Survey from Fiberlink and CFO Research Finds 47 Percent of Finance Respondents Have Insufficient Information on Mobility Costs. IT and Finance Agree Mobile Working Is on the Rise.
BLUE BELL, PA (PRWEB) October 21, 2005 -- IT and finance departments need to work together more rigorously to manage costs associated with a growing number of mobile workers, according to a recent survey conducted by CFO Research Services and Fiberlink Communications Corp. Almost 85 percent of IT managers and 70 percent of finance executives say they expect to support more mobile workers in two years -- demanding secure mobile network access to corporate networks, applications and data from outside the office through laptops, tablet computers and PDAs. Over half of IT respondents say that finance has adequate information about mobile and remote access costs; however, only 18 percent of finance respondents agreed that their departments have adequate information about these same costs. In fact, 47 percent of finance respondents actively disagreed with the statement that finance at their companies has adequate information about mobile and remote access costs. These findings suggest a need for the two groups to become better aligned about the impact of a growing enterprise mobility market.
As mobile working becomes central to company strategy, managing and supporting mobile workers becomes more than an IT problem – it becomes an enterprise-wide problem and costs will likely escalate. Finance will need to become more actively involved with managing, measuring and controlling the cost of providing secure, mobile access to corporate networks.
According to one survey respondent, Brian Ketcham, a controller at Valmont International, “Over time, people have acquired various tools for accessing e-mail and other applications. Expenses related to these items are reported in many different areas -- telecom, data processing, travel and expense reports -- and the lack of consistency in reporting is a huge factor to the lack of control and incomplete information.”
For many, the cost of a mobile worker is simply the cost to get onto the Internet. In other words, either $10 for Wi-Fi access at a coffee shop, $10 per day for hotel broadband, or $70 per month for wide-area mobile data service. However, as many IT professionals know, those costs don’t account for many other indirect costs, like those for security software, managing the help desk, hardware, and others too numerous to list.
Fiberlink has found that finance executives are willing to pay for products that address their core priorities -- security, productivity and regulatory compliance -- because offerings that fail to do so could expose the company to liability and perhaps offset any financial gains achieved through greater worker productivity. Interestingly, what is not a top priority for finance or IT are the issues associated with the cost of remote and mobile access. As is shown in the research report on this subject, finance executives say that “obtaining the best possible price for remote access” is a lower priority – putting it towards the bottom of their list of issues. IT respondents did the same, although they (ironically) rate it a little higher.
The exception to this gap in information between finance and IT, however, are companies who support the greatest number of mobile workers. The survey reveals that as the number of mobile workers increases, companies are more aware of the cost of remote access and finance becomes more advanced at managing these costs. When finance and IT work together, these companies realize they can boost productivity, maintain and improve security, and, not incidentally, save money in the process.
"The study conclusively finds CIOs and CFOs in agreement that productivity is the prime pay-off of increased mobility, while security is its biggest potential downside," said Barry Porozni, chief technology officer at Fiberlink. "We see this struggle between security and productivity as the 'tension of opposites' in enterprise mobility. As companies depend more and more on mobile workers, IT and finance must work closely together to select the right solutions for their organizations and manage the costs of those solutions. Fiberlink designs its software to identify usage patterns and control spending while providing reliable, secure mobile network access that increases employee productivity.”
Fiberlink is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 at 2:00pm (edt) to discuss the full survey results with the head researcher in charge of the study, Celina Rogers of CFO Research. For more information about this webinar, and to download the research study click here.
About Fiberlink
Fiberlink provides the software and services that enable enterprises to securely mobilize their workforces and strike the best balance of user productivity and IT control. Since 1994, more than 800,000 mobile workers have relied on Fiberlink’s solutions for access to e-mail, corporate data and other network-based resources. Today, Fiberlink’s mobile workforce solutions go beyond basic network connectivity to ensure IT organizations have control over the myriad security threats, compliance policies and cost concerns that are often associated with mobile computing. Gartner, Yankee Group and Burton Group consistently recognize Fiberlink as an innovative leader in mobile and remote access solutions. Fiberlink customers include Continental Airlines, Grant Thornton and Targus Group International. Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa., Fiberlink has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Additional information about Fiberlink is available at www.fiberlink.com.
Susan Sutton
Fiberlink Communications Corp.
(215) 664-1753
James Boike
A&R Partners for Fiberlink
(212) 905-6157
© 2005 Fiberlink and the Fiberlink logo are trademarks of Fiberlink and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other brand names are trademarks of their respective partners.
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