Frontline Mobile Failures Cost Businesses up to $7B Annually, New Global Study Finds

7-Year Study Shows Mobile Issues Regularly Stop Frontline Work While Remaining Largely Invisible to IT

ATLANTA, GA, UNITED STATES, February 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- New research shows frontline workers are increasingly unable to do their jobs due to mobile device, app, and network failures, creating widespread, but largely hidden, productivity losses for enterprises.

According to the 7th Annual State of Enterprise Mobility report released today by B2M Solutions, more than 80% of frontline workers experience mobile-related problems at least once per month that prevent them from working.

Nearly 60% say these disruptions occur weekly or more.

While these failures rarely appear as major IT outages, the study estimates they cost businesses across surveyed regions up to $7 billion annually in lost productivity.

The global research, conducted by an independent 3rd-party market research firm for the seventh consecutive year, surveyed frontline workers whose roles depend on Windows and Android mobile devices, along with IT leaders responsible for deploying, managing, and supporting those technologies.

Key findings from the 2026 study include:
• 81% of frontline workers report a mobile device or app issue at least once per month that prevents them from doing their job
• Nearly 60% experience these problems weekly or more
• The percentage of workers reporting monthly mobile problems has increased every year since 2019, rising from 51% to over 80%
• These issues lead to lost productivity, missed shipments, poor customer experiences, and lost revenue
• 95% of IT leaders use an MDM or EMM platform, yet less than 1% say it provides the real-time visibility needed to troubleshoot problems proactively
• 99% of IT leaders want new tools that provide real-time insight into mobile devices, batteries, applications, and network connections as issues occur

“For seven straight years, this research has told the same story,” said Gary Lee, CEO of B2M Solutions. “Frontline work stops when mobile technology fails, and most of that disruption is invisible to IT. IT Leaders and Support teams are doing the right things with the tools they have, but those tools were never designed to show what’s happening in real time, during real work.”

The report highlights a growing gap between how enterprise mobility is managed and how frontline work actually happens.

While traditional Mobile Device Management (MDM, EMM, UEM) tools are effective at deployment, configuration, and compliance, they provide limited visibility into the real-world performance issues that disrupt frontline productivity.

“These problems aren’t caused by lack of effort or poor operations,” Lee added. “They’re caused by a lack of visibility. When it takes 30 minutes or more to identify and resolve each incident, and many incidents never generate a ticket at all, the productivity impact adds up quickly, especially for frontline workers responsible for producing and delivering goods and services to customers.”

The findings help explain why organizations are increasingly looking beyond traditional mobility management toward Mobile Digital Employee Experience (Mobile DEX), an emerging extension of enterprise Digital Employee Experience (DEX) strategies focused on frontline, mobile-first roles.

Mobile DEX applies DEX principles to Windows and Android mobile environments, providing real-time visibility into mobile device health, application stability, battery performance, and network conditions so IT teams can identify and address issues proactively, before work is disrupted.

B2M’s Elemez™ SaaS platform is designed to support this shift by delivering real-time mobility intelligence on Windows and Android devices that complements existing MDM and EMM investments.

The 7th Annual State of Enterprise Mobility study was conducted across the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, providing a detailed view into the frequency, causes, and business impact of frontline mobile disruption.

To explore the full findings and understand how frontline mobile issues are affecting organizations today, read or download the 7th Annual State of Enterprise Mobility report at: https://b2msolutions.com/state-of-enterprise-mobility/

Note to Editors:
B2M Solutions can provide additional detail on the economic modeling used to estimate the $7 billion annual productivity impact identified in this study.

About B2M Solutions:
B2M Solutions is a global software company focused on improving the reliability and performance of enterprise mobility. Its flagship platform, Elemez™, provides real-time mobility intelligence to improve the Mobile Digital Employee Experience (Mobile DEX) by helping organizations identify, diagnose, and prevent mobile device and application issues that disrupt frontline work. By extending Digital Employee Experience (DEX) principles to mobile-first environments, B2M helps enterprises reduce downtime, improve productivity, and lower the true cost of mobility.

Founded in 2002, B2M Solutions is privately held and headquartered in London, UK, with North American operations in Atlanta, Georgia.

For additional information, visit www.b2msolutions.com.

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