I realize this question is a bit old, but I was looking for similar information so I thought if I added my 2 cents in here then maybe we could get thoughts and discussion rolling.

Here’s the scoop… At my company, our mobile environment is growing in leaps and bounds. We currently support blackberry, iOS and Android (select models only). Plus, we allow any carrier based on best coverage for the end-user. We have a central help desk that supports the entire organization… Across all technology equipment. Thus, they really are expected to be “jack of all trades and master of none”.

Where I am struggling as the Mobility Admin… Is that I see our quality of support declining as the environment becomes more and more complex and the user base continues to increase with unspeakable velocity. I know that the general consensus says that mobility IS part of IT. However, support for mobile systems, mobile services, and mobile devices is far from mainstream help desk functionality.

It’s nearly impossible to “train” for mobility as it is an ever changing, developing technology. Not to mention, the services and connectivity are going to vary from carrier to carrier. I don’t think the typical help desk staff are prepared or willing to handle the complexity of mobility yet. I think mobility support still needs to be a centralized entity in order to have focus needed to maintain the skills and knowledge base around the service plans, the network landscape and the constantly shifting target on devices.

Don’t get me wrong… I know there are people in the help desk arena that CAN handle it… But its hard enough to maintain focus in mobility without it only being every 8th call, between password resets, printer calls, and desktop/laptop support issues.

I’m anxiously awaiting statistics about the end-user to administrators and support staff ratio it takes to support this changing world.