Enterprise Mobility Is Increasing Despite the Economic Downturn

While Budgets for Most IT Initiatives Have Dwindled During the Global Economic Crisis, Mobility Support Continues to Expand


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - March 17, 2009) - Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), has released an industry benchmark report on enterprise mobility that reveals that the business demand for mobility has remained steady, despite the fact that the global economic downturn has caused businesses to reduce costs wherever possible. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, please visit: http://www.aberdeen.com//summary/report/benchmark/5724-RA-mobility-economic-downturn.asp.

The benchmark report, "More Mobility - Less Budget: Enterprise Strategies in the Current Economic Downturn," shows that companies continue to maintain or increase their level of mobility support, with Best-in-Class companies increasing their mobility budgets year-over-year as a percentage of total IT spend by 27.4%, proving how important mobility has become to delivering greater productivity and workforce effectiveness.

"Enterprise mobility has passed the tipping point," said Andrew Borg, senior research analyst. "In this global marketplace, the need to keep enterprise workers in touch no matter where or when is now a given."

This study reports how Best-in-Class companies -- those that are performing in the top 20% across multiple metrics -- have found additional efficiencies through consolidated central device management and security, judicious and selective outsourcing of some support functions, and driving compliance to IT standards for mobile devices, whether enterprise- or employee-procured.

"It is rare to find a company that doesn't have some level of mobility initiative in place today," said Borg. "If the economic crisis had occurred 12 to 18 months earlier, perhaps enterprise mobility would be at greater risk, but now we find it firmly entrenched."

So entrenched, in fact, that between 2006 and 2009, those companies with current mobility initiatives in place rose from 59% to 84%, while those with no plans decreased from 19% to just over 1%.

"Mobility is with us for the foreseeable future," said Borg. "The organizational agility, flexibility, and responsiveness that enterprise mobility enables us to have, has truly become a competitive necessity in today's global marketplace."

Mobility's importance is only increasing in importance as a younger demographic enters the workplace. It is also becoming the convergence point for new information and data distribution services, including Unified Communications, mobile Software-as-a-Service (mSaaS), and the truly mobile Internet. Watch for Aberdeen Reports on these topics in the coming months.

A complimentary copy of this benchmark report is made available in part by the following underwriters: Mincom and Movêro Technology. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, please visit: http://www.aberdeen.com//summary/report/benchmark/5724-RA-mobility-economic-downturn.asp.

For additional access to complimentary Information Technology Research, please visit http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-information-technology.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748 or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com

Contact Information: Media Contact: Andrew Borg Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5390 Andrew.Borg@aberdeen.com