Don't Ignore Mobile

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

The Radicati Group notes mobile users, both business and consumers, will reach over 5.6 billion by the end of 2014. In the coming years, about 84 percent of the world’s population will be using mobile technology. Additionally, the number of phones and tablets in use will grow from over 7.7 billion in 2014 to over 12.1 billion by 2018.

With numbers like that, it’s clear mobile technology must be a priority for any successful organization. Fierce Content Management editor Lisa Hoover McGreevy explains. “It's a wake-up call for companies everywhere: You can't afford to ignore mobile any longer.”

“Business leaders are all too aware of the necessity of being part of the mobile content revolution,” wrote AIIM CEO John Mancini for Business Solutions. “In a recent AIIM study, more than three-quarters of business executives surveyed said they need to embrace mobile applications fast, or get left behind or find employees using workarounds of their own under the radar of the IT departments.”

However, four in 10 organizations don't allow or offer mobile access to their content. Despite the great migration to mobile, it also has its risks, the greatest of which is security. The risk of cyber-attacks or misplaced information scares many organizations, which is why only 10 percent of those surveyed have a successful BYOD program up and running.

Mancini noted that although mobile may not be popular for every business just yet, the good news is that ECM’s presence in the cloud is more active. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed were likely to be using some form of cloud ECM within the next four years and 26 percent are using cloud ECM already.