Two distinct types of organisations are emerging from the New Zealand ICT industry at present, the innovators who readily embrace mobility and the traditionals who are reluctant to implement it.

A newly released Symantec study, 2013 State of Mobility Survey, shows a growing trend of innovators (84%) willing to move ahead with mobility, motivated on the whole by business drivers.

And while Symantec claims such companies are reaping the rewards of this market penetration, the traditional organisations are implementing mobility at a slower rate, largely in response to user demand, and are seeing both fewer costs and benefits.

“Few issues command the attention of IT today like mobility,” says Francis deSouza, president, Products and Services, Symantec.

“The difference in attitudes and results between the organisations that actively embrace mobility and those that are reluctant is significant.

"Organisations taking a proactive approach benefit much more than those that put it off until they eventually find themselves trying to catch up to the competition.”

The two groups perceive the benefits and risks of mobility differently according to the study. Among innovators, 66% say the benefits are worth the risks, while 74% of traditional businesses feel the risks are not worth it.

This is reflected in the rate of mobility adoption, as 50% more employees use smartphones for business among innovators rather than among traditional organisations.

But when it comes to the innovators, company involvement doesn’t stop with the purchasing of phones. They also adopt more mobility policies, and are twice as likely to use technology to enforce their policies over traditional firms.

Costs and Benefits:

But as with every positive there seemingly sees a negative arise. For the innovators taking more advantage of mobility, they are also seeing more costs associated with it.

In fact, they averaged twice as many mobile incidents during the last year, such as lost devices and data breaches, leading to consequences such as regulatory fines and lost revenue.

Yet Symantec believes the pros outweigh the cons, citing three key areas of improvement:

• Increased productivity, speed and agility• Improvements in brand value, customer happiness and overall competitiveness• Happier employees and improved recruiting and retention rates

Most importantly, however, the innovators are experiencing nearly 50% higher revenue growth than traditionals (44% vs. 30%) meaning all things considered, businesses perceive net positive results with mobility.

With the survey representing the experiences of 3,236 businesses, from 29 countries, does it paint a fair picture of the ICT industry? Tell us your thoughts below