SOTI Research Shows Three in Four Organizations Need Operational Intelligence to Optimize their Mobile Fleet

Mississauga, CANADA – November 7, 2023 – New research from SOTI, Mobility in Motion: When Technology Transformation Meets Operational Intelligence, has highlighted a global gap in organizations that needs to be addressed to help them optimize their device management. Despite 91% adopting a form of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) or Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, a lack of features that deliver operational intelligence and enhance visibility is hindering productivity.  

Across several industries, device challenges, driven by a need to digitize and support increasingly remote and distributed workforces, have led organizations to seek better methods of optimizing and securing mobile devices and accelerating digital transformation goals.   

SOTI surveyed 3,650 IT professionals across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands and Australia. The research indicates that adoption of EMM/MDM solutions is widespread. Nearly half (48%) of all enterprises have mobility management support teams between six and 20 people. A third (33%) deploy teams of more than 20 staff. 

Despite this, businesses are still far from perfecting device management, with ineffective processes, lack of expertise and multiple choices limiting the potential utility and opportunity of EMM. Surprisingly, 73% of global organizations raised a need for better operational intelligence to measure business mobility performance, with 71% in need of better tools to diagnose issues and 74% of organizations requiring enhanced solutions to predict potential future issues. 

“It’s encouraging to see that many companies are incorporating some form of a mobility management solution into their digital transformation strategies. However, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Organizations are struggling to find the right path forward in leveraging operational intelligence to optimize their mobility performance. This solution is instrumental in making more informed decisions and pre-empting potential costly device failures that can lead to downtime,” said Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy at SOTI.  

“A comprehensive EMM can manage all mobility requirements including printers, enabling businesses to achieve end-to-end visibility over every aspect of device deployment,” continues Anand. “Organizations can easily identify issues, which in turn helps drive speed, control, cost-savings and security, to name a few benefits. This is now the next step for many of the organizations surveyed.”  

Printer Problems – A Prime Example of Device Mobility Challenges 

The role of a printer is changing and has evolved in recent years to enable remote label and receipt printing as a part of a more dynamic and critical logistics process. Globally, 94% of enterprises use a mobile or industrial printer, with a wide range of new and advanced devices now being deployed within organizations and larger printer fleets needing to be managed. 

The necessity for enhanced operational intelligence is apparent when it comes to printer management. Challenges highlighted in this survey included a lack of real-time centralized management to monitor the quantity and location of printers on the network (42%), and insufficient real-time information on printer settings and status (40%). This indicates that not all EMM and MDM solutions being utilized by organizations can manage printers as part of the mobile fleet. 

Over half of respondents (51%) indicated that a lack of tools for remote troubleshooting was their number one challenge for printer management. The consequence of this was that devices had to be physically returned to the IT team for diagnostics and repair, wasting time and resources.   

The Potential for Partners – Lack of Expert Guidance Hampers Digital Transformation Progress  

The research highlights several obstacles preventing organizations from achieving much-needed device visibility. Research found that 52% of businesses do not have budget to ensure real-time visibility of mobile devices. More than half of organizations (56%) admitted that an overall lack of awareness of potential options is holding their company back from reaching their digital transformation goals. The view of what is possible is often achieved in tandem with the partner network by assessing current systems, processes and plans in place, as a part of the digitalization journey. 

When asked about digital transformation more broadly, 41% of respondents confirmed that their organizations have already started the process but now require a partner who can help. An additional area of concern was voiced by 59% who agreed that their mobile device portfolio had grown to a point where it was difficult to manage, and they need more help than ever before. 

“A dedicated mobility management partner can set a business on the right path in many critical areas. Evolving an approach to digital transformation should be conducted with the most comprehensive EMM and MDM solutions and the most trusted partners. This way, the right strategy can be implemented holistically across the entire organization for sustained results,” concluded Anand. 

SOTI’s latest report, Mobility in Motion: When Technology Transformation Meets Operational Intelligence can be downloaded here. 

Report Methodology 

Using an online methodology, SOTI conducted 3,650 interviews with IT professionals (at experienced/professional level or above) working for organizations with 50+ employees across nine markets. All participants are aged 25 and over. Fieldwork was conducted from July 19 to July 31, 2023. The interviews are split as follows: U.S. (600 interviews), Canada (350 interviews), Mexico (350 interviews), UK (600 interviews), Germany (350 interviews), France (350 interviews), Sweden (350 interviews), Netherlands (350 interviews) and Australia (350 interviews). 

About SOTI  

SOTI is the world’s most trusted provider of mobile device management solutions, with more than 17,000 enterprise customers and millions of devices managed worldwide. SOTI’s innovative portfolio of solutions and services provides the tools organizations need to truly mobilize their operations and optimize their mobility investments. SOTI extends secure mobility management to provide an integrated solution to manage and secure all mobile devices and connected peripherals in an organization. For more information, visit soti.net. 

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