According to research firm Aberdeen Group, as businesses struggle to boost employee productivity, managing mobile devices will be essential.

Aberdeen's new report (Mobility Management: Does Outsourcing Make Sense?) is a call to action for enterprises to get up to speed on mobility management and also a benchmark on how to proceed.

"The enterprise productivity gains enabled by a well-supported mobility initiative cannot be ignored," Aberdeen analyst Andrew Borg said in a statement. "Our research shows that even in these challenging economic times, top performers would rather outsource the management of their mobility services, not turn off their smartphones."

For example, the report concludes that best-in-class companies replaced lost or stolen devices 94 percent faster than their counterparts, decreased their mobility support initiative cost by 35 percent, and increased the number of devices under full IT compliance by 85 percent.

Employee productivity must be balanced with securing mobile devices and wireless networks, maintaining full regulatory compliance, and keeping overhead costs down, Aberdeen reports.

"On the one hand, companies need to be concerned about the potentially harsh consequences related to GRC (Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance) violations or the security of confidential and proprietary data on mobile devices. On the other hand, this concern must be tempered with the acceptance that mobile devices must be supported and utilized to maintain the productivity of mobile and remote workers."

See here for more on the new Aberdeen mobility report.