McGloin said that once companies begin to address the question of application management one of the first questions will be around authentication, more specifically how they can avoid multiple sign-ins across numerous enterprise apps running across areas like enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounts and customer relationship management (CRM) for starters.
One connection
The ideal, he McGloin, is “having one connection and thereafter ten different apps can use it so it’s all about having this overarching picture of exposing services that multiple apps can uses.
Authentication of courses leads into questions around device, application and data security, an area which Rob Paddon, solutions director with Trilogy Technologies said is one of the key elements of enterprise mobility.
“Having the ability to separate corporate and personal applications is a very attractive proposition for business and this looks set to be a trend to develop further,” Karen O’Connor, Datapac
He would however warn that for solutions to secure devices and the data they carry must work “in the context of an overall security strategy”.
Paddon said that particularly in relation to the ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) phenomenon (“where there are many more ‘grey areas’ around roles, rights and responsibilities”), there is a danger that employees could fall foul of online security threats if their devices are “not considered as part of an overall policy”.
“This is not just about choosing a product or service it includes HR and management responsibilities. It does not need to be overwhelming or massively complex and expensive but does need a well thought out approach. In fact without this, organisations are far more likely to see costs and complexity spiralling as they keep plugging gaps,” said Paddon.
Must integrate
O’Connor said that for her, any “robust enterprise mobility strategy” should consider a number of elements such as security, data protection, infrastructure, applications and administration. “For any one element such as security to be considered robust they must integrate with and consider the other elements,” she argued.
She also noted for instance that a security solution for mobile devices must take into account the device type and the compatibility of the solution with that device type. “Another consideration is the wireless network solution as there needs to be joined up thinking between both this strategy and the security strategy,” she added.
“Areas such as MDM and MAM are now considered entry-level requirements for today’s enterprise,” Colm Warner, CWSI
Art Coughlan, Microsoft server and cloud platform lead, said that when most organisations look towards the concept of enterprise mobility “protection of data is top of their minds”. “I think,” said Coughlan, “for a lot of companies it’s no longer ‘bring your own device’ it’s ‘oh you’ve brought your own device’.”
Coughlan added that “it’s almost seen as a fait accompli among customers that they must embrace multiple device formats, multiple operating environments, multiple application delivery mechanisms and that’s what they’re really trying to wrestle with”.
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