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TOP TRENDS DRIVING ENTERPRISE MOBILITY FOR 2022

Published 19 August 2021 - ID G00737655 - 17 min read

By Leif-Olof Wallin, Dan Wilson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The shift to more remote work in the wake of the pandemic has led organizations
to move mobile investments to new use cases. This research helps I&O leaders
prioritize mobile technologies most likely to impact their organizations,
including 5G, workplace analytics, and virtual and mixed reality.

ADDITIONAL PERSPECTIVES

 * Summary Translation: Top Trends Driving Enterprise Mobility for 2022(13
   September2021)


OVERVIEW





OPPORTUNITIES

 * A virtual remote workforce demands an I&O strategy that empowers every worker
   to maintain a consistent level of productivity, regardless of location.
 * IT must co-innovate with the other constituencies, such as HR and lines of
   business, to use workplace analytics to measure and improve teamwork and
   overall performance.
 * Augmented reality (AR) and, to a lesser extent, virtual reality (VR) and
   mixed reality (MR) can quickly move from concept to pilot to production and
   maintain competitive business advantage.




RECOMMENDATIONS

Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders focused on digital workplace
infrastructure and operations must:

 * Integrate mobile requirements into the organization’s key strategic
   initiatives by forming a digital workplace I&O team that is responsible for
   endpoints, productivity suites and collaboration software supporting all
   aspects of in-office, remote hybrid and mobile work styles.
 * Improve IT performance and business efficiency by combining analytics of
   consolidated data available from workplace infrastructure with conventional
   metrics.
 * Pilot and showcase AR and VR applications by demonstrating their business
   impact for frontline worker use cases.




WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

For many years, information activities were broken into smaller pieces and the
“big screen,” or office monitor, was augmented by the “small screen,” or
smartphone and tablet. With the rise of remote working, work started to move
back to the big screen and voice calls moved from smartphones and fixed phones
to voice over broadband, using integrated voice features in products like
Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Webex. In the short term, the lack of mobility required
for working from a fixed remote location has reduced the criticality of mobile
devices, except to be used as a backup in case of broadband or Wi-Fi problems or
for multifactor authentication (MFA) purposes.

As such, organizations are experiencing diminishing ROI from knowledge worker
mobilization investments. They are shifting the focus of their mobile strategy
to digital enablement of other groups, including frontline workers. For many
industries, the pandemic has dramatically increased the importance of mobile app
support for the frontline workers such as courier and delivery services.

The technologies presented in this research are not necessarily right for all
organizations all the time. They are Gartner’s view of current and emerging
technologies that will shape the future of mobility. We have broken down the top
trends technologies into three categories, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Top Technologies Defining the Future of Mobility (Click Links to Jump
to Profiles)
Enlarge Table
Foundational
Incremental
Transformational
Continuous Endpoint Experiences

The Move to 5G





Enterprise Mobility Post 2021

Visual Intelligence

Health, Wellness, Compliance and Safety Technologies
Workplace Analytics

Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality

Frontline Worker Technologies and Wearables






FOUNDATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

CONTINUOUS ENDPOINT EXPERIENCES

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Dan Wilson

Description: Continuous endpoint experiences, also known as modern management,
leverage cloud-enabled and intelligence-enhanced OS management. The device is
enrolled in a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution that uses native OS
APIs.

Why Trending: The rise in remote work has made technology the primary vehicle
through which employees interact with colleagues, managers, customers and the
company overall.1 This is driving technology’s growing impact on the overall
employee experience.
Implications: Continuous endpoint experiences are anchored by the following
technologies (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Continuous Endpoint Experiences

Gartner




 * UEM consolidates client management tools used to manage PCs with mobile
   device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) tools. UEM
   also streamlines the experience of IT administrators, who are facing
   increasing workloads due to increased remote work and a constant influx of
   devices and updates.
 * Despite more granular device-management options such as Android work profile
   and Apple User Enrollment, Gartner sees increased use of MAM and a reduction
   in fully enrolling devices in MDM. This is due primarily to mainstream
   adoption of SaaS cloud office platforms and IT admins focusing more on
   protecting data, apps and identity to enable bring your own (BYO) scenarios.
 * Desktop as a service (DaaS) technology has matured enough to make
   cloud-hosted virtualization a reality for some organizations. Locally hosted
   virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and virtual delivery of legacy or
   latency-sensitive apps also reduce the limitations that technical debt
   creates for organizations looking to support remote workers and broaden
   device and operating system choice for employees.
 * SaaS-based endpoint management tools are aggregating workplace analytics data
   to offer greater transparency into the employee experience across the
   endpoint estate. These tools also are applying machine learning (ML) to their
   massive datasets to catalyze insight-driven automation.


Actions: To improve the employee experience, I&O leaders must build integrated,
intelligent architectures for digital workplace technology. Move to zero-touch
provisioning by leveraging automation.

Further Reading:
 Enhance Digital Workplace Operations With Machine Learning and Automation
Adapt the IT Operating Model to Deliver Indispensable Digital Workplace Services

THE MOVE TO 5G

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Leif-Olof Wallin

Description: 5G mobile network technology is the next-generation cellular
standard after 4G. The official International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
specification, International Mobile Telecommunications-2020, targets:

 * Maximum downlink and uplink throughputs of 20 Gbps and 10 Gbps, respectively.
 * Latency below 5 ms endpoint to radio access network (RAN).
 * Massive scalability (although initial deployments may be less ambitious).


New system architecture includes core network slicing and edge computing.

Why Trending: 5G will encompass features aimed at a variety of audiences,
including satellite access, unlicensed spectrum, vehicle-to-everything (V2X),
mobile communication system for railways (Future Railway Mobile Communication
System [FRMCS]) and new frequencies in mid (7GHz or more) and high band. It’s
also claimed to be less expensive to operate, with the cost of a transferred MB
of data expected to drop five to 10 times.

Implications: 5G is frequently discussed together with private mobile networks
(PMNs) and mobile edge compute, which both capitalize on the low latency in a 5G
network and the proximity to processing in an on-premises or public edge
facility.

Despite the hype, the introduction of 5G follows a fairly predictable cadence in
the evolution of mobile network technology in that a new generation of mobile
technology is introduced every decade.
Like previous stages of the GSM evolution, 5G will be introduced in multiple
phases, from R15 to at least R19. R15 is about speed (enhanced mobile broadband)
and, other than massive video surveillance and high-speed, last-mile access,
contains virtually nothing that is important for enterprises. For enterprises,
the most impactful features will be introduced in R16 and beyond.

It will take time — several years in most countries — before 5G geographical
coverage matches current Long Term Evolution (LTE) coverage. Coverage,
technology adoption and build out will vary significantly by country and
operator. Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the U.S.
will be the first countries to reach 5G coverage for 90% of the population in
2023. Most other countries won’t reach this level of coverage until 2026 or
beyond.

Most operators are still in the process of piloting 5G with early enterprise
adopter clients to better understand how 5G can be monetized. More spectrum and
higher bandwidth can enable continued data growth in networks and for fixed
broadband implementations.

Actions: Few technologies have been as hyped as 5G. Enterprises will need to
embrace 5G, but there’s no need to rush. Existing LTE networks handle almost all
known enterprise use cases and will serve you well for a number of years. But 5G
will open up new opportunities and organizations should start preparing for them
by educating the decision makers about what potential opportunities 5G brings
and when to realistically expect them.

Further Reading:
Client Question Video: What Do I Need to Know About 5G for the Enterprise?
Despite the 5G Hype, 3GPP LPWA Is the Emerging Workhorse of IoT Connectivity
Ask These Four Questions About Enterprise 5G
Innovation Opportunities Will Be Enabled as 5G Evolves Through 2025


INCREMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES

ENTERPRISE MOBILITY POST 2021

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Chris Silva

Description: The pandemic prompted a pivot in enterprise mobility to keep
businesses operating. Organizations accelerated technology adoption and rollouts
of technology strategies that had been in planning stages. This typically
included a move to cloud-based services, often in combination with MFA.
Essential workers, often frontline workers, increasingly worked alone, and
keeping them safe and productive became even more imperative. In many
situations, workers got one opportunity to fix a problem. Returning for a
follow-up visit or sending someone else to complete the job became unacceptable.
Many organizations adopted remote expert guidance (REG) solutions to support
their frontline workers in being successful during the first visit.

Why Trending: In the new normal, many employees who were sent home to work will
not return to the office full time. Organizations are considering how to equip a
hybrid and remote workforce as well as how to manage the full life cycle of
remote workers, from onboarding to offboarding.

Implications: As employees travel less, many organizations are questioning why
they should pay for business use of employee mobile devices as part of BYO
programs or provide corporate mobile devices. But the use of mobile devices as
badges to access buildings, for MFA, to reserve office space in a hybrid
environment and for voice connectivity challenges/backup in the remote office
indicate that employee mobile devices still offer value. In addition, a growing
body of legislation codifies how workers must be compensated if they are
required to use personal devices or services for work purposes.

Another observation is that laptops have started to “put on weight,” meaning
that many organizations have started to buy larger, heavier and less expensive
laptops. For many groups of employees, the focus has shifted from small,
ultraportable machines to more robust machines in support of moving them between
the home and the physical office in a hybrid work mode.

The level of granular control that is common for Android and iOS devices is
still lacking on macOS and Windows. This invites potential risk to data loss or
of holding and destruction of personal data on devices as part of normal IT
operations tasks like deprovisioning the device. The compromise approach has
been to isolate the work environment from personal apps and data on the personal
device by using relatively expensive DaaS/VDI technology. This negates the need
for full control over the local device. However, using collaboration apps with
voice and video can be challenging with VDI/DaaS. The challenges of support and
ensuring continuity of operations for users on personal PCs is a bigger
challenge, with many consumer-grade devices and service plans unable to match
the break/fix SLAs enterprises rely on for company PCs.

Actions: Stop viewing mobility as a separate item. Integrate mobile requirements
into the organization’s key strategic initiatives by forming a digital workplace
I&O team that is responsible for endpoints, productivity suites and
collaboration software supporting all aspects of in-office, remote, hybrid and
mobile work styles.

Further Reading:
Magic Quadrant for Managed Mobility Services, Global
Essential Considerations When Choosing Separate PC and Mobile Management Tools

VISUAL INTELLIGENCE

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Chris Silva

Description: Visual intelligence applications use large quantities of data. Deep
neural networks (DNNs) are a deep-learning architecture that is frequently used
for image processing. These networks build a model that can be executed by a
runtime environment in near real time.

Why Trending: Image and video processing has become much more affordable, and
integration of images and video into many workflows has become easier. With
low-latency networks, image or video processing can be offloaded to a gateway or
central processor.

Implications: Use cases for visual intelligence include:

 * Establishing the size of a package from one or multiple images.
 * Confirming that a load carrier is optimally and safely packed.
 * Identifying a specific box among many by detecting bar codes.
 * Verifying that a person has all prescribed safety equipment before entering a
   facility.
 * Identifying potential threats in real time.
 * Visually identifying users and detecting fatigue, mood or symptoms of illness
   such as fever.
 * Assessing real-time vehicle damage.


Actions: Include DNNs in your overall artificial intelligence (AI) and ML
strategy. Use QR codes to enable check-ins for health and safety protocols,
share access and process information in a touchless manner, and provide Wi-Fi
instructions in the postpandemic, digitally augmented physical workplace.

Further Reading:

 Emerging Technologies Tool: Video Analytics Functionality Matrix
 Best Practices in Implementing Video Surveillance, Analytics and Response
Systems in Physical Security

HEALTH, WELLNESS, COMPLIANCE AND SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Leif-Olof Wallin

Description: Applications and technology that monitor and protect workers
include distress sensors, gas detection, emergency notification solutions and
positioning solutions to track employees working in hazardous areas.

Why Trending: Interest in these technologies and self-certification of health
and monitoring of social distancing practices grew rapidly in response to the
pandemic.

Implications: The pandemic focused attention on solutions for the following use
cases:
 * A contactless method for identifying employees and partners at turnstiles,
   for time and attendance and other situations requiring identification where
   technologies that require contact, like fingerprint readers, are no longer
   desired.
 * Leveraging eye movements for selection or using personal smartphones to enter
   information instead of touching shared keyboards.
 * Using track-and-trace technology to identify instances when two people or
   objects have come in close proximity. This can help with contact tracing,
   identifying patterns and redesigning layouts to minimize the risk of
   accidents or close encounters. Video analytics also can be used for this
   purpose. Smartphone-based solutions using Bluetooth are inherently
   unreliable.
 * Attestation and health questionnaires.


Actions: Set realistic expectations for contact tracing solutions. The promise
sounds great, but the underlying technology may generate too many false
positives to be really useful. Showcase and pilot the technologies, like
drowsiness detection, that have sustainable advantages and long-term impact on
preventing deaths.

Further Reading:
Market Definition and Methodology: Wearable Electronic Devices
Use Wearable Technology to Enhance Frontline Worker Productivity: Field Service
Management


TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES

WORKPLACE ANALYTICS

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Dan Wilson

Description: Workplace analytics help organizations understand how mobile
technology is being used by their employees. It is key to identifying areas for
further development/optimization, additional training and even candidates for
retirement to maximize the value of mobile investments. These aggregated
insights are derived by analyzing contextual data from applications, employees,
endpoint devices, processes and networks.

Why Trending: Workplace analytics improve technology adoption, employee
engagement, user experience, system performance and behaviors that promote
collaboration and productivity. Workplace analytics provide insights at various
levels — device, employee, team/department and across the organization. The use
of workplace analytics has expanded beyond IT and HR to line of business (LOB)
leaders to measure and improve teamwork and overall performance.

Implications: Large enterprises with broad technology portfolios see the most
value in gaining visibility into data that traditionally has been difficult to
gather without advanced scripting, remote controlling into devices or pulling
reports from multiple consoles.

Workplace analytics enable organizations to:

 * Identify and remove technology issues that degrade employee experience.
 * Identify process, training and technology improvement opportunities.
 * Measure employee engagement with the company, managers, peers and customers.

 * Optimize costs by better aligning technology to use cases .


Actions: To maximize the benefits of workplace analytics, I&O leaders must
collaborate with HR, legal and LOB peers to:

 * Consolidate and align requirements to corporate objectives.
 * Minimize potential legal and compliance issues.
 * Avoid comparing scoring/progress with other companies and across tools.
   Rather, establish and measure changes internally.
 * Ensure appropriate and ethical use of data and insights across all managers.


Further Reading:
Enhance Digital Workplace Operations With Machine Learning and Automation
Adapt the IT Operating Model to Deliver Indispensable Digital Workplace Services

AUGMENTED/VIRTUAL/MIXED REALITY

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Chris Silva

Description: Augmented reality refers to digital content overlaid on a view of
the real world. Virtual reality creates a digital environment that shuts out the
real world. Mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and head-mounted
displays (HMDs) will be the window through which users view the worlds of AR and
VR (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality






Why Trending: Even before the pandemic, customers — both consumers as well as
business customers — did not accept anything but first-attempt resolution.
Coming on-site without the proper spare parts or sending someone unqualified to
do the job just wasn’t enough. In addition, many millennials entering the
workforce seem to be less accepting of a company that didn’t make them look
successful in the eye of the customer. If they thought the company “set them up
to fail” they tended to quit.

Implications: Consumer adoption currently outpaces enterprise use, but the
overall volumes remain small. As such, consumer experiences will drive
expectations and push VR vendors to focus on the user experience of enterprise
VR.

Enterprise applications for VR currently lag those for AR and are limited to
those that would benefit from total immersion in a virtual world, such as
virtual visits to a hotel or on-site training when users cannot attend
site-specific training in person.

Actions: Organizations must pilot and leverage technology such as remote expert
guidance, not only to remotely assist frontline workers but also to capture the
substantial knowledge of frontline workers about to retire. In certain
verticals, being able to prove delivery of a quality service is becoming
paramount and part of the compliance process.

Further Reading:
 Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021: Anywhere Operations
Emerging Technologies: Head-Mounted Displays for Augmented, Mixed and Virtual
Reality

FRONTLINE WORKER TECHNOLOGIES AND WEARABLES

Back to Table 1
Analysis by Leif-Olof Wallin

Description: The emergence of digital platforms and cloud-based services has
changed how organizations think about equipping the frontline workforce with
technologies such as wearables and hearables fortified by AR, VR, the Internet
of Things (IoT), analytics and AI/ML (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Applications for Wearable Technology

Gartner




Why Trending: Many enterprises believe that mobility permeates all necessary
activities for knowledge workers and that new opportunities for business
innovation lie with equipping frontline workers. Most net new enterprise mobile
and endpoint investment in 2021 will be focused on task workers rather than
office productivity workers.

Implications: From a new-device perspective, Gartner has identified four common
emerging, high-value use cases for nonoffice productivity workers:
 * Remote expert guidance (leveraging HMDs, smartphones or tablets).
 * Hands-free workflow (leveraging HMDs and/or hearables).
 * Immersive technology for worker training (leveraging AR HMDs).
 * Wearables for safety/health monitoring (leveraging special tags,
   smartwatches, earbuds or specific hardware).

These investments can deliver benefits including cost optimization, revenue
growth and improved customer or employee experience through:
 * Process optimization/improved workflow.
 * Improved quality/error reduction/first call resolution.
 * Safety improvement/injury prevention/social distancing/contact tracing.
 * Compliance/regulation adherence.
 * Faster problem resolution.
 * Travel expense reduction.
 * Employee satisfaction.


Actions: Pilot technology like REG to determine how it can help the organization
meet increasing customer demands. Sometimes these demands include additional
self-help fueled by curbside delivery — a situation in which the customer won’t
allow third-party employees into the facility — just to bring the spare/product
to the site and then support the repair/installation from the curbside.

Further Reading:
 Transform Frontline Worker Computing With a Product-Oriented Focus
Technology Investments for Frontline Workers Will Drive Real Business Benefits


EVIDENCE

In the past 12 months, Gartner clients have conducted more than 21,300 searches
on gartner.com and engaged in more than 15,100 inquiries on the trends covered
in this research.

1 2020 Gartner Employee Engagement Survey
The 2020 Gartner Employee Engagement Survey was conducted in September 2020
among 5,000 employees in the APAC (Australia, China, India and New Zealand),
EMEA (Germany, Spain and the U.K.), LATAM (Argentina and Brazil), and NA (Canada
and the U.S.) regions. Respondents predominantly worked for organizations
employing more than 1,000 people. All industries were eligible for
participation. The survey was administered as a web-based survey.


ACRONYM KEY AND GLOSSARY TERMS

API
Application programming interface
AR
Augmented reality
BPMS
Business process management system
BRMS
Business rule management system
DEM
Digital experience monitoring
DNN
Deep neural networks
HMD
Head-mounted display
LBS
Location-based service
LCAP
Low-code application platform
MADP
Mobile application development platform
MAM
Mobile application management
MCAP
Mobile consumer application platform
MEAP
Mobile enterprise application platforms
MR
Mixed reality
MXDP
Multiexperience development platform
RAD
Rapid application development
SDK
Software development kit
UEM
Unified endpoint management
VR
Virtual reality

 

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