Enterprise mobility in India may touch $1.8 bn by 2017: IDC

Enterprise mobility market is expected to touch USD 1.8 billion by 2017 as more and more firms are turning towards mobility apps for enhancing productivity at the workplace and strengthening business processes.
According to research firm IDC, the enterprise mobility market in India is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 63 per cent from USD 394.3 million in 2012 to USD 1.8 billion by 2017.
"Young and tech-savvy people for whom mobility is native, are changing the workplace dynamics today and consumerisation is here to stay. Resource optimisation and the need to increase employee productivity are also the reasons behind the interest evinced by Indian enterprises," IDC India Vice President and Country GM Jaideep Mehta told reporters here.

More than 37 per cent of firms interviewed across industry verticals said they considered mobility a top enterprise IT priority for the next fiscal year, he added.
Companies are turning to mobility and apps not just to mobilise the workforce but also to strengthen business processes, he said.
This, in turn, is fuelling the demand for re-skilling workforce.

"With mobility gaining traction, there is a need for skills like app development and social media administration. This will require re-skilling of the workforce as well," he said.
Talking about the year ahead, IDC said the focus of IT spending would be on newer solutions like cloud and mobility.

"The Indian economy is going through a challenging phase with high inflation and a slowing growth. This, coupled with the upcoming national elections, has created a temporary slowdown of the broader economy," Mehta said.
Despite these challenges, the broader market in India has shown resilience and stabilised compared to tumultuous phases in 2012 and H1 2013.
"2014 will finally see the India IT ecosystem begin a serious transition to the third platform technologies of cloud and mobility, and to a lesser extent big data, and social," he said.
He added that it will continue to be a "challenging environment" as the upcoming general elections have put government procurement on halt and enterprises remain cautious in their spending.