Abstract

This IDC Survey Spotlight examines worldwide, North American, and U.S. enterprise expectations around spending on and budgets for 5G and LTE-enabled PCs and laptops during 2022. Withy hybrid work normalized and not just a short-term response to the COVID-19 pandemic, enterprises are taking a more strategic approach to employee connectivity outside the four walls of the organization. The need for seamless, consistent, and secure connectivity is challenging traditional notions of leveraging personal home broadband for business activities. More than half of worldwide and U.S. organizations plan increased spending on cellular notebooks in 2022, although the scale has ebbed and flowed throughout the year.

Investment in cellular notebooks (LTE or 5G) provide viable alternatives to corporate-liable (CL) broadband or broadband reimbursement programs and can often be utilized with tighter security measures than CL or BYOD smartphones. Adding cellular connectivity to corporate-issued notebooks can also rationalize and streamline employee hardware supports, eliminating or reducing redundant mobile hotspots and CL smartphones deployment.

Insights are derived from 700+ IT decision-maker responses in IDC's monthly Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 9, October 2022, which examines enterprise spending and investment plans in digital transformation, business resiliency, and specific IT technologies.

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