80 per cent of software policies overlook mobile apps

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Some 80% of software policies fail to include mobile applications despite the fact that 67% of organisations are using apps for business purposes, according to new research from Snow Software, the leading developer of Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions for both end user organisations and service providers.

The survey, conducted at Snow's annual User Forum in London, highlights the necessity for Enterprise Mobility Management and Software Asset Management policies to address the challenge of acquiring, distributing, and tracking mobile applications in the workplace.

While mobile IT offers huge potential to improve workforce productivity, it also brings with it significant challenges for enterprise IT. The survey revealed that 97% of surveyed organisations provide their employees with smartphones or tablets for business use. When considered alongside Microsoft's recent findings that suggest 60% of employees use personal devices for work, it is clear that the transition to enterprise mobility introduces new issues for IT to consider.

"Organisations that don't consider apps as part of their wider software policies may miss out on cost savings and are increasingly likely to incur unbudgeted indirect usage charges. Organisations need the ability to provide their mobile users with access to pre-approved, managed applications in order to avoid potential compliance issues. This access to pre-approved applications should be available to users of corporately or privately owned devices, and should be intuitive enough that provisioning and download can be performed by the end user." said Alan Giles, Mobility Business Unit Manager, Snow Software.

"Organisations are now consuming software on many different devices and end users are no longer reliant on desktop IT and the accompanying business software. IT needs to be able to manage the provisioning, licensing and consumption of software on any platform for any user, wherever they may be" Giles added.

By 2018, Gartner predicts that 40% of contact with the IT service desk will be related to smartphones and tablets*. With 57% of Snow respondents noting that they personally use apps for at least an hour of the working day, organisations need to find an approach to better manage the use and

Snow Software recently extended its optimisation capabilities to include mobile devices with the acquisition of Stockholm-based Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) technology developer, The Institution, to enable organisations to manage devices, corporate content and applications in a consistent manner. Snow Device Manager will help deliver business enablement and in releasing higher levels of productivity when implementing mobile working.