Synchcrologic Handheld Trends Survey Results

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://www.synchrologic.com/readersurvey/surveyresults.html">http://www.synchrologic.com/readersurvey/surveyresults.html</a><br /><br />Synchrologic has released the results of their survey of 156 IT managers about their enterprises' support of PDA and wireless connectivity. This article provides an interesting perspective of how the adoption of mobile devices is proceding throughout corporate America. Some of the highlights are:<br /><br />• Within a year the majority of handhelds will be centrally managed. <br />• Mobilizing enterprise applications is starting to gain momentum. <br />• Email is the most likely application to be mobilized.<br />• Wireless is the preferred method of connectivity, despite the challenges. <br /><br />Data is also presented that says that, while 31% of the respondents' organizations currently support Palm devices, a full 21% support Pocket PC devices. That's encouraging news for any Pocket PC enthusiast.<br /><br />I would note one thing, however. While I am sure that the survey methodology and analysis are beyond reproach, the reader needs to remember that Synchrologic is in the business of providing mobile solutions. As a result, I think some of the comments are a bit more "bullish" on wireless than I would be, particularly when intimating that proving ROI is not as important for organizations as formerly thought.<br /><br />What do YOU think about these survey results?

[Ed Hansberry]

Hmmmm.... looks like a combined 36%+ for Pocket PC/Windows CE devices, like those Symbol and Intermec typically roll out. :D

As for the ROI. How do you quantify being able to get your email while standing in line at the airport or not having to carry a bulky Franklin Planner around? I think it is next to impossible to do the ROI for PDA deployment. At some point it is just a given. No one does ROI on computer purchases. You just need them. No one does the ROI on laptop vs desktop. Either the person needs a laptop or they don't. I think the same thinking goes into buying a PDA.

[Brad Adrian]

...How do you quantify being able to get your email while standing in line at the airport...

Well, the value of mobility is definitely there and you CAN put a dollar value to some of the benefits, like time savings and heightened productivity. My point, though, was that I think most organizations still will not invest heavily in a new technology unless they can prove a positive "hard" ROI (as opposed to the "soft" benefits, like employee satisfaction). The final point of the article made it sound like proving ROI is no longer important to businesses.

[peterawest]

In the case of my company, we decided to provide support for installing ActiveSync for the End User, but we leave the applications totally up to them. We do the same for all of the many Palm OS based devices.

As of yet, my company has avoided buying PDA's for End Users, nor do we promote them. However, if you've got one and want to use it at work, we will support it to a limited degree. :)

So far that works just fine.

[Ed Hansberry]

Notice how this is strangely absent from all of those Palm and "device agnostic" sites that have been running what are essentially press releases from Palm (in the guise of NPD Intellect reports) saying Palm was faring very well in the enterprise compared to Pocket PC's and Windows CE devices. :roll: