The uptake of mobile business apps is gaining momentum in the UK, with 76 percent of IT decision makers planning to adopt them in the next 12 months, according to research by information security company Integralis.

More than half of respondents (58 percent) said they expect to adopt personal information management apps such as email, calendars and contacts in the next year.

Just over a third (35 percent) of businesses quizzed expect to adopt collaboration tools like Dropbox and Sharepoint. In addition, 44 percent expect to adopt communication apps such as Webex and Skype. Some 39 percent believe they will start to use internal apps for tasks such as updating leave calendars.
 
Businesses are looking to third-party developers to provide both off-the-shelf (40 percent) and bespoke apps (37 percent). A slightly lower proportion (32 percent) of businesses plan to build bespoke apps internally.

However, the research suggests that concerns about security management (54 percent) and data loss and compliance (44 percent) remain significant hurdles to the uptake of mobile apps within businesses.

Currently, 28 percent of companies do not allows mobile business apps in their organisation, which Integralis product marketing director Alastair Broom said could be down to the value of apps being unproven or secure mobile device management not being implemented.