90% of U.S., U.K. IT Managers Plan to Deploy New Mobile Apps in 2011

Sybase survey finds that 21% look to introduce 20 or more mobile applications into their organization.

Sybase today released the results of a new survey by Kelton Research that found that this year, 90% of IT managers surveyed are planning to implement new mobile applications and nearly one in two believe that successfully managing mobile applications will top their priority list.

The online survey of 250 IT managers in the U.S. and U.K. at companies with revenues of $100 million or more found that 21% are looking to introduce 20 or more mobile applications into their organization. Almost half (45%) of respondents predict that implementing or managing the onslaught of mobile enterprise applications tops the priority list in the coming year, even over more common issues such as adhering to IT budgets. Also, 56% of IT managers consider customizing company information for mobile purposes a crucial part of conducting business and not just a "nice to have." In addition, more than eight in ten (84%) of those who feel this way work for companies that are flexible about the use of new mobile applications or devices.

Employee demand is fueling this interest at many companies: 50% of respondents say that employee demand is driving the adoption of new mobile applications. And 73% say that decision makers are flexible about incorporating new mobile applications and mobile devices into their organization.

These IT managers are thinking about cloud computing: 82% said they believe it would be beneficial to host more of their mobile applications in the cloud.

But despite the enthusiasm and flexibility shared by IT departments, many are currently not being strategic about mobility, the survey found. Almost half of respondents (46%) who do not have a mobile strategy in place did not expect to hire staff to specifically deal with their enterprise mobility strategy while nearly the same number of respondents (45%) admitted they did not have a plan or timeline in place.

Security is the largest concern for these managers. Respondents report that possible data security issues with mobile applications cause more problems (65%) than implementation (25%) or employee adoption hurdles (10%).