We've seen a phenomenon repeated with more frequency over the past few years: enterprise IT leaders who've implemented a technology for their organization are far more likely to ascribe benefits to it than those who've avoided the technology. This stands in stark opposition to the notion that nonimplementers either want easier, more fully baked products, or that they simply have no business need. While both of those are probably true, nonimplementers also aren't buying the claimed benefits of technology.

Our 2006 survey of nearly 600 IT professionals showed that the majority--nearly 66%--either haven't adopted cellular data services or have used them sparingly. Of those nonimplementers, only 20% see a high personal productivity benefit for cellular data, while 42% of implementers see a significant benefit for personal productivity.

These opinions, along with a scant 11% of our respondents citing widespread adoption, indicate that enterprise mobile broadband faces a number of challenges. Indeed, the top four perceived obstacles for mobile broadband deployment--cost, security, compatibility, and reliability--are directly related to the technology itself, not its appropriateness for business. These results are probably more indicative of feelings of our respondents toward 2G technologies, since it's fairly unlikely that many have significant experience with 3G. Still, there's plenty of convincing to do before mobile broadband data is technology de rigueur in the enterprise.

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While carriers have cut prices over the past two years and often provide business-oriented voice/data bundling arrangements that reduce the effective cost of mobile broadband data services, infrastructure and spectrum investments required to deliver these services dictate premium pricing models compared with other broadband technologies. The long and short of it: High-quality mobile broadband data services will get cheaper, but only slightly.

The carriers also have made efforts to provide secure services; however, most organizations can't rely solely on the carriers. Building additional layers of defense for mobile applications is a daunting task--for many it can be a deal breaker. The good news is that the problem hasn't gone unnoticed. Vendors have made advances in device management, mobile device encryption, and other security fronts, which should help mollify the security concern.

Concerns about standards are another matter. On this front, the recent launch of the iPhone with its required AT&T service plan, and the FCC's 700-MHz spectrum action, with Google's attempts to introduce nonexclusive use provisions, have brought the issue into focus. But while it has media attention, the issue of interoperability won't be solved soon. Those stymied by the issue will likely remain so for the foreseeable future--or will be forced to consider noncellular-based technologies, such as Wi-Fi or WiMax. In our survey, there was marginal agreement that these two technologies would eventually better meet mobility needs than will 3G. So far, this seems unlikely, as neither technology will be ubiquitous anytime soon.

Reliability may be less of an issue than most respondents believe. While it's certainly still true that getting a stable, clear voice connection remains a crapshoot, it's also true that most mobile broadband applications have the ability to tolerate lost packets or even lost and reinstated connections, permitting services to slow but not break under less-than-ideal conditions. However, to get this kind of reliability, applications must either be built for mobile networks or use mobile middleware.