The Growth of Mobile IT

Increasing end-user demand is making enterprise IT go mobile, the 5th biggest tech trend of 2011, says Baseline research.

Mobility, remote user access and telecommuting continue to show remarkable levels of employee-driven deployment. Of the organizations that took part in our study, 27 percent say they are seeing significant end-user demand for these technologies -- more than any of the other 45 trends we tested. Though the pace of adoption for telepresence (virtual video-based meetings) is almost the same this year as it was last year, both wireless networking (for building, campus and remote-office connectivity) and all forms of mobility should have strong growth in 2011.

Fordham University in New York has made mobile-initiative expansion one of its top priorities, says CIO and Vice President Frank Sirianni. There’s a challenge to fulfill disparate communications needs for a number of separate communities that a university supports, and enhanced mobile solutions are often the best way to meet these needs.

“Parents need emergency information and updates,” Sirianni says. “The faculty needs various Web-based applications. Furthermore, our faculty, students and donors have all been ‘spoiled’ by the consumer experience, which is able to deliver more, better, faster.”