[Exclusive stats on] how companies are putting BYOD to work - Read this!

[Exclusive stats on] how companies are putting BYOD to work:
This guest post is written by Amit Pandey, CEO of Zenprise, a mobile device management company.
Today, people take for granted that they can check their work email on their smartphone on the road.
Three-quarters of companies allow employees to use personal devices at work and Gartner predicts that number will rise to 90% by 2014. Forward-thinking businesses are starting to see that the devices they once considered a liability can actually be assets that have the potential to increase productivity, expand service offerings and cut costs. The era of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and mobile device management is here.
With this article, I’m releasing a study (see below) that highlights key trends of the BYOD movement, based on the latest usage of its mobile device management product Zencloud.  Here’s a summary of our key findings for the latest quarter, ending Sept 30:

• iPads lead the BYOD movement – and are driving mobile enterprise management market growth. iOS is winning the platform war, and the iPad makes up 57 percent of deployed iOS devices in Zencloud.

• Although iOS leads, Android is dominating in certain vertical industries – namely transportation, healthcare, utilities and telco.

• Mobile management is moving to apps and content, not just devices. Organizations whitelisted 50 percent and blacklisted 39 percent more apps than last quarter. Skype, Citrix, Evernote, Facebook and Dropbox are the most whitelisted and blacklisted apps.

• GPS policies grew more than 60 percent.

So what’s driving all of this? Well, with mobile devices in hand, workers are setting the stage for the second generation of enterprise mobility — beyond just the checking of email, and toward more proactive use of mobile technology. Rather than fighting the consumerization of the enterprise, managers can use it to their advantage and put devices in line-of-business work processes. This is where the real innovation from BYOD is occurring.
At Zenprise, we’re seeing our customers leverage mobile in powerful ways. I have broken the mobile-to-work scenarios into four categories to illustrate the business process innovation now possible:
More Functionality
With BYOD, many companies are adding flexibility and functionality to their business processes with minimal effort. The remote aspect of mobile devices can be particularly handy. For example, GPS systems provide location-based data and can offer the ability for real-time decisions. This capability lends itself well to more agile and efficient inventory management. Smart organizations are having workers manage inventory in a warehouse with mobile devices that can provide instant updates, instead of doing this manually later. This means improved accuracy, shorter response times, streamlined workflow and increased productivity, as well as fewer trees consumed.
Customer Service
Many companies are putting mobile devices directly in the hands of their customers. For example, some restaurants are letting diners select their meals on iPads and send the order wirelessly to the kitchen. And a major drugstore chain has installed iPads in the aisles so shoppers can easily search for information on products and sales and even figure out where items are located in the store. These use cases prove that mobile offers a powerful new way for businesses to improve the customer experience through more personalized service and faster response times.
Custom Apps
Other enterprises are creating their own custom apps and app stores for employees to use on their mobile devices. In one example, an international air freight company distributes specialized mission-critical apps to flight crews using Android-based Samsung Galaxy tablets. Not only does this allow the headquarters to manage crew schedules in real-time, but it means employees don’t have to lug around thick paper manuals with FAA guides, flight schedules and other vital information. In addition, the maker of the Titleist golf brand has created its own mobile app catalog for sales reps to consult customers on the road. Some 80% of companies are planning to deploy customer-facing mobile apps within the next 12 months, with more than half of the apps geared toward mission critical functions, according to our Zenprise survey.
Built for speed
Customer satisfaction is improved with speed. At one national restaurant chain, hosts and wait staff are using iPads to check guests in, optimize seating and speed table turnover and take orders. The devices are also being used to train cooks and update recipes and menus. In U.S. hospitals, iPads are replacing cumbersome computers-on-wheels, allowing nurses and doctors to view charts and update medical records from anywhere. At a luxury resort hotel valets are using iPods to scan tickets with barcodes to locate parked cars more quickly. Wait times have gone from 20 minutes during peak hours to as little as a few minutes.
In a recent Zenprise survey, 23% reported a hard return on their investment for their mobile initiatives, with those reaping monetary rewards reporting they got $1.67 back for every dollar spent on average. Besides increased revenue, other benefits include employee empowerment, competitive differentiation and the ability to offer new services for customers.
Regardless of whether you love it or hate it, BYOD is likely to hit your business hard. Forrester Research predicts that within three years, IT departments will actually expect workers to bring their own mobile technology.
See below for more on the state of the industry.

Filed under: Cloud, Enterprise, Mobile