages offered by enterprise mobility is another stumbling block for the market growth.
Stakeholders in the enterprise mobility market ecosystem such as telecommunication service providers must unleash aggressive awareness campaigns to promote their offerings. Targeting specific enterprise verticals and offering bundled solutions customized to the needs of a particular enterprise would guarantee successful business outcomes.
Going forward, demand is expected to stem from models, which have deeper engagement and add direct value to the enterprise business. In India, core business applications that include sales force automation (SFA), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM) hold huge promise for the future. The furious pace of market expansion underpins the requirement for up scaling handset technology and applications. This can be achieved by active collaboration between handset manufacturers and application service providers.