Tag Archives: mobile device management

How MDM Makes IT Mobility’s Super Man

Faster than a speeding bullet, mobile devices have infiltrated ITs fortress of technology procurement solitude. Unlike most villains to IT, this is one with a noble pursuit. Users aren’t trying to overthrow ITs sovereignty as part of some nefarious scheme, they are merely trying to get more work done with the technology they are most comfortable with. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) offers untold potential for organizations, and IT can serve this new nirvana of productivity assuming they bring the right super powers to the battle.

Here’s a short list of the super powers mobile device management (MDM) grants IT.

X-Ray Vision: Visibility is step one. After all, you can’t protect or manage that which you can’t see. With MDM you get x-ray level granularity into the devices connecting to email servers, Wi-Fi and other corporate resources. You can also see how many mobile devices have been jailbroken or rooted to avoid unwanted infiltration of malware. Apps can be easily identified in no time as well from their own command console. Last, but certainly not least, with MDM devices can be found no matter where in the world they were left behind.

Super Speed to Save the Day: With Over-the-Air enrollment, wiping, policy pushes and App and content distribution IT can enable the mobility needs of end-users in nanoseconds instead of hours.

Super Strength for Super Security: The only way to stop the locomotive strength of mobility threats is to be armed with more powerful controls. Enforcing standardized passcodes for all devices and OS types is certainly step one, but with MDM you get policies to hold back other juggernauts of mobility issues like malicious apps, overages and device features like the camera.

Leap to the Top of Ivory Towers in a Single Bound: There’s still some C-Suite scrutiny when it comes to mobility. ROI is the word of the day when the board meets in their tower in the sky. With MDM in place you can use things like mobile expense management and other super reports to leap into the conversation of mobility’s costs, but also infinite benefits.

Support Secret Identities: We all have two lives, work and home. More and more mobile devices are becoming a reflection of this dual-persona. Email, apps and content we access on our devices change drastically when the clock strikes 5:00. Find an MDM that can offer a clear separation of these two lives so the company’s Vice-President doesn’t get a copy of the little league schedule and the little league doesn’t receive the latest financial forecasts.

Banner Ads Begging to Be Clicked

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Some recent banner ads I created for the different verticals my company is trying to target for Mobile Device Management.

K-12 Education

Healthcare

Higher Ed

Government & Public Sector

Baby…Got…Leads

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Overcome by tablets and smartphones entering the office, school or hospital? Not sure how to start deploying, managing and securing these devices? What about Bring Your Own Device? Let us help you get moving with mobility!

Your Guide to the Best-Practices of Mobile Device Management Explores:

Essentials:

Policy before technology
Device discovery and usage
Passwords, encryption and wipes
Keeping MDM simple
Over-the-air configuration
User self-service

Advanced Topics:

Mobile application and document management
Managing data before overages happen
Ensure policy compliance

FACEBOOK HOME – MOAN…MOAN ON THE RANGE FOR IT

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How many raging narcissists, chatty Cathy’s, social voyeurs, or simply millennials occupy seats at your organization? Start the headcount today, because they are about to change the course of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) for IT.

By change the course, I actually mean to say, induce a new layer of frustration and security sieves for corporations trying to embrace mobility for efficiency. Yesterday, each of these Android touting seekers of attention or looky loos at the life of others had their grandest mobile wishes answered with the announcement of Facebook Home.

Facebook Home Ate My Lock

What is Facebook Home? Basically, it’s all Facebook all the time on your tablets or smartphones. In theory it’s not that different from current “skins” added by manufacturers like Samsung and HTC for product differentiation, but that’s theory.

In actuality, Facebook Home permeates all facets of the device – from hardware to every other App you use, there’s Facebook Home. Great, if Facebook is the reason you bought a smartphone, but how is that justified from a work perspective? I’m in marketing, so Facebook does devour a portion of my daily activities, but certainly not enough to justify the need for my friend’s circular “chat heads” living at the top of my Twitter App or SalesForce. Nor is it enough time to warrant home screen access to Facebook services and most certainly not enough to justify the ability to share a picture of my lunchtime latte without having to unlock the device. Functionality faux pas be damned, this is what should truly terrify every security wonk that has purview over mobility.

Yes I Resent Facebook Home, So Should Every Company That Values Security

I could talk functionality frustrations all day. Yes, I resent any app that puts my home screen where all my apps live down a level, requiring more finger waggling than a Doug Henning magic show to gain access to the device’s most basic feature. It’s wonderful that for today the home will show the latest updates from my retired parents in N.C., but it will not be wonderful when that space is eventually displaying an ad for products.

Security and management though, is what makes this new Facebook nirvana the most terrifying. Want to know where your phone is? Simply call Facebook, they’ll know based off of your GPS. All check-ins with FourSquare will likewise shoot data back to Facebook so it can serve up ads for more pizza while you’re eating pizza. Oh, and did I mention that little part about being able to do activities without unlocking the tablet or phone?

Then there is the poor IT professional who already has enough headaches with Android fragmentation in a BYOD environment. Now you will not only have to worry about the varying buffet items like éclairs and jellybeans and all of their various point based permutations therein, you now will have the extra layer of Facebook Home munching away on users data.

The simple answer to manage Facebook Home is mobile device management where IT can allow or disallow varying operating systems. In the past most users didn’t care if they were forced into a certain OS, heck most users have no idea which version of Android they are currently running. They’ll notice the loss of Facebook home though, and you can be sure a cacophony of whines will arise when IT won’t allow it.

But not allow you must. Sure IT needs to serve end-users, but never at the cost of compromising sensitive company data or enabling time wasters…like Facebook.

Sir, Your Apps Doth Offend (and Expose) thy Company

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Apps, we all love em, we all use em, and we’re all leaving the enterprise more exposed than the albino beach backside of a Coppertone ad model.

Recently, Business Insider posted the Top 50 iPhone Apps that employees are subversively leveraging within the corporate firewall despite IT’s fervent emails and general dismay. In order of use, here are the top 10:

Facebook
Dropbox
Google Mail
Apple iCloud
LinkedIn
Disqus (an app for leaving comments on Web sites)
Salesforce
Amazon Web Services (Amazon’s cloud that hosts files and apps)
Hotmail
Box

Let’s assume for a minute that completely ignoring the security wishes of the IT department is a forgivable practice. Let’s also assume that no one has ever added files with sensitive information to Facebook when we meant to instead post pictures of a great pair of shoes or a cool car. What’s most alarming in this list? I’ll give you a hint; focus on numbers 2, 3, 4, 8 and 10.

Apps that Cause IT Apoplexy

The problems in this scenario are many; adding sensitive corporate material to Facebook is a faux pas of egregious proportions, but at the end of the day while this is plausible it’s a slim chance scenario.

What should give any CIO or CSO worth their salt pause for concern are the gigabytes of data being thrown into the cloud with complete and reckless abandon via consumerized file Apps like Dropbox, iCloud, Amazon and Box.

Sure, people need a password for these sites, but as we all know one keystroke logger will send that Fort Knox crumbling to the ground. Also, how many people actually log out of these Apps…ever? Not often, which means anyone who grabs their mobile device be it family or foe has immediate access to a plethora of corporate brain trust.

Wrap That App (Or at least manage it)

So what is one to do with these partakers of non-permissioned Apps? Lack of visibility especially in a mobile environment is no longer an acceptable excuse. With Mobile App Management (MAM) solutions, IT has the ability to see every App across the enterprise, and yes this includes those much talked about Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD).

If privacy or employee rights are a concern with BYOD, mobile app management combined with Mobile Document Management can let IT and mobility business partners at the department level dictate the documents that may and may not be shared.

Basically, there are options when it comes to Apps. Depending on your specific security needs, you might want to leverage the panacea of security with containerization, but that might also be overkill. At the very least you should have visibility and management before your entire enterprise is uploaded for the world to see.

10 Reasons You DON’T Need Mobile Device, App & Doc Management

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A wee little campaign I conjured to revitalize an exhausted database

Smartphones? A passing fad. Tablets? A smartphone too big for its britches!

Even if you believe in this ”mobility” hoopla, does it really need to be managed and secured? Maybe not…

We’ve told you a million times why you need mobile device, app and doc management with strong security…but maybe you don’t.

If your organization fits into one of these 10 highly “probable” scenarios, skip the MDM and with the money you save go buy the office…uhhh…a dozen donuts (sorry, but MaaS360 is really affordable).

10 Reasons You Don’t Need Mobile Device Management

Do You:

Employ only those assimilated by the Borg?
Feel smartphones are only for calls?
Think business is best run uninformed?
Look for shiny halos over new hire’s heads?

Check out even more scenarios with this free eGuide!

E-MAIL MARKETING: DRIVING THE HARD OFFER

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Hard offers are something I have waited my whole career to create. In larger (and much slower) services or big sale organizations, discounts are never advertised, it all happens at contract time.

However, in the world of Mobile Device Management – discounts runeth deep trying to capture the market’s hearts and minds. This email was for select sales reps to send to select clients.

Theory on sales emails – SKIP THE FLUFF. Consumers can smell marketing from 10 miles away. Quick conversational and OUTSIDE of your marketing automation system are essential for that personal feel

Subject: 15 for 12 – 3 Months of MDM on Us

Season’s Greetings (name),

The holidays are for giving, and I wanted to tell you about a special offer I’ve been allowed to give some of my select clients for MaaS360.

If you’re able to sign with us before 12/31, I can give you 3 Free months of MDM, basically a15 month year for all device, app and doc management. Here are a few bullet points on why you should act now:

No Budget, No Problem: Order today and pay nothing until the coffers are refilled for 2013
3 FREE Months for every device: This could add up to thousands in savings
Holidays Deliver Bountiful BYOD: Phones and Tablets are predicted to be top sellers this year, which means those devices will enter the workplace starting January 2^nd.
December is the Perfect Time for New Programs: As the year winds down, vacations wind up. There’s no better time to start experimenting with the hundreds of control and security features in MaaS360 without interruption. You can be signed on and have your first device enrolled in less than a half hour.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you want to take advantage of this offer. I want to get you the best price possible and I know for certain 12/31 is the drop dead date, we won’t be extending the deadline.

P.S. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, feel free to share this Holiday reason with your stakeholders and approvers.

When Apps Attack – Mobile Application Management Saves the Day

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Businesses have relied on anti-virus and malware protection on PCs and Laptops for years. Mobile devices were once immune, but as their ability to behave more like a computer increases, so does the inevitability that blackhats will find new and creative ways to infect these devices and siphon information one app at a time.

100,000 suspicious Apps permeate the Google Play market right now. That’s almost 1/6 of the total number of Apps available for the world’s leading mobile OS, Android. Granted all apps aren’t created equally, so to say your enterprise Androids have a 1 in 6 chance of being infected is an exercise in fear mongering versus fact. However, there is a definitive danger that will only grow larger as mobile devices continue their exponential rise in becoming a commodity for living…and for work.

“Well, We Don’t Use Android”

To say Android will never be part of your enterprise mobility strategy is a false comfort. As Gen Y and Millennials enter the workplace they come packing their own devices. While the term is often referred to as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), these digital natives DEMAND their own devices. Like the Borg from Star Trek, technology is part of their DNA. You can try safeguards to keep them out of email and supposed network “safe” spots like Wi-Fi, but with each new generation of smartphones and tablets it becomes infinitely easier for workers young and old to create their own tunnels of productivity.

“Fine, then Windows Phone 8 it is”

Not so fast. While a walled garden approach to App vetting provides certain comforts as Apple has proven with the iOS, apparently this is not the case with Windows 8. A wunderkind hacker in India, Shantanu Gawde, has apparently found a way to exploit the new mobile OS so nefarious individuals can see all the phone has to offer – including your emails, text messages, contacts and more. The verdict is still out on whether this exploit is bakes into the OS or App related, but regardless, IT managers should still be at the ready to keep a careful eye on Microsoft mobile devices and their burgeoning App market over the next few months.

“OK, we go Apple”

Good call, you’ll probably stay safe from malware, but what about the employee who attaches company info to Facebook, or accidentally shares vital corporate secrets via a mistap when in their WordPress App? Mobile security relies as much on management and smart policies to govern devices as it does on simply ensuring Apps aren’t festering with malware. Blocking social sharing Apps will be imperative for companies where security is a paramount concern. Sadly trying to do this with native management tools becomes an exercise of manual frustration.

End Analysis: Mobile Devices & Apps Need Management

Not all Apps are evil. Healthcare for instance, has been one of the leading industries to see the promise of Apps for better bedside care. But even Apps with the best of intentions could pose a significant information sieve for your organization. In many cases the level of control you will need over Apps and the devices they live on will be dictated by the unique needs of your business. Your mobile device policy will be your first step in defining your control levels over mobility and what will or will not be allowed on mobile devices. Your second step is to find a mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) solution with control granularity to meet your defined security needs and assist in automating the deployment of those standards.

The ABCs of Mobile Device Management

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Here’s a Whitepaper/ebook (whatever) I created to serve as a primer for teaching IT neophytes the basics of enterprise mobility and mobile device management.

I will link up the full paper when it finally stops delivering leads for MaaS360 by Fiberlink. Art was provided by the very talented Mr. Greg Leighton.

The ABCs of Mobile Device Management

Securely managing mobile devices, apps and docs doesn’t have to be hard;
in fact, with MaaS360, it’s as simple as ABC…

We cover all the essentials from A-Z

A is for Android, fragmentation is scary
B is for BYOD, you can’t control what they carry
C is for Cloud, used for every device

To get to Z, download your copy of the ABC’s of Mobile Device Management today and see just how simple it is to deploy, secure and manage the latest smartphones and tablets.

Selective Wipe a Business Imperative (If you employee anyone under 40)

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Here’s a set of ads I recently created for Fiberlink.

The intent, get people to sign up for our MaaS360 Cloud-Based Mobile Device Management product.

The results: Awesome Sauce. Almost a 10 fold increase on click-throughs from the standard vanilla stuff.

Rob Patey's Blog

Comic Books & Corporate Communications Collide

Tag Archives: mobile device management

How MDM Makes IT Mobility’s Super Man