Yankee Group Mobile WAN Optimization Report

Mobile work continues to evolve. What was once limited to laptop-carrying professionals working outside of the office has expanded to encompass a much wider range of users and use cases. While iterant professionals remain an important group of mobile workers, they are hardly the only one. Home-based workers and locations where multiple users share a single device (i.e., a retail location) are two additional examples of the broadening definition of mobile work. This explosion in mobility and the increasing number of ways to connect with the corporate network has created an IT environment that is very difficult to manage and that leads to inconsistent user experiences. Mobile WAN optimization can help overcome these challenges by improving the performance of critical enterprise applications, which lowers the cost of effectively supporting mobile workers and eliminates the need for many organizations to pursue expensive upgrade strategies. This report introduces the concept of mobile WAN optimization and provides three case studies that highlight how this emerging technology can help IT departments achieve what previously appeared to be conflicting goals. Each demonstrates how mobile WAN optimization leads to projects that have a fast payback, improve productivity and cut costs. The following three case studies highlight the impact that mobile WAN optimization can have on organizations.