Nearly 50% of American workers now do their jobs remotely at least some of the time, while the number of people telecommuting in the U.S. increased 115% between 2005 and 2015. Managed mobility services (MMS) quickly sprang up to cater for this phenomenon, and, while offerings have evolved at an impressive pace over the years, mobility still presents a number of challenges for both customer and vendor – here are four to look out for.
1. Security
To put it simply, corporate assets become less secure the moment they’re taken out of the office. The risks of data leakage/loss, hacking, insecure third-party usage (e.g. family or friends at home), exposure to malicious apps such as trojans, and unsanctioned jailbreaking all increase. And, of course, a device kept in the office is much less likely to be stolen or lost than one used on the move and in public places.
A good MMS provider treats security with the full respect it demands, and, as a starting point, helps an enterprise to implement policy. Mobility policies should include guidelines to educate users and drastically reduce the risk of assets and data being compromised.
But, just as importantly, contingencies form policy and mitigate the impact of a potential breach. For example, an employee who loses a BYOD or corporate device in a coffee shop automatically knows to report the event to the employer, who will then react with measures such as blocking email access and using remote locks and data wipes.
An MMS vendor helps set up several other lines of defense too, including data encryption, containerization (the partitioning of personal and corporate data), and authentication.
2. Policy Enforcement
Effective policy is crucial to the success of an MMS program, but, ensuring all employees engage with and follow guidelines can be a significant challenge. Staff may well receive policy documentation and communications but that doesn’t stop human nature kicking in. For example, some employees will:
- Do their utmost to absorb MMS policies and follow them but actually misinterpret or not understand them.
- Have defiant personalities, resent “being told what to do” and naturally rebel against guidelines.
- Fail to read/listen to policy as they assume they’re not going to learn anything new.
- Be reluctant to make the time to learn the new information, particularly if they have busy schedules.
However, a good MMS provider – with their experience of what works and what doesn’t – can help you overcome these difficulties.
As a starting point, a vendor evaluates your current policies, examining what’s working well and what could be improved. They’ll help you write policies with a friendly and easy-to-follow style, and ensure documents explain the value of compliance. Because if staff can see its importance, they’re more likely to comply.
An MMS vendor will set up a mobile device management (MDM) system – software that lets you manage, monitor, and secure your mobile devices across a variety of service providers and operating systems. Alerts can be configured, so you’re made aware if any users remove or disable the MDM software.
3. Keeping Up With Technology
In 2015, there were more than 24,000 different types of android device in existence, manufactured by over 400 different companies. And to date, there have been 8 different major versions of Android to contend with. While things are a bit simpler with the iPhone, no one could accuse the company of standing still for too long – frequently releasing new iterations of its proprietary operating system, iOS, as well as new devices.
What's more, the native capabilities of mobile devices (across all operating systems) are forever increasing.
We’re now on the tenth version of Windows and are in the midst of some major new technologies spreading their tentacles – for example, the Internet of Things, speech recognition, artificial intelligence, and wearable tech.
Add to all this the highly dynamic nature of mobility, with new plans and tariffs being introduced constantly, and the average enterprise quickly finds itself lost in a labyrinth.
However, dedicated MMS providers are immersed in the mobility sector and hold a firm understanding of current and future trends. MMS vendors help lift the considerable burden from internal teams, ensuring: a company has a strong grasp of what devices are being used and how, the best possible contract rates are negotiated, procurement options and inventories are kept up-to-date, and corporate assets and data are kept secure.
4. Supplying Full Access to Company Data
The aim of many companies, when it comes to mobility, is to enable their remote workforce to essentially take the office environment with them, letting them perform all of the same activities as their desk-based counterparts.
For the home worker using a desktop PC, the necessary technology has improved vastly in recent years, and said company aim can now be met.
However, the true challenge now lies in supplying full real-time data access to workers on the move who are using mobile devices. A Wi-Fi hotspot or mobile data connection is simply not as quick or reliable as one in the office or home. And while 5G will reduce the gap, it seems likely this disparity will exist for some time to come.
Then there are the stark differences between the mobile and desktop experience – working on a spreadsheet, for example, is much more limited when using a mobile device.
Many desktop applications have a mobile equivalent, but back-end integration is a big sticking point for mobile apps (and therefore mobile workers). In fact, a survey by Red Hat revealed that 43 percent of respondents identified back-end integration as the top challenge for mobile app development. The software company went on to analyze this finding:
As organizations shift to become more mobile-centric, back-end integration is where many are hitting a wall—the back-end presents myriad challenges, while other challenges such as security continue to be a concern. In order to solve these mobile issues, organizations should look to maximize efficiency by leveraging mobile platforms to accelerate development while reducing complexity.
Learn More
In an effective partnership, both vendor and customer fully understand the challenges we’ve highlighted and then work together to best navigate them. If you’re considering MMS, ask prospective vendors how they approach these key industry issues and ask for evidence to support their responses – try and catch them out.
We’d also recommend viewing Gartner’s latest analysis of the MMS landscape, which evaluates seven of the key MMS providers (including Cass), as well as offering unbiased, independent insight of the current market as a whole.
Topics: managed mobility
