Firms urged to improve wireless management

Gartner warned that many wireless technologies have come in 'by the back door'

Companies could save between 10 and 35 per cent of wireless technology costs through better procurement and more relevant management policies, according to a new report from Gartner.

The analyst firm's Key Enterprise Wireless Service Policy report said that almost 80 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies will be using wireless technology by 2014 to pool voice and data within the business.

However, many companies have yet to create comprehensive wireless usage policies to prepare for growth in the technology.

"Policies are a crucial way of managing complex services, and they do not have to be large, lengthy documents. Often the best, most read and most widely adopted policies are brief and to the point," said Phil Redman, research vice president at Gartner.

Redman claimed that wireless technologies had historically been brought in " by the back door" by individual users or lines of business, and are not part of IT policy. He argued that this leaves organisations without basic internal adoption, usage or management policies.

"A good method to ensure a strong policy is to incorporate a centralised team across IT that will be impacted by mobile and wireless decisions. This team can then 'strategise' for the strongest and widest policy," he added.

Gartner also identified several key areas which firms need to address when setting out a policy, including service termination, security, technical support, procurement procedures, maximum spending limits and an enterprise liability statement.

The report also said that policies should be delivered from the top down, and that senior management should approve and enforce the policy to ensure best practice.