According to technology and market research firm Forrester's survey results, between 40% and 60% of enterprises in North America and Europe have identified "more mobility support to employees" and the "formalization of a mobile strategy" as critical priorities.

"Mobile applications and solutions let enterprises cut costs and improve employee productivity or worker efficiency — all important initiatives in a constrained business environment."

-What's In Store For Enterprise Mobility (Forrester Research)

The report emphasizes that companies will continue to place a high priority on mobility initiatives, primarily for productivity increases, with mobility activities heating up in emerging markets. Stressing that the existing market conditions would not hamper Enterprise Mobility, the report goes on to state that "mobility initiatives at enterprises will be a priority — even in a down market."

This increase in demand for Rich Mobile Applications (RMA) in businesses is being driven from the bottom up. As smartphones become more powerful, and more and more employees start using them and become aware of the immense potential of mobile applications.

"We will see growth in the mobile "wannabe" user segment as employees bring their personal devices, such as the iPhone, into work and expect organizations to develop ways to support these new devices — even with the slowdown expected in consumer mobile device purchases," notes Michele Pelino in her report on Enterprise Mobility.

As the mobile innovation architect Paul Golding observes, this demand for mobile applications is not limited only within large enterprises, and the benefits of "going small" are being felt across the board.

"For SOHO workers, productivity is vitally important, as is management of client communications. Mobiles are essential tools, as most freelancers already know. With smartphones, freelancers can potentially operate their whole business from their pocket."

According to Research Analyst Tim Sheedy, mobility can solve unique business problems by taking the business process to the customer, adding rich content to business information, and disseminating rich information when employees need it most.

Top Benefits of Handhelds for Businesses

People are starting to realize the massive potential and utility of their mobile devices. The spectacular success of the Apple App Store, and the recent introduction of the Android Marketplace and Blackberry App Store are testimony to the fact.

In his report on Mobile Collaboration, Ted Schadler, Principal Analyst at Forrester, provides a snapshot of the variety of ways in which employees are already using their smartphones in the present day, for their own purposes.

Using mobile applications for business reasons is thus a logical extension of this process, providing workers more flexibility, freedom and ease of use - a rich overall experience, leading to lower costs and productivity gains.

As the current global economic scenario forces companies to innovate, evolve and explore newer technological avenues in order to continue growing, mobile applications can help businesses become even more successful in ways never thought possible.