Many Australian businesses and organisations are playing catch up when it comes to implementing a business mobility platform, according to a new report from VMware which found that, globally, businesses taking a digital workspace first approach are experiencing significant business, operational, and financial benefits – while those that wait are falling behind.
According to the 2016 State of the Digital Workplace report from VMware, only 68% of Australian businesses identified as a digital enterprise compared with 80% globally.
But, VMware says the responses indicate that Australian businesses are now actively catching up with other markets in the digitisation of their enterprise.
VMware notes that globally, organisations taking a digital workspace-first approach are aggregating devices, applications and services while securely managing them through unified common access and identity.
{loadposition peter}Dave Grant, vice-president, product marketing, end-user computing, VMware, says respondents acknowledged that game-changing IT relies on organisations adopting a digital workspace that includes security and identity management as vital components.
He says that with realistic prospects of achieving astounding return on investment (ROI), even businesses that cited obstacles to adoption may want to consider taking another look at business mobility initiatives.
“As we enter 2017, the industry is moving into the next phase of enterprise mobility where businesses have to deliver access to applications and resources to end-users, customers and partners using any connected device in any location,” Grant says.
“The State of the Digital Workspace Report shows that business and IT leaders recognise the significant tangible benefits digital workspaces can offer to an organisation. The guiding principle of consumer simple and enterprise secure applied to VMware’s digital workspace solution, VMware Workspace ONE, delivers a simple and secure platform that can help customers in any industry with their digital transformation journey.”
Key findings of the survey include:
• ROI from business mobility investments averaged 150% overall;
• 41% of IT and business decision makers saw improvements in total management costs after successfully executing on digital workspace efforts;
• That said, only 30% of their non-executing peers realised improvements; and
• 39% of decision-makers realised cost improvements to support end–users after embracing digital workspaces (compared to 23% among those that did not).
Grant says the survey showed that businesses can introduce new revenue streams faster:
• Nearly half of organisations (48%) that have successfully executed mobility initiatives saw improvements in their ability to more rapidly introduce new revenue streams, compared to 34% among organisations that have not executed a single initiative.
• Among those organisations executing 10 or more business mobility initiatives, 52% saw improvements in their ability to more rapidly bring new revenue streams online.
• Meanwhile, among the organisations executing fewer than five mobility initiatives, only 38% saw improvements.
Concerns about security were top of mind among executives, according to Grant, who said that nearly half of executives (45%) surveyed viewed a digital workspace solution that includes the necessary elements of security and compliance tools, mobile device management software, and identity management as a way to address compliance and security risks.
In particular, 43% of financial services leaders pointed to identity management software as a necessary element in the financial services segment, Grant concluded.