As VDC prepares for publication of the Managed Services & Hosted Applications report in late May 2012, our team conducted a survey of IT decision makers regarding their firm’s perceptions and overall adoption of mobile managed services. Over 400 respondents across a range of vertical markets participated this survey, which yielded interesting findings. As the landscape of mobile managed services solutions and solution providers continues to evolve, study of respondents’ perceptions around these providers (e.g. SIs, OEMs, mobile ISVs, carriers) is one of the key objectives for our research of this market.
As shown in the chart below, VDC asked that respondents rate the importance of several key decision-making criteria in influencing their selection of a mobile managed services partner. While the market has seen numerous mobile ISVs (e.g. Airwatch, Zenprise, Mobile Active Defense) enter the market with compelling solutions to address evolving mobile requirements, we see many organizations favoring companies with whom they have already established a relationship – whether it be SIs, OEMs, or other vendor partners – to provide their organization mobile managed services. As mobility has yet to become central to many organizations’ strategies and IT departments’ areas of expertise, these respondents place a high degree of importance on the capacity of its mobile managed service provider to understand the full scope of their mobile initiatives. This fact yields a significant advantage for larger players in the mobile managed services market, as these organizations have already developed strong industry relationships, and may possess greater resources to address companies’ unique mobile requirements.