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Gartner’s 2025 Market Guide for Managed Mobility Services highlights a major shift: MMS is no longer just about trimming costs — it’s about enabling productivity at scale. The guide explores why employee experience now sits at the center of mobility strategies, how more intelligent automation is helping teams stay ahead of issues, and why sustainability is climbing the priority list.
It also breaks down what to look for in a provider based on your goals. Whether you manage hundreds of devices or thousands. There are no rankings here, just straightforward, practical insights to help you get more from your mobile program in the year ahead.
Even as a mature category, managed mobility services (MMS) are seeing a resurgence — and Gartner’s 2025 Market Guide explains why. As hybrid, remote, and return-to-office models evolve, organizations seek more flexible, secure ways to support a growing and distributed mobile workforce. That’s driving renewed demand for MMS providers who can deliver global reach, operational visibility, and real cost control.
According to Gartner, the top benefits enterprises now look for in an MMS partner are:
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Effective operational management of their mobile estate
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Relevant geographical presence
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Comprehensive service offerings
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Measurable cost savings and optimization
Why Managed Mobility Services Matter More Than Ever
The way companies manage mobility is changing fast. According to Gartner, the business case for managed mobility has shifted from primarily cost control to focusing on the individuals who rely on these devices daily. Organizations are rethinking mobility as an operational need and a tool for productivity, talent retention, and employee satisfaction.
Another big change? More intelligent and intentional device management. Companies are determined to right-size mobile fleets, ensuring devices are only placed where required and reducing unnecessary spending and waste. Over 77% of workers in Gartner’s 2024 Digital Worker Survey said they would gladly use refurbished devices if it helped their company meet sustainability goals, demonstrating the desire to make a tangible difference through business processes.
This creates new complexity for IT management and procurement leaders: balancing cost, employee experience, and sustainability across different regions and device types. That’s where managed mobility services come in: helping organizations simplify that complexity, keep devices running smoothly, and ensure teams are always ready to work.
A Sneak Peek of Key Industry Trends in MMS
Gartner’s 2025 Market Guide makes one thing clear: managed mobility services are shifting to meet overarching business needs. Here are the trends shaping the future of MMS and what they mean for organizations managing mobile fleets across the globe:
Sustainability Is Essential to Adoption
Now more than ever, organizations are under societal and regulatory pressure to reduce their environmental impact. Stakeholders are searching all potential avenues of meeting ESG goals, and mindful device management is the newest approach. Cutting out waste now includes extending device lifecycles via repair and reuse, tracking carbon footprints, and offering employees refurbished devices.
Taking steps toward a greener planet isn’t just a compliance checkbox anymore. Companies offering managed mobility services can publicly share sustainability metrics, drawing in businesses that demand alignment with their environmental initiatives.
Smarter Automation and Proactive Support Are Raising the Bar
Enterprises expect managed mobility providers to do more than just manage devices from afar. They want personalized real-time problem-solving and predictive support that actively contributes to fewer team disruptions. That means building more intelligent systems that anticipate issues and leverage access to expert support and AI-powered assistants to help resolve them before they affect employees.
That said, MMS providers aren’t trying to predict the future based on assumptions — the necessity of predictive analytics is only growing more prominent. By leveraging past and current device information for increased agility, potential hurdles can be circumvented entirely.
Flexible Pricing Models Are Becoming the Norm
Enterprises are steadily moving away from rigid, long-term contracts in favor of pricing models that accommodate their needs. Subscription-based services and device-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings are becoming more popular as they make budgeting predictable and give businesses room to scale up or down.
Some providers are even introducing gain-share models, in which pricing directly relates to measurable outcomes like ROI or productivity improvements. This flexibility helps companies align their investments with outcomes rather than paying for capacity they may not use.
User Experience Matters as Much as the Device
The days when mobility management success was measured solely by device uptime or ticket resolution have come and gone. Enterprises have expanded their focus, looking into how employees actually use their mobile devices and the support around them. More organizations are asking for XLAs (experience level agreements) that reach past technical KPIs, measuring how supported and productive employees feel.
This priority change echoes a broader trend toward faster issue resolution, and confirming devices enhance daily work and engagement. Businesses want to keep their people connected and focused, meaning MMS providers are challenged to deliver reliable hardware and thoughtful service simultaneously.
Sakon’s MMS Expertise in Action
Gartner highlights trends are already playing out across enterprises — one of the largest nonprofit hospital networks in the U.S. turned to Sakon to simplify mobility operations across 200,000+ employees and 715 facilities.
Before Sakon, they faced siloed data, rising costs, and poor visibility into who had which devices. We deployed our platform across 92,000+ devices, centralized inventory management, and integrated with their HR, MDM, and carrier systems — reducing annual mobility expenses by over $2 million and boosting user satisfaction by 40%.
When the demand for telehealth soared, Sakon helped them avoid a staggering overage bill by proactively identifying plan issues and flagging them in time.
See the full story of how better mobility management makes a world of difference.
What Gartner’s Outlook Means for You
Gartner’s 2025 outlook makes the path forward clear: mobility management has transformed from a background function to a lever for improving productivity, employee satisfaction, and operational resilience.
As expectations rise around sustainability, flexible delivery, and real-time support, businesses need MMS partners that solve real problems instead of only covering minimum expectations. That means more innovative data integration and service models prioritizing the employee experience across the board.
If your team is rethinking how to manage mobility across regions or departments, now’s the time to align with a provider already moving in the direction Gartner outlines.
Ready to read more? The full Gartner report is an invaluable resource for IT, procurement, and sourcing leaders who want to understand the evolving MMS space and what to look for in a trusted partner. If you’re ready to see where the industry is going, we encourage you to read the guide in full:
When you’re ready to rethink mobility management for your own business, we’re here to help — contact us to get the conversation started.
Gartner, Market Guide for Managed Mobility Services, Katja Ruud, Matthew Baldino, March 12, 2025. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and it is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
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