This week’s five is a weekly column on five recent reads from all over the web. This week, we’ll talk about enterprise mobility.TWF-#11

Switch on your computers, open any browser, and google “digital transformation.” Of the several results that Google throws up, one of them will be “enterprise mobility.” And I’m pretty sure the number of times this term appears will be far higher than most other terms. Ever wondered why?

Digital transformation is a process of change that  depends on the simultaneous execution of several processes such as planning, adaption, collaboration, and innovation. With 4.61 billion mobile devices in the world, one of the most prominent catalysts that drives digital transformation is enterprise mobility. In fact, 90 percent of IT decision makers already agree that enterprise mobility is critical to customer engagement, competitiveness, and operational productivity.  

[To learn more about digital transformation trends, click here.]

Mobility needs more than device management.

So how do you embrace enterprise mobility? With a mobile device management (MDM) solution, right? Wrong! Enterprise mobility management (EMM) is more than just an MDM tool. I mean, there are so many factors like cloud, BYOD, micro apps, security, and more that need to be addressed by an EMM solution. Broadly, its functions can be classified into three categories: MDM, mobile content management, and mobile application management (MAM). Many enterprises are already aware of these functions and perhaps thats why, according to a survey by IDC, 65 percent of them are planning an increase in the overall spending on mobility, focusing mostly on application security, content security, and mobile device purchases.

[To learn more about mobility as a change catalyst, click here.]

[To learn more about the factors affecting enterprise mobility, click here.]

Focus on application management.

But if you ask me, MAM should perhaps be the main focus of your expenditure. With more and more enterprises coming up with their own internal apps and with BYOD practices taking effect across the globe, managing applications has become even more important. Not doing so can be disastrous. Take the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example. An employee playing “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood” unwittingly tweeted 52,000 followers a status update from the game. Unfortunately, these followers weren’t her own, but EPA’s. And before she, or her organization, could understand the situation, nearly 3,000 retweets had been sent, reaffirming that the EPA “is now a C-list celebrity in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood.” Actually, the app was designed in such a way that it could access the user’s Twitter account and tweet on the user’s behalf, automatically. And sadly, she was signed in with the company’s twitter account at the time. Had there been an MAM solution, such an embarrassing incident would not have happened, at least not while connected to office network.

An intelligence-based approach for implementation.

Implementing an EMM solution is complex. For its effective implementation, a thin line has to be drawn–a line that separates mobility’s capability to increase flexibility and productivity from the security and privacy issues raised by it. This is where analytics comes into the picture. To reduce the friction and frustration caused by long authentication processes, enterprises can contextually choose which data to encrypt and protect. They can also analyze users’ behavioral data to understand what apps and tools their employees use, how they use them, when, and how often. Implementation with proper intelligence will not only make it smoother and more effective, but will also provide employees freedom and flexibility without compromising network and data integrity. 

[To know how restricting solutions can add to employee frustration, click here.]

[To learn how analytics can help boost mobile security and productivity, click here.]

According to Gartner, by 2018, 50 percent of users will perform all online activities on smartphones and tablets. Needless to say, mobility is here to stay. Your enterprise’s productivity now depends on when and how you embrace it. So, what’s your next move? 

Check out last week’s five here.