The march just continues on for Apple’s entry into the enterprise. New numbers show 46 percent of large companies now provide Macs to staff with more than half of those companies planning to support the iPhone. As for Android, well, we’ve already heard that story, right?
Apple is the posterboy for how “consumerization leads to enterprise adoption,” says Forrester Research. After surveying more than 10,000 North American information workers and IT decision-makers at enterprises with more than 1,000 workers, the researchers came to some intriguing findings.
Along with 46 percent of enterprises reporting issuing Macs to their workers, 21 percent of the employees in 17 markets said they used Apple devices at work, including their personal devices. The survey found 11 percent used an iPhone, 9 percent the iPad and 8 percent Macs. Another 6 percent said they used multiple Apple devices at work.
Of the 46 percent of enterprises using Macs, 27 percent said they now support the iPad, with 31 percent planning to support the Apple tablet in the future. The iPhone was supported by 37 percent of the enterprises with that number set to sharply rise to 55 percent this year, according to Forrester.
The researchers say Android isn’t a threat to Apple’s enterprise expansion. Indeed, the Google operating system is where Apple was years ago when first attempting to get a foot in the door of corporate America.
“Google’s Android platform is selling very well with consumers for smartphones, but the wide variety of devices, features, and software support, plus inconsistency of support for OS upgrades, is fragmenting the Android ecosystem,” the report states.
The disparity between iOS and Android in enterprises is marked, with companies even commenting that corporate information executives “feel protected” by Apple’s distribution strategy.
“By comparison, Apple has solid offerings in all three categories, keeps a limited but still highly desired range of models, and creates great consistency and upgradeability across the devices, characteristics that are very attractive to enterprise buyers. Forrester hears from CIOs that they feel protected by Apple’s brand and app store strategy in a way that they don’t with Android products.”
Another point in Apple’s favor is the Cupertino, Calif. company’s decision to support Microsoft Exchange, allowing workers to erase the line between home and the office. This is an advantage Android has yet to match.
Like I said, the beat goes on.
