SINGAPORE, 14 APRIL 2009 - Mobile e-mail will remain the leading mobility application in Asia Pacific, with the market estimated to grow to US$3.7 billion by 2012, according to a recent study by Springboard Research.
Springboard’s report, titled ‘Staying Connected: The Next Wave in Asia Pacific Enterprise Mobility’, estimates the overall market for enterprise mobility software and applications to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 34 per cent from 2008 to 2012, with mobile e-mail capturing a 61 per cent share of the market through 2012.
The report also adds that following the success of mobility with the executive segment, Asian enterprises are moving their focus towards empowering the middle and lower strata of their employee base with similar enterprise mobility applications.
“Both solution vendors and enterprises are realising the importance of mobilising the bottom segment of business operations in order to improve the cost and time efficiencies and render the complete process value chain more productive,” said Nupur Singh Andley, senior research analyst – connectivity, Springboard Research. “However, concerns over security and total cost of ownership continue to inhibit aggressive adoption of mobility among small and medium enterprises (SMEs), even as the segment begins to consider mobility as an essential tool for business productivity enhancement.”
Mobility trends
The Springboard report reveals that instant messaging, business applications, and conferencing are other mobility applications that are also forecast to grow strongly, but a lack of standardisation in operating platforms and mobile technologies will result in outstanding issues of interoperability.
However, industry-specific mobile applications are gaining popularity in the region, examples being mobile customer relationship management and sales force automation. While mobility is a key enabler for the logistics and distribution industries, other verticals are also registering varying levels of adoption.
“Pharmaceutical and healthcare are strong contributors to mobility growth,” said Andley. “Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) is growing steadily, and manufacturing and retail are evolving markets.”
“The various e-governance initiatives undertaken by governments in the region have also further fuelled the growth of enterprise mobility,” she added.
Indian boom
India is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 41 per cent from 2008 to 2012, which is the highest in the region. Significant investments in the telecom network infrastructure and advanced technologies such as 3G and WiMAX, combined with a growing demand for mobility solutions will mean that the enterprise mobility software/applications market in India, as well as China, will grow strongly.
In contrast, countries such as Singapore and Australia, which have been among mobility’s early adopters, will see their percentage shares of the total region’s enterprise mobility revenues declining steadily.
