Midtier Firms Set Pace with Mobility

Think midtier firms are behind the times? Think again.

CIO Insight’s 2008 Mobility Survey finds that small and midsize businesses actually deploy advanced mobile technologies at a higher rate than their bigger siblings. Smart phones, for example, are more common in midtier firms and now outnumber cell phones in the companies we surveyed. And older technologies—dial-up access, low-speed cellular, pagers and industrial mobile terminals—are far less common in smaller companies than in large ones.

But the rise in remote access has caused some problems, particularly in the area of security. While midmarket firms have deployed mobile tools at a fast pace, they haven’t invested as much in security capabilities. Though the majority of IT executives surveyed say their organizations’ increased mobile deployments haven’t made their firms less secure, more than one-third have experienced some form of security breach in the past 12 months.

Despite the problems, midtier businesses believe mobility gives them a competitive advantage, primarily in delivering access, inproving responsiveness to customers and boosting internal communications.