MobileIron’s 2013 Mobile Enterprise Report, which polled 477 IT executives worldwide, found that 57% thought their mobile data roaming costs would rise in 2013, with 8% saying they’ll rise more than 25%.
The top two sources of frustration were onboarding and then supporting the increasing number and variety of personal devices, far outranking even security concerns. The survey also found that IT is increasingly losing control of mobility budgets as departments assume greater responsibility for mobile initiatives. The number of enterprises in which IT manages the mobility spend has dropped to 48%, down from 53% in 2011. One in four of companies’ mobility budgets are now managed by non-IT departments.
“IT is charged with implementing solutions to boost employee productivity, and BYOD does that.
But as more personal mobile devices with multiple platforms and operating systems are used for work, IT managers are challenged to safeguard corporate data and keep roaming costs low. And when mobility budgets are managed by departments rather than IT, data roaming costs can be hard to control,” said Barbara Nelson, chief technology officer, iPass.
When asked about rising data costs, 44% of IT managers named the growing number of devices per mobile worker as a factor; 41% highlighted pricey 3G (and 4G) data plans; and 22% pointed to an increase in the number of mobile workers as major cost culprits. On average, IT departments spend $96 a month on data fees alone for each mobile worker.
North American mobile workers rack up the highest fees ($97/mo), exposing the expense of mobile broadband. Since free Wi-Fi is abundant in North America, these fees primarily reflect non-Wi-Fi forms of mobility, such as 3G and 4G.
