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Never have information workers had so many choices when it comes to mobile communications and computing. The array of devices, mobile applications and communications capabilities available today makes it possible to take the office with you wherever you go.

But this growing mobility also presents new challenges for IT — not the least of which are managing the growing inventory of portable devices and making sure they are secure.

Portable devices such as laptops, tablet PCs, PDAs, smartphones and other products are changing the way people work, says Peter Rysavy, president of Rysavy Research, a consulting firm that specializes in wireless networking.

For one thing, workers are not as tied to their offices. Just about anything that can be done in the home office can be done on the road: communication with people inside and outside the organization by voice, e-mail, instant messaging, texting, fax, video; accessing information from corporate databases; taking part in meetings; and working with business applications such as customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, business intelligence and supply chain management.

This doesn’t just apply to workers who find themselves on the road a lot; it enables employees to work from home more efficiently than ever. “ Workers can more easily telecommute, or conduct their work more flexibly,” Rysavy says.

The increased mobility and flexibility enables workers to be more responsive to customers. They have access to more information and analytics, which allows them to make more informed decisions when dealing with customers or business partners.

Communications and collaboration among employees has never been easier, because of the emergence of technology such as unified communications and messaging. “Workers can stay in touch with each other more easily, regardless of location,” Rysavy says.

He says the key business benefits of mobile computing and communications technology include more effective use of employees’ time and greater productivity, greater responsiveness to customers and higher customer satisfaction, and greater flexibility for workers in how they do their jobs.

But the emergence of portable computing as a key enterprise resource also comes with significant challenges. If these go unaddressed, they can make portability a liability rather than an asset.

The major challenges of managing mobile devices and applications include installing and updating software on devices in the field, Rysavy says. The sheer number of devices and the fact that many of them are purchased by departments and even individual users makes it difficult to ensure that they’re up to date with the latest versions of operating systems, applications and security products such as antivirus software.

Organizations also need to make sure there are appropriate security policies in effect that allow mobile devices to access central resources without compromising network security, Rysavy adds. They must be able to neutralize any devices that are lost or stolen, to prevent security breaches. And, they need the ability to support multiple device platforms, for example, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices.

Rysavy says the significant trends of portability include the emergence of the iPhone as a new platform that workers will be urging IT to support; much more powerful devices with increased memory, enabling an ever-wider range of applications; and forthcoming mobile Linux devices based on LiMo Foundation and Google Android.

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