Growing Mobile Management Sector Tries to Keep Up with Demand

Four Steps to Implement Mobile CRM the Right Way

The promising world, for vendors, at least, of mobile network management tools and platforms shows no signs of slowing down. New products and approaches are available on a daily basis, and some interesting announcements were made this week.

SAP and Ericsson will turn SAP’s Mobile Secure software Suite into a cloud-based service, according to Computerworld. The platform serves both Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and corporate-supplied devices, and it is device-agnostic.

AirWatch’s AppShield, according to ZDNet, provides security and management capabilities through use of the AirWatch Software Development Kit and App Wrangling features. The App Wrapping engine adds an extra level of security and management to existing internal apps without additional development.

The Next Web says that Google’s iOS Sync for Google Apps is a new feature for Apple devices that, in part, touches on mobility. The feature will work with iOS 7 and iOS 8 and will be built into Gmail and Google Drive apps. It will distribute Wi-Fi passwords and certificates to employees that will enable them to “easily connected to trusted networks.”

Dell is expanding its horizons, according to Silicon Angle. The company collaborated with Vonage Holdings to create the Dell Business Phone application. The EMM platform is aimed at creating a barrier between consumer and business uses of a device:

The result of a collaboration with VoIP giant Vonage Holdings Corp., the latest addition to the roster is not so much a feature but a separate solution. Dubbed Dell Business Phone, the application can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play and set up with a few clicks. Once installed, it creates a self-contained partition complete with its own dedicated call number that enables IT organizations to watch out for suspicious activity and enforce corporate governance policies without fear of overstepping privacy lines.

Good Technology’s new Mobile Cost of Ownership (MCO) Analyzer is designed to help organizations understand their mobile costs and how to lower them, according The VAR Guy:

The MCO Analyzer looks at device, carrier, labor and infrastructure costs, and provides a custom blueprint for lowering a company’s overall mobile-related costs, according to the company. The result: better insight into how much a company is spending on its mobility efforts and a clear path for reducing that spend, according to Good.

The MCO Analyzer is a complement to the Good Mobile Service Management platform and other Good products.

The need for these tools is obvious and may be growing. eWeek reported on a Kaspersky Lab survey of IT security personnel worldwide that shows growing inertia. The report found that employees are lax about reporting stolen devices. The portion of employees who notify their company on the day they notice a device has been stolen decreased from 60 percent last year to half in 2014. Thirty-eight percent of employees take as long as two days to notify employers and 9 percent take three to five days, the study found.

Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Intenet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at cweinsch@optonline.net and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.