Enterprises hold vast amounts of data, which is typically available to employees on company premises only, via PCs connected to the company Intranet.

But mobile line of business applications on the handset (mobile business process solutions) are liberating company-specific data for support of the mobile workforce, according to a recent survey by ABI Research.

Over the next five years application revenue in this service category will grow at a CAGR of more than 102 per cent, according to principal analyst Dan Shey.

"Two forces are driving development and availability of mobile line of business applications for the handset: database vendors are supporting mobility strategies both internally and through the development of VAR communities; and businesses are requesting access and collection of company-relevant data on the mobile device.

"But these forces of supply and demand are only possible because of greatly improved handset capabilities and wireless broadband access," Shey said.

Field employees who need access to company-specific information and who collect company-specific information as part of their jobs are best served by these applications, especially when they work in sales, repair and maintenance, transportation, healthcare, and protective service occupations. And because these services are offered on a subscription basis and can be hosted, both large and small companies can benefit from these applications.

Interestingly, line of business applications will also drive the need for additional services, ABI believes. "Mobile data plan revenues will grow at a 29 per cent CAGR over the next five years in large part due to mobile line of business application growth," Shey said. "More companies will see the benefits of mobile device management services as a cost-effective way to support LOB and other applications being used by their mobile workforce."

Len Rust is publisher of The Rust Report.