New Zealand organisations less mature in using mobility

New global research from Unisys shows that New Zealand enterprises are less mature than their global counterparts in embracing mobility as a core part of their business and IT strategies, with the majority focused on using mobility for internal business processes rather than for customer-facing procedures or revenue generation.

To explore how enterprises use mobility to drive successful business outcomes, Unisys commissioned IDG Connect to survey 449 business and IT decision makers, across 13 countries, including 51 decision makers in New Zealand.

The research found that most organisations have mobility strategies in place. However, just 21 percent globally, and only 10 percent in New Zealand, place themselves in the most mature mobility category. This group of “Mobile Trendsetters” is characterised as having a defined mobility strategy that drives the technology roadmap, tracks success metrics, has mobility-related policies in place, and has integrated mobility into overall enterprise governance.

The majority of organisations globally, and in New Zealand, are either “Mobile Enabled” with strategies and policies in place but no proactive governance or “Mobile Aware” with pockets of mobile initiatives and some policies in place but no overall strategy or governance. However, New Zealand organisations are also twice as likely as the global average to be on the bottom of the maturity scale – in the “Mobile Void” category – with no strategy, policies or governance.

“In the four years that Unisys has conducted market research into enterprise mobility, we have seen the discussion mature from simply what types of devices to deploy and whether to support a BYO approach, to how to use mobile strategies and technology to develop new products and services, improve employee productivity, deliver better customer/citizen service, and generate new revenue opportunities,” said Steve Griffin, country manager, Unisys New Zealand.

“New Zealand organisations were early adopters of mobile devices and were quick to start mobile-enabling some enterprise applications. However, our research and our discussions with many New Zealand enterprises have found that they have not yet moved beyond those early stages to embrace mobility as a core part of their business strategies. Only 37 percent of Kiwi organisations have implemented a mobility roadmap driven by business strategy compared to more than half (52 percent) of Mobile Trendsetters,” Mr Griffin said.

The research found that more mature organisations are more likely to be focused on achieving gains beyond employee productivity by also focusing on external initiatives such as CRM, customer/citizen service and new revenue opportunities. They are also more likely to be using mobile solutions to:

• Redefine business processes by allowing mobile access to information
• Enhance existing products with mobile capabilities
• Create new customer channels and enhance customer interactions
• Lower customer acquisition costs
• Create new products/services or revenue streams enabled or enhanced by mobile access

The research reveals that Mobile Trendsetters are also more mature when it comes to measuring the business outcomes of their mobility programs. They are more likely to implement metrics to measure the outcomes of their mobility programs. Sixty-five percent of Mobile Trendsetters say that they use a formal, technology-enabled process to measure return on investment, whereas just 14 percent of New Zealand respondents report doing the same.

Organisations that classify themselves as Mobile Trendsetters say they have had a higher return on their investments in mobility strategies and programs than New Zealand organisations:

• 79 percent of Mobile Trendsetters say that their organisations have been able to measure a return on investment (ROI) for mobility vs. only 38 percent of New Zealand respondents. This ROI includes hard cost savings and revenue increases as well as softer benefits such as increased productivity and customer satisfaction.
• 84 percent of Mobile Trendsetters report an increase in productivity over the past year through their mobility programs vs. 46 percent of New Zealand respondents. The productivity gains cited include speed to market, cost reduction, increased hourly output and more efficient processes.
• 75 percent of Mobile Trendsetter respondents say that mobility created or enabled new sources of revenue for their organisations in 2013, compared to 4 percent of New Zealand organisations.

“New Zealand organisations need to take the lead from the mature Mobile Trendsetters by using a mobile business strategy to drive their IT roadmap and measuring mobility ROI qualitatively and quantitatively,” Mr Griffin explained.