Wireless expense management will be important as investments rise

In announcing its latest list of predictions for 2012, research firm IDC stated that the importance of enterprise mobility will be reflected in the higher spending companies have planned for the area next year. That also means that wireless expense management will take on an added focus, as organizations look to track the effectiveness of their investments.

According to IDC, overall IT spending is expected to reach $1.8 trillion globally in 2012, or about 6.9 percent higher than what companies invested this year. Investments in smartphones, media tablets, mobile networks, social networking and big data analytics will combine to account for 20 percent of that total.

Furthermore, spending on that same group of technologies will grow 18 percent annually during the next several years, ultimately accounting for 80 percent of all enterprise spending growth between this year and 2020, according to IDC.

These statistics demonstrate how important enterprise mobility has become for the average company. No longer is supporting the workforce with a mobile device management program a luxury. These days, the practice is necessary if a company is to keep pace with its competition, according to experts.

Whether they receive devices from their employers or bring smartphones and tablets from home, the number of employees now using mobile technologies on a daily basis has skyrocketed during the past several years. Judging by IDC's prediction, that trend will only continue in 2012 and beyond.

Other predictions made by the research firm include the fact that mobile devices are expected to surpass PCs in terms of shipments and spending next year for the first time. Similarly, revenue from mobile applications - with an expected 85 million downloads - will surpass that of the mainframe market, the report said. Spending on mobile networks will also overshadow investment in fixed line connectivity.

Such factors will combine to make 2012 the year mobile ascends to the top, as IDC called it.

Gartner also recently released a similar report that contained several important predictions for enterprise mobility during the next several years. By 2016, the company said, 50 percent of enterprise email users will access their accounts through a mobile device rather than a desktop platform. Also, projects for mobile app development will outnumber those for PCs by a count of four to one by 2015.