Is an Enterprise Mobility Strategy Necessary | OneNeck

Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) isn’t just about giving employees mobile access to their company email, contacts and calendar anymore. As more and more mission-critical apps and critical data are pushed to users’ mobile devices, it is now necessary for organizations to offer more sophisticated tools and tracking to assure ongoing productivity and security. The ability to provide managed access, deliver and manage mobile apps, and to support connectivity to tablets and smartphones are now basic requirements of today’s EMM strategy.

 

Making BYOD Work at Work

Between 20-40% of employees in businesses today have been a given a mobile device for business-use; and another 60-80% are using their own personal devices. So many mobile devices, from so many varied sources, create a lot questions and potential risk when it comes to support, security and management.

Some of the specific challenges that businesses are facing today in a corporate, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment include:

• Device limitations and differences — namely in operating system and hardware differences.
• Complexity and consistency of version updates i.e. various service, billing and liability issues.
• Security and privacy concerns.

BYOD Security and Usage Concerns

Security concerns will persist in virtually every connected work environment, even if BYOD is not a factor. With the rapid growth of personal and corporate mobile devices, businesses must find a way to address possible security concerns across their users.

Some key questions that can be asked to help address mobile security risks include:

• How is corporate data shared, accessed and processed across mobile devices — is data being shared across multiple channels?
• Is company-sensitive data being encrypted on all mediums?
• Is there an effective usage policy in place for how devices can and cannot be used?
• What are the guidelines for storing corporate data on personal mobile devices?
• What is the process for transferring corporate data from the personal device to another place?

The solution to addressing all of these concerns is to employ an effective Enterprise Mobility Management solution that has an implementation plan for all devices. Some important features to look for when choosing an EMM solution:

• The ability to enable valuable separation and tracking of data.
• A universal usage policy in place for employees who bring their own devices
• Inclusion of the correct antivirus protocols and software.
• Monitoring capabilities to understand the data that is being used and processed by all employees. For example, if using mobile devices for personal use during company time is a concern, an EMM service should be able to address the issue by providing a monitoring solution by user and timeframe.

The Right Approach

A flexible and all-inclusive approach to EMM can bridge the gaps that many organizations are facing today, and support the same level of productivity for all employees, no matter what operating system or hardware their phone, tablet or laptop is using. An effective EMM approach should bring a comprehensive standard for all apps, customer relationship management solutions, email, and other mobile deployments.

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