Smartphones, cellphones with large screens and the ability to browse the Web and access e-mail and other online services, have made a “dramatic entry” into corporate SA, far surpassing general consumer use or small business use.

That’s a key finding in a new research study released on Thursday by World Wide Worx. Its “Mobile Corporation in SA 2010” report shows that three-quarters of local companies have deployed smartphones within their organisations, compared to almost none two years ago.

The study also shows that “corporate SA expects to embrace the new world of online services to an extent that was not even anticipated as recently as a year ago”.

“Until last year, concepts like software as a service and cloud computing were regarded as little more than buzzwords,” says World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck (pictured).

Yet, in the coming 24 months, 84% of SA corporations expect to have a software-as-a-service strategy in place, and 60% expect to have adopted a cloud computing strategy. — Staff reporter, TechCentral