For nine days, Pyxis Mobile's Mobile Productivity Blog will be publishing a series of articles providing the case for enterprise mobility, along with the technical considerations and evaluation criteria for selecting a mobile partner.
Enabling smartphone devices with real-time data and effective workflows creates opportunities, but also brings new challenges and concerns; one of the most important concerns that needs to be addressed is security. By their very nature, mobile devices are more likely than laptops to be lost or stolen, and Instat estimates that this was the case for 700,000 smartphones in 2007, a number that will only rise as market penetration increases. Businesses that deliver customer, employee, or partner data via mobile devices can find themselves vulnerable if those devices get into the wrong hands or are in any way compromised.
Enterprise mobility also has the potential to complicate compliance with industry specific privacy and security regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act (HIPPA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 17a-4. To address these issues, it’s essential that any solution being considered come with security safeguards at least as robust as those applied to other parts of the enterprise. These should include:
- Single sign-on and authentication support
- Over the air data encryption
- Policy-driven data wiping
- On-device and in-flight encryption
- Extensive on-device data control
- Time bomb
- Complete logging and audit trail
- Configurable caching that includes a no data cached option
For maximum functionality, choose a rich client
Companies considering a mobility strategy that pushes data through phone-based browsers should think again. A browser-based thin client solution offers low TCO, but falls flat when it comes to functionality and usability, and can’t handle complex workflows. The thick client option gives smartphone users access to more data and improved workflows, but information isn’t updated in real time. This leads to problems with calendar functionality, scheduling, and data integrity in situations where it is crucial to access the most recent information available, such as pulling stock quotes or transaction information. And because thick client solutions store data on the device, they’re vulnerable to security breaches. Rich client solutions, on the other hand, deliver real time, transient data and offer the most secure, up-to-date, and user-friendly experience. As Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft, said, “The rich client is number one…we’re committed to the rich client for the long term and continuing to find ways to increase productivity and derive value.”
Okay, now that we’re done addressing the important aspects of an enterprise mobility solution, come back tomorrow for our last chapter where we’ll provide you with a check list that you can use to evaluate your prospective venders.
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