Business drivers in the corporate market for mobile data technology

The corporate market for tailored mobile data services is perceived to be a key source of revenue for the telecoms industry in the future. Enthusiasm for mobile data applications has varied dramatically in the consumer market and adoption has been slower than anticipated in the enterprise market. The objective of business to employee applications is to provide employees with control over the various forms of communication they deal with every day. This means having access to the corporate data needed to do their jobs effectively and efficiently, regardless of the employees’ location or type of device they are using. To meet this need, companies must deploy a variety of applications to facilitate mobile transactions. Purpose of the study is to identify business drivers in the corporate market encouraging managers to adopt Mobile Data Technologies. At the first step of analysis we present a brief classification of mobile business services and applications describing their value proposition and a literature review of factors affecting e-commerce/Internet Technology adoption in business. Next we present the results of a quantitative exploratory survey on business drivers in WLAN deployment, conducted on a sample of 180 Network decision makers in North America. Finally the study focuses on multiple-case studies. The companies selected are three major companies operating on two continents and in different sectors (media broadcasting, government and legal document management, insurance). We investigate how adoption proceeds. The intent is to provide explanatory power for identifying factors driving adoption of mobile data services in the corporate market