The Mobile Enterprise Management Software Market Is Born

October 8, 2012 Jenny Thomas

We’ve been warning you for years that mobile devices are poised to take over the world, and the rampant proliferation of smartphones and tablets has caused the analysts over at IDC to create a new market category for our little portable addictions.

The name of this new market isn’t exactly catchy or all that clear. “Mobile enterprise management software” sounds like a catch-all for any software that might fall into the mobile category. But then again, it kind of is. IDC explains that back in the old days (which in this case may have been last week), the mobile market was split into two categories: mobile device management solutions and mobile application management solutions.

A mobile device management (MDM) tool has a lot of the standard features that are included in PC management tools, but has additional functionality that addresses the unique needs of mobile devices such as smartphones and media tablets and, increasingly, other areas like M2M modules or printers. Mobile application management (MAM) tools are defined as the specific mobile applications that can be managed, secured, and distributed by IT organizations.

But enterprises need to manage both mobile devices and mobile applications for both corporate- and employee-owned mobile gadgets, making the distinction between the devices and the apps largely irrelevant. Thus the merger and birth of the mobile enterprise management software market. This market will include products that offer standalone MDM, standalone MAM, or combined MDM-MAM functionality. IDC also offered some segmentation inside the mobile enterprise management software market to include: systems management and security vendors; mobility companies and others with mobility platforms; and pure-play mobile enterprise management ISVs.

Of course, a market is always defined by the amount of money associated with it, and with projections reaching into the billions in the next four years, it is time that mobile enterprise management software got its own named slice of the IT pie. According to IDC, in 2011 worldwide mobile enterprise management software revenue totaled $444.6 million, and this number is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 31.8 percent over the 2012 to 2016 forecast period, resulting in total mobile enterprise management software revenue of $1.8 billion by 2016. That’s real money. The majority of mobile enterprise management revenue will stem from the Americas region throughout the forecast period, but IDC expects to see vendors stepping up direct and indirect efforts in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and Asia/Pacific, and already significant growth in interest has been noticed in these regions.

In creating this new market and predictions for the future, IDC sized the market for 2011 and then extrapolated trends from 2011 and 2012 out further. The resulting study, Worldwide Mobile Enterprise Management Software 2012-2016 Forecast and Analysis and 2011 Vendor Shares, offers a five-year snapshot and vendor competitive analysis. The complete study is available for purchase on the IDC website here.