Enterprises continue to struggle with mobilizing their workforce, specifically with how to handle the distribution of mobile devices. The battle is typically between company-provided devices or allowing employees to bring their own device into the corporation through a “bring-your-own-device” model.
A number of companies have been tackling the mobilization challenge for years, a task that has evolved with the myriad of smartphones and tablets that are now targeted for both personal and business use. One of those firms is IBM, which this summer announced a global collaboration with Apple for enterprise mobility that encompasses IBM’s offerings in big data and analytics, Apple’s mobile devices, and a host of native iPhone and iPad applications custom-built for specific verticals. The two companies called the IBM MobileFirst for iOS partnership “landmark” and said that the first solutions would focus on bringing IBM’s big data capabilities to iPads and iPhones. The deal also opens up IBM’s global enterprise reach to Apple, with IBM selling Apple mobile devices to business clients around the world.
A big deal indeed, as Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices have become the “gateway” for BYOD into many enterprises. This issue could become more pressing following the recent release of Apple’s latest phone 6 and 6 Plus devices, both posting larger screens that would seem to enable greater use cases for enterprises.
Looking to ensure a smooth transition for enterprises moving into the BYOD space, Kumar A, senior customer success manager at IBM’s MaaS360 customer platform team, released a list of the top five “success factors” to ensure that an enterprise’s mobile rollout is launched successfully.
1. Communicate with employees: Open communication with employees is the No. 1 success factor for mobile deployment. A mobile rollout should flow downhill. Executives should enroll their devices first, communicating the capabilities and privacy features before deploying throughout the organization. That way, employees can see that the management team is committed to implementing mobile and are made aware of what the solution can actually do before they are using it themselves.
2. Do your due diligence: A surprising number of organizations don’t take the critical step of figuring out why they need a mobile program before they implement it, and don’t consider how employing a management solution will affect the current state of their business. An administrator that does his or her due diligence before implementation can avoid that misstep by confirming EMM is meeting needs and not impeding them, and evaluating and identifying the requirements of workers before moving forward.
3. Enforce passwords/codes on devices: Today’s mobile devices house all sorts of sensitive corporate data. Documents, e-mails and more are all susceptible to being lost or stolen if the simple step of setting a password is not taken. Although it seems self-explanatory, many companies overlook this key step in making sure a mobile deployment is successful. Once devices are enrolled, be sure to enforce passwords/codes with a relatively high level of complexity to keep that corporate data safe from prying eyes.
4. Provide education/training to end users: Much like communication, thorough training and education is vital to the success of a mobile deployment. Employees need to understand exactly what their capabilities and restrictions are in order to get the most out of their mobile devices. Administrators can be sure there are no surprises for employees or IT by taking this important step.
5. Manage e-mail profiles: Some of the most important success factors are implemented after an employee has left a company. Oftentimes, e-mail profiles remain active even after an employee’s last day, leaving sensitive information exposed. Administrators should arm themselves with an EMM solution that gives them the ability to configure and manage profiles, meaning they can selectively remove the profile from a device without touching the other information on the phone.
Bonus: Be prepared to provide employees with easy access to apps and corporate content. These two quickly follow most successful mobile device deployments. It’s good practice when doing your due diligence to also test functionality in this area.
