Enterprise unified communications that extends beyond the fixed infrastructure and extends features to the mobile environment always seems attractive, in principle. Most decision makers likely would point to mobile e-mail and the ability to unify desktop and mobile voice communications as examples of capabilities that illustrate the value.

In practice, full enterprise unified communications, usable either by mobile devices or desktop endpoints, generally seems to be a tougher sell than one might predict, given the prior examples of mobile email and voice. 

When asked about their plans for mobile UC adoption, 444 decision-makers at North American and European organizations (small, mid-size and large organizations) are in a holding pattern, with 44 percent indicating they are interested in, but have no plans to implement mobile UC, and another 22 percent not interested at all in mobile UC, said Onica King, Forrester (News - Alert) Research analyst. 

Organizations are either taking a wait-and-see approach to how the mobile UC market will unfold, or simply lack vision on how mobility can impact their business, King noted, even though 51 percent also say the ability to use business telephone features on mobile devices is very important or important features of a unified communications solution. 

The range of business processes those respondents now indicate they would like to use in a mobile context, though, might explain some of the hesitance. Mobile e-mail access was a relatively straightforward implementation. But decision makers now appear to be pondering mobile access for a range of other enterprise applications that do not necessarily hinge on use of the business phone system. 

For example, surveys of about 1,009 North American and European decision makers found demand for personalized contacts and calendar information; emergency response; sales force applications, customer-facing mobile apps; field service; enterprise asset management; inventory management; logistics apps and supply chain apps, for example. 

What started with the integration of enterprise e-mail into the mobile devices has developed into a desire for access to enterprise applications, and those apps are outside the scope of the original unified communications vision, in a sense. In many cases, mobile access to many business applications is a distinct problem from mobile access to business phone system features aside from calendar and contact information, for example. 

In other words, it is one thing to ask that business phone system features be available on mobile devices. It might be a related task to make presence, instant messaging and conferencing available on a mobile device. It might be quite another challenge to adapt enterprise apps for mobile access, and those tasks might largely lie outside the core competence of UC suppliers. 

The complexity or difficulty of creating mobile versions of existing enterprise apps likely adds to the hesitation. Beyond the specific issues related to applications, there are other underlying infrastrucure issues.

Enterprises also would have to create all-IP wired and wireless networks. An IP network is likely the required platform for intelligent network services and networked applications, not just because the enterprise apps use IP for transport, but because  overall costs of deployment, maintenance, and support also are lower in that sort of environment.

An enterprise wireless security strategy also requires a broader security approach, to accommodate all the additional endpoints, even when not all of the endpoints are owned by the enterprise. 

Standards-based, open interoperability also is required, such as use of session initiation protocol, for example. 

Enterprise planners also have to keep in mind the possible implications of cloud-based computing solutions that might be a better way to implement many mobile-accessible applications.