CIOs know the value of having a mobile strategy. So why aren't companies doing it right? A study from Accenture sheds some light on why some companies aren't moving forward fast enough with their mobility initiatives. If your business hasn’t heard about the mobile revolution by now, well, you might want to crawl out of your cave and enjoy the sunlight with everyone else. Mobility is what the business consultants call “transformative” technology that affects nearly every company in every industry.To be fair, the problem isn’t that enterprises aren’t aware of the impact of mobile technology. The problem is that many companies aren’t doing mobility right. Only two out of five companies have made good progress in their mobility efforts, according to a recent Accenture survey of nearly 1,500 C-level executives. The rest, not so much.“It’s taking companies more time to get to that level,” says Terri Rinella, managing director at Accenture Mobility. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe On the bright side, companies know the value of having a mobile strategy. In fact, 87 percent of respondents said they have a formal mobility strategy, which is up from 58 percent last year. CEOs are jumping into the mobile fray, too. At 35 percent of the companies, the CEO plays a role in mobility strategy development. Unfortunately, a mobile strategy may be full of holes that stymie mobility benefits. A whopping 86 percent of respondents have not yet seen their mobility initiatives pay for themselves, according to the Accenture report. Shortcomings related to the actual rollout of mobile capabilities are likely preventing two-thirds of companies from making greater progress.Mobile at a StandstillA mobile strategy faces many challenges. For instance, a mobile strategy might not be fully adopted across an organization resulting in a lack of standards in, say, mobile app development. Business executives and CIOs might bicker over who owns the mobile strategy. Top leadership might not throw their full support behind the mobile strategy. A mobile strategy can suffer from overlap in mobile funding or in app usage — that is, employees might be using different apps that perform the same function. “A mobile strategy also might not be the right strategy or not comprehensive enough,” Rinella says. Conversely, she adds, “Organizations might have a strategy but not the skills to execute it.” Despite loaded guns leveled at mobile strategies, only a few companies pull it off. About one in 10 respondents reported having generated more than 100 percent return on their mobility investment in the last two years.“You have organizations who are the leaders, and then you have this group in the middle,” Rinella says. “Right now, [survey respondents] are at the group in the middle to the bottom struggling to really get things right.”Tom Kaneshige covers Apple, BYOD and Consumerization of IT for CIO.com. Follow Tom on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline, Facebook, Google + and LinkedIn. Email Tom at tkaneshige@cio.com Related content feature 10 digital transformation questions every CIO must answer Impactful DX requires a business-centric approach supported by the right skills, culture, and strategy. Here’s how to assess whether your digital journey is on the path to success. By Mary K. Pratt Sep 25, 2023 12 mins Digital Transformation IT Strategy IT Leadership feature Rockwell Automation makes shift to ‘as-a-service’ model Facing increasing competition from cloud hypervisors that see manufacturing as prime for disruption, the industrial automation giant has undertaken a major transformation to add subscription software services to its core business. By Paula Rooney Sep 25, 2023 6 mins Manufacturing Industry Digital Transformation IT Strategy brandpost Fireside Chat between Tata Communications and Tata Realty: 5 ways how Technology bridges the CX perception gap By Tata Communications Sep 24, 2023 9 mins Emerging Technology brandpost From telco to ‘TechCo’: how NTT Comware reinvented itself By Sourced Group Sep 24, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation Telecommunications Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe