I also spoke with Jay Highley, president and CEO of Integrated Mobile, a professional services outfit that offers managed services for mobile devices, about this problem. According to Highley, most organizations don't even know how many mobile devices they have, what they pay, and the true cost of supporting them. Highley says companies must define a mobile-device policy and create a unified enterprise database across a multicarrier environment that might even include that iPod. The policy should require employees to register their devices, and the database should include fields such as the rev level of the device and the cost center to which it belongs.

My solution might go against the grain of everything an MBA has ever learned about how to run a business, but I think new times require new ideas. For me, the secret to managing mobility -- from understanding the cost structure, to tracking the ROI, to offering help-desk support -- is to create a single point of contact. You can do this by using a managed service such as Integrated Mobile, or you can create your own department of mobility that does it all.

The advantage of the latter is that your point of contact is within the company and knows the company inside and out. That knowledge can be leveraged easily when it comes time to integrate mobility on both a strategic and operational level.