Enterprises In Emerging Markets Increase Support For Apple Devices

Times have changed, and so has the use of smartphones. From the earlier simplistic use of fetching email and contacts, smartphones are now the powerhouse for consumers and business users who use mobile gadgets for accessing applications and surf the web. This change in consumer behaviour away from traditional devices and platforms to richer operating systems and form factors is significantly impacting the enterprises.

To better understand this change, Greyhound Research, the IT research and advisory arm of Greyhound Knowledge Group conducted a survey of 300 senior IT decision makers in the APJ and MEA regions. The study covered seven key verticals including Manufacturing, Retail, Professional Services, Media & Entertainment among others.

Some of the key trends that emerged from this study are:

In emerging markets, Apple products are making their presence felt in the enterprise. 39 percent of respondents reported using one or more apple products at the workplace – this includes personally owned devices. Interestingly, while iPhone and iPad continue to be the most used apple product, Mac is increasingly gaining traction.

More from Biztech

Future Group - Reliance Retail Deal approved by CCI RBI ban on cryptocurrencies takes effect; prohibition could force investors to tap the black market

So who’s using Apple products? Survey says Apple users are spread across multiple types – while the younger population in APJ and MEA continues to lead adoption, the senior, well paid executives are the next biggest base of users for Apple’s products.

IT teams now support the Apple family of products, with iPhone and iPad as key priority. While enterprise IT teams continue to use and support windows as the primary platform, they are increasingly supporting (or planning) to support Apple’s products. 41 percent organisations in emerging markets are currently or planning to support iPhone and 37 percent for iPad. While more than 35 percent stated to have or working on policies to allow Mac personal computers to replace Windows PC, currently only 25 percent actively support them.

Google Android is not a platform of choice for enterprises in emerging markets. While Google’s Android platform continues to be well received by consumers, decision makers remain unsure about supporting Android fully in the enterprise. Many reasons contribute to this including irregularity of support for OS upgrades, bigger base of end-users demanding iPhone and iPad support, a weak app marketplace strategy among others.

“Enterprises in APJ and MEA regions are clearly beginning to bite the apple! While this definitely raises a question on the dominance of Windows, Greyhound Research believes Windows continues to be the platform of choice for enterprises for the foreseeable future”, says Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and Group CEO of Greyhound Research. “However, with increasing need to support Apple’s products, IT decision makers must watch out for potential areas of pitfall”, he added.

The survey identified the following areas that every enterprise considering supporting Apple products should keep in mind before launching a support policy for Apple’s products:

• A policy that supports and fills Apple’s weak links for the enterprise.

• Commitment from senior executives and dedicated budget to invest in skills, tools and best practices to better manage devices and PCs.

• Crafting a BYOD policy that allows users to use their personal Apple products (or others like Google) and yet adhere to security.

• A policy for using iCloud and similar cloud storage services in the enterprise.

• Building corporate app stores given the current unavailability of Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP) in emerging countries except Australia and New Zealand.