The growing number of mobile workers and increasing focus on improving operational efficiency and customer experience is fuelling growth of mobile enterprise applications and services in Asia-Pacific. Mobile operators are also increasingly turning to mobile office applications in an attempt to improve the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) amidst stagnating subscriber numbers and decline in voice revenues.
New analysis from global growth consulting company, Frost & Sullivan, Asia Pacific Mobile Enterprise Market, reveals that revenues in this market—covering 12 major Asia-Pacific countries ex-Japan—totaled USD 20.68 billion in 2006 and is forecasted to be worth USD 35.51 billion by end-2011, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.4 per cent (2006-2011).
The mobile enterprise market includes all mobile revenues from the enterprise segment which covers corporate voice services, mobile office and other applications such as field force automation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP).
Mobile office applications, especially mobile e-mail applications, are showing strong growth, highlighting the importance of corporate sector customers. Voice however remains the main revenue generator. Most mobile operators are likely to concentrate on the mobilisation of vertical industry applications and business processes in the future, as per the study.
Whilst the mobile enterprise segment is a small revenue contributor (at under 20 per cent) to the regional mobile market, certain countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore have relatively mature mobile enterprise sectors. This is mainly due to the increasing market segmentation and strategies of service providers, which make these countries forerunners in terms of mobile enterprise-to-mobile revenue ratio.Although the mobile enterprise market is fairly new in Asia-Pacific, it has demonstrated robust growth in the last four years. The Asia-Pacific mobile enterprise segment estimates to be worth USD 23.5 billion by end-2007—almost twice its market size of USD 12.28 billion in 2003, the company said.
"Much of the growth is likely to emanate from mobile e-mail and other such mobile data services, which have been significant revenue contributors in the mobile enterprise segment," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Janice Chong. "Specialised solutions for various verticals such as mobile sales force automation (SFA) and customer relationship management can also fulfill a niche demand that can potentially contribute to the growth of mobile enterprise services."
According to the study, developments in fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), as well as the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) also expect to be a boon for mobile enterprise solutions, offering greater flexibility and efficiency in connectivity beyond the office environment. Cost justification, return on investments and security concerns however are key challenges towards large-scale adoption of mobile office applications. The lack of market segmentation for solutions targeting the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) makes it a costly investment, necessitating SMEs to settle for simple consumer retail offerings.
"Providing hosted services could be an approach for service providers to target SMEs looking for secure mobility solutions without requiring internal IT resources," cites Chong. "In time to come, we expect operators to develop closer partnerships with system integrators to collectively drive the mobile enterprise market by creating awareness through aggressive marketing schemes."
Integrated service offerings combining voice and data services for enterprise users can also allow for better utilisation of network capacities and generate new revenue streams for operators, the study read.
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