• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 8, 2011

With BlackBerry losing its grip on the enterprise market, companies have to be ready to take more flexible approaches to their mobile strategies, according to a new Gartner report.

Underlying the shift is what the research firm calls the “consumerization” of mobile technology through growing adoption of smartphones and mobile applications via Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platform.

“The landscape of devices and user needs is changing,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “CIOs are facing mass mobility, and it is expected to grow rapidly.”

Employees are acting more like consumers, demanding a wider choice of devices and mobile options in the workplace. That includes new strategies such as “bring your own," where people use personally owned tablets and smartphones at work. The loosening of mobile rules and restrictions at work also means that people will be freer to access consumer content at work, which could indirectly benefit media providers and brands on devices.

Gartner predicts at least four new mobile management styles will emerge in response to the changing mobile landscape:

1. Control-oriented. The main goal is to guarantee quality of service, security, support and cost. To ensure service levels, performance and security, the organization provides and strictly manages devices, contracts and applications. All aspects of the device and its applications are controlled and supported by corporate IT. That’s the traditional model that led to BlackBerry becoming the dominant mobile brand in the corporate world.

2. Choice-oriented. The focus is on keeping employees satisfied -- typically in cases where they demand a greater choice of devices, but have relatively undemanding application and service needs. The business will not abandon all management responsibility, but will exercise lighter control over devices and service options. 

3. Innovation-oriented. The aim is to empower users who want substantial autonomy and are often in roles over which IT has little or no control. Users are in charge, and no reasonable device, application or service request can be refused. The IT department will still oversee critical issues, like data privacy and corporate risk, but controls will be more policy- than technology-oriented.

4. Hands off. The idea is to take the minimum level of responsibility for mobile devices and services, but not provide them. This is where bring-your-own comes into play. Typically, the company has little or no support responsibility for devices and any necessary controls are applied in the cloud, applications or by policies. 

Gartner estimates that smartphone sales will overtake shipments of PCs (461.5 million compared to 364 million) in 2011, and combined sales of smartphones and tablets will be 44% bigger than the computer market. “More of these devices will find their way into enterprises as employees entering the organization will expect to be allowed to use them,” it concluded.