Mobile application delivery helps support today’s remote workforce.
Mobile application delivery is becoming a “must have” for organizations of all sizes. Nearly three out of four small to midsize businesses (SMBs) have one or more employees telecommuting, according to research from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA); on average, 7 percent of the SMB workforce works from home one or more days per week. In addition, 90 percent of SMBs reported having one or more employees traveling on business at least one day per week. On average, 10 percent of the SMB workforce is mobile.
As increasing numbers of workers spend a significant portion of their time on the road, mobile application delivery provides a vital link to mission-critical software and data. IT research and advisory firm Butler Group believes that the importance of providing key applications to remote workers and of extending business processes to distributed locations cannot be overstated. Application delivery to the extended enterprise allows organizations to improve processes and presents an opportunity for innovation within organizations, offering new freedoms that will eventually change the way companies interact with customers, partners and employees.
“The effect of changing social patterns on business models cannot be ignored, with more and more of the workforce now based away from head office. A growing proportion of the workforce is also becoming more mobile, meaning that organizations must cater for them in corporate and IT strategies. The expectation is that it will be possible to work remotely, roam freely and be able to use any type of device,” said Mark Blowers, Senior Research Analyst and co-author of the study.
“However, there is an increased business risk to this freedom, with the main issues being the security of information outside the confines of the office and the ability to effectively manage the wider environment.”
The IT Management Challenge
Managing connections for the entire workforce, especially mobile workers in the field, can prove a complex task. With users connecting via a wide range of fixed and wireless networks, ensuring seamless connectivity — while also controlling costs — can be a headache. Session persistence, airtime management and roaming between wireless networks are also a part of this responsibility. In addition, both fixed and wireless networks need to be administered as a single entity.
Many remotely accessed applications are mission-critical but face issues with centralization, poor performance, reliability and security. The IT department must, first, deploy the means to measure, and second, implement tactical and strategic mechanisms to improve the performance for remote users.
The WAN optimization solutions available today remove a major barrier to consolidation through the significant improvement in application performance at remote locations. Butler Group recommends that organizations with branch offices test a WAN optimization solution.
“Management is a key component in an application delivery architecture where policies drive availability, and visibility moves from individual point solutions to being system wide, along with the shift from fixed asset administration to dynamic asset utilization,” said Blowers. “A cornerstone for the provision of multi-modal channels is the ability to deliver intelligent central management, enabling efficient use of the available resources. The accessibility of end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) supporting data, voice and multimedia is an important first step in the evolution to an automated solution.”
The Security Barrier
A May 2007 Datamonitor survey of 500 IT decision-makers identified a number of factors as the primary inhibitors to investment in mobile technologies. Security is still perceived to be an issue despite vendors’ claims that it is not a problem. Enterprises still list security concerns as the top inhibitor, with the scares of Internet breaches and data leakage causing enterprises to be cautious when considering or deploying mobility solutions. This may also be due to a lack of understanding of security technologies.
With more organizations choosing to incorporate flexible user access facilities, including the use of local and remote wireless network approaches, there is a need to understand the associated risks as well as the benefits that should be taken into account when considering such a strategy. The risks include data loss and data leakage, eavesdropping on transmissions, the ability of third parties to intercept wireless communications, the lack of central control, and reduced connection controls.
“Customers, employees, business partners, suppliers and contractors need to be properly and adequately protected each time they access applications,” said Blowers. “Within this context, there is a requirement for operational security solutions that have the scalability to deal with high-volume access requests, are comprehensive enough to handle all different levels of user and systems protection demands, and still retain the functional granularity that is needed to deal with each user as an individual when assessing their security status.”
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