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An article on Apple’s quest for enterprise support, written on TechTarget.com, caught the eye of ARG’s Director of Business Management Services, Pat McGugan. Read what he has to say on the issue, and how ARG can facilitate your decision making process:
“Apple is working hard to support devices and applications in the enterprise marketplace, but there are concerns among those that evaluate its progress. Apple, in its partnership with IBM, has planned to develop and deliver more than 100 iOS industry specific applications. Unfortunately, as of now, that partnership has not realized their goals. Additionally, Apple has limitations in the applications and devices that an enterprise has deployed in the ecosystem. For example, there is still a divide between Apple and the MS Office suite of services that most enterprises are running today.
“Questions surrounding Apple products in the business market are not slowing growth by any means. One research study by 451 Research LLC showed 75% of respondents planned to purchase iPhones for their employees within the next quarter. This percentage is a 12% increase over the same survey last year. In contrast, 39% responded that they planned to buy Samsung smartphones which run the Android operating system. The android OS is thought to be less secure due to many marketplace applications that contain malware that can infect corporate networks. Only 19% of the survey’s respondents planned to buy BlackBerry devices.
“ARG does not discourage anyone from exploring the Apple options for support, however, we do suggest looking into every possibilities and determining the actual value for the company. Decide what support needs exist and what should be accomplished in the endeavor, then explore all the options to accomplish those goals.
“Whether a company is exploring device procurement, security software, vendor support services or cost optimization, ARG can and will be there to support the process.”
