Top 5 Topics: Mobile Device Management
Posted on Tue, Sep 13, 2011 @ 03:27 PM
Last month, in the second of MCPc’s Modern Technology Lessons roundtable series, Cleveland business leaders came together to talk with panelists and one another about corporate mobile device strategies. Attendees discussed the challenges and realities they face in dealing with multiple devices on the network, employee-owned devices, increased data accessibility and more.
This post recaps five hot topics covered during the roundtable—important considerations for any mobile device management strategy.
1. Security & Compliance
Maintaining security is at the top of IT managers’ lists when dealing with mobile devices accessing corporate networks. On a high level, we’re looking at data security and confidentiality of corporate systems. In regulated industries like healthcare, education, retail and manufacturing, CIOs and CEOs are most concerned with maintaining compliance despite increased paths to data access.
On a granular level, several attendees brought up specific security concerns and desired functionality, based on their industry and usage. Following are a few examples:
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Disable cameras on mobile devices when users enter R&D labs.
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Limit screen-capturing capabilities in specific apps, so that sensitive information can’t be taken outside the network.
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Deactivate search functionality while students take exams.
2. Mobile Device Policies
Corporate mobile device policies must be established, with details and processes in place to cover concerns such as network and data exposure, non-secure access points, malware and viruses, and lost or stolen devices. These should be paired with management programs to monitor device activity, encrypt sensitive data, and lock out or wipe compromised devices.
Before allowing their mobile devices to connect to any corporate systems, employees must understand and agree to mobile device management policies and practices.
3. Personal vs. Professional Data
With employee-owned devices come personal files and data. Help your employees segment their personal and professional files, programs and access by creating sandboxes on mobile devices for work-related email, PDFs, video, corporate programs or other sensitive data.
A key benefit of this approach is that when an employee leaves the company, you can wipe all business-related materials from his or her device without removing personal data. The mechanics of this functionality will vary based on platform used, but some are able to selectively wipe devices in a matter of seconds.
4. Application Management
Another hot topic was the new trend, bring-your-own-application, or BYOA—employees bringing business-focused apps into their organizations via mobile devices. While it has been called the new path for savvy enterprise start-ups, BYOA also has implications for the security of your network.
Therefore, it’s important to alert employees of your company’s application blacklist —programs not allowed on devices that access company data. It’s also a good idea to develop an application whitelist that includes recommended applications for all employees, or for employees in specific departments.
Incorporate the lists into your mobile device policy, update them regularly, and make them easily available to staff to prevent copycat or non-secure applications from entering your network.
In the past two months, both Gartner and Forrester evaluated mobile collaboration vendors. Each found 13 vendors that passed evaluation criteria and rose to the top of the pack. Analysis like this, along with interoperability testing, can help determine what technologies make your whitelist.
We were also excited to hear that several organizations represented at the event have been creating custom applications for a variety of uses.
5. Mobile Integration with Traditional IT Systems
Lastly, company IT leaders are starting to think about how mobile devices affect existing IT systems and processes.
When upgrading corporate systems, IT managers must now think about all available end-user devices—including tablets and smartphones— and what mix makes the most sense for the company employees. CIOs, CTOs and other company leaders need to consider how form factors can be used create a competitive advantage, or drive improvements in business processes.
Also, with a mobile workforce comes a demand for mobile printing. Options like HP ePrint allow employees to print from their mobile devices to any network printer, or to public printers on HP’s network.
Your Thoughts?
What mobile-device management topics are top of mind for you? Join the conversation by commenting below.
To learn more about mobile-device management, see the following MCPc blog posts:
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Ira Grossman, VP, Personal Systems Group, has more than 15 years of technology project management experience and is an expert in lifecycle management and mobile device management for the enterprise, including the iPad. Connect with Ira on LinkedIn.
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