Tangoe Research Reveals that Inadequate Resources, Security Risks, and Budgets Are Among the Top Challenges

Tangoe, Inc. (NASDAQ:TNGO), a leading global provider of Mobility, IT and Telecom Expense Management (TEM) software and services, today released results of a survey that reveals IT staff are pressured by the growing challenges of enterprise mobility and are looking for more resources and solutions to help them. With the headline-grabbing data and security scares, it’s no wonder that security is keeping IT managers awake at night with 65 percent acknowledging that it remains the most challenging aspect of their jobs with respect to their management of mobile needs, and 55 percent seeing security as the biggest mobile challenge facing their organizations in the future.

Tangoe commissioned the survey by ORC International of 100 IT managers across a variety of enterprise businesses. Nearly all are responsible for ensuring security of mobile data (85%), while three-quarters (73%) oversee and manage mobile devices in their organizations.

“Our research sheds an important light on the pressure that internal IT staffs face with the growing complexity of managing an ever-expanding remote and diverse work space. Internet of Things (IoT) and BYOD (bring your own device) are driving IT decision makers to look for solutions to handle their organizations’ mobile needs, especially when it comes to security and managing different platforms,” said Jim Foy, CEO, Tangoe. “Our hope is that this data will serve as a catalyst for increased attention by leadership teams to understand how crucial and strategic mobility planning and management can be to their organizations.”

More than half of those surveyed who oversee and manage mobile devices as part of their job responsibilities said they do their jobs completely by themselves. Very few use third-party Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) or Managed Mobility Solutions (MMS) vendors, although many said they hope to within the next two years.

The key findings of the survey included:

  • IT managers feel that security (55%) is the biggest mobile challenge facing their organizations in the future, followed by expense/costs (43%) and managing multiple devices and platforms (42%).
  • IT managers feel that security (65%) is most challenging with respect to their management of mobile needs, followed by managing all platform and device options (56%) and budgeting/financial (42%).
  • A quarter of IT managers (26%) say their organizations’ mobile policies need to be updated, are obsolete, or do not exist. Another 24% indicate that their organizations’ mobile policies are currently under review. Very few (13%) said their organizations’ policies are state of the art.
  • On average, a quarter (26%) of IT budgets are allocated for mobile. Four out of five IT managers (80%) said this percentage has increased in the past year or so.

Nearly all (96%) plan to add new Mobile Management services within the next 2 years, with 70% saying they will add such services in the next 12 months. When asked what the most important things an EMM or MMS vendor could provide to improve their organizations were, three out of five (59%) IT managers said device application and security management.

IT managers were also asked to pick which of the words or phrases could be used to describe the mobile policies and management in their organizations, to which nearly half (47%) said “constantly trying to improve it,” and 41% said “needs to be updated” as well as “moving in the right direction.”

Tangoe’s research was designed to capture the changing nature of IT management at a time of rapidly expanding mobile workforces connected through multiple devices and increasingly at risk of security breaches.

About Tangoe

Tangoe, Inc. (NASDAQ:TNGO) is a leading global provider of Mobility, IT, and Telecom Expense Management (TEM) software and services to a wide range of global enterprises and service providers. Tangoe helps companies transform the management of IT assets, services, expenses, and usage to create business value, increase efficiency, and deliver a positive impact to the bottom line. Additional information about Tangoe can be found at www.tangoe.com.

Tangoe is a registered trademark of Tangoe, Inc.

Articulate CommunicationsWendy Schechter/Alissa Fajek, 212-255-0080tangoe@articulatecomms.com