By Ryan Niemann
With the explosive growth of handheld devices and their use by mobile professionals, today's enterprises face the unique challenge of providing remote connectivity between their users and the critical information found in corporate enterprise systems. There are no "do-it-all" mobile applications. The needs of enterprise business users vary widely. But PDA applications for individuals remain relatively constant. While on the move, individual users generally need access to PIM (Personal Information Management), such as personal and professional contacts, calendar, databases, and email.
Communication demands drive mobile email
The demands placed on personal productivity have reduced the communication cycles from days to minutes. A good example is the communication expectations with phone calls and voice mail. It was only a few years ago that the accepted time to respond to a phone call was a day or more. Mobile phones and services like Direct Connect have facilitated the need and expectation for immediacy. This holds true for email communications. It was only a few years ago that the accepted time to respond to corporate email was a day or more (if you even had email). Today that is obviously not the case any longer.
Whether company sponsored or acquired for personal productivity, using their Palm handheld as a mobile PIM is typically a starting point for many mobile enterprise users. Where it was unheard-of for an employee to purchase a desktop computer to increase personal productivity, it's now common for enterprise users to purchase an affordable PDA and routinely manage corporate data and email. This is only made easier by wireless carriers introducing consumer available tools and related devices that augment corporate email in an effort to reduce churn (switching carriers) and increase ARPU (Average Revenue Per User).
New challenges for IT managers
The introduction of unsupported services and PDAs to the enterprise has many IT managers scrambling for solutions that address new security and support challenges. Many technologies have only rudimentary security facilities, and obvious security weaknesses such as eavesdropping are not addressed. Plus, the storage capacity of many mobile devices can rival a laptop (especially now that Palm handhelds include an SD slot), allowing users to easily store volumes of critical pricing, client contact, and detailed product information that can be lost or stolen. In fact, Gartner Research reported over 250,000 mobile devices are lost in airports alone each year.
