WIRELESS GOES VERTICAL

We have all heard that enterprises are adopting wireless data solutions as fast as they can show a clear ROI. But few people to date have looked at the behavior of individual vertical markets, mainly because until recently there have not been sufficient numbers of users to realize any trends. In the last few years, iGillottResearch has conducted numerous studies to show clear trends and draw significant conclusions about how specific vertical markets use wireless solutions.

In May 2004, we conducted our annual Enterprise IT Manager survey, asking about the use of wireless and mobile solutions in companies with more than 1000 employees. Since completing this study, we have fielded similar surveys of small businesses.

Some of the biggest users of wireless and data solutions are companies in the finance and insurance industries. In fact, we believe more companies within this vertical are using wireless services than those who are not. Some of the findings for the finance and insurance industries' use of wireless include:

• Wireless WAN usage in finance and insurance is clearly outpacing wireless LAN deployments, although most companies are using both types of wireless networks

• Nearly three quarters said the mobile workers in their companies either use or will soon use public Wi-Fi services

• The most commonly used applications among finance and insurance respondents are: access to personal information management, e-mail and LAN-based data

• Two thirds of respondents said their companies purchased devices for their mobile workers

• The top two security concerns among respondents were the security of the corporate network and the security of the data being transmitted to and from the device

• And the big business justification for using wireless? Thirty-eight percent of respondents said “more responsive service” was the primary benefit. Another 25% said “eliminating decision bottlenecks” was the main reason for the rollout.

Clearly, the fact that most companies surveyed are buying mobile devices for their employees indicates the IT manager is the end user, not the customer. And the majority responding to the survey also said they were managing the devices centrally.

So while the mobile workers may be out of the office a lot of the time and are using a range of applications, the industry should be paying more attention to the IT managers and their needs: device management, security and developing applications that aid decision-making and improve customer service.

DOSSIER IAIN GILLOTT

Occupation: Wireless industry analyst and founder of iGillottResearch

Location: Austin, Texas

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