The Evolution of Mobile Application Management
While some enterprises have provided ‘company phones’ resulting in privacy issues or employees carrying an additional ‘personal phone’, this practice has slowly given way to BYOD (BYOD) policies. The problem with MDM has always revolved around how to ensure security while allowing for employees to maintain privacy when it comes to personal data. The solution to this problem is Mobile Application Management:
“Mobile application management (MAM) describes software and services responsible for provisioning and controlling access to internally developed and commercially available mobile apps used in business settings on both company-provided and “bring your own” smartphones and tablet computers.” (Wikipedia)
While the mobile application market has been dominated by consumer apps, enterprises have started to catch on and there are now many applications looking to solve the mobile enterprise application markets requirements. Whether its Slack or Salesforce, these apps are often mobile extensions of web apps. While these apps often have their own security settings, the issue becomes the cluttering of the employees smartphone.
When it comes to consumer applications, retentions rates are around 20% after the first week. While enterprise applications can be mandated, clearly smartphone users value the space on their devices. Still, there is much room for growth, according to Scott Sheffer, VP, publisher business solutions, Google, “88 percent of the growth in connected devices came from mobile devices,” As smartphones computing power and importance continues to increase, the need to utilize their capabilities for business purposes has grown. Nonetheless, the number of apps and the time being spent on mobile apps is on the rise.
Growth of mobile usage can be noted across the board, with ‘utilities & productivity’ pointing to the increased use of mobility for enterprises. As time goes on “The notion of ‘going online’ itself is going to fade away” and “always connected” will be the norm according to Google’s Sheffer. The U.S. population consumes a quarter of their media through their mobile devices. How do enterprises keep with the times while avoiding the pitfalls of providing too many apps with little use or retention?
One interesting approach to this problem is a single container app for all your company apps and content. MAM offered by DronaHQ packages all mobile enterprise applications in a single customized and branded mobile app. By packaging all the apps in one place, companies are better positioned to dictate compliance in the single app without having to interfere with the rest of their employees’ smartphone and personal data. As more apps are included and the mobility strategy scales the platform automatically adds any new apps OTA (Over the Air) across Android, Apple, Windows and BlackBerry mobile OSs.
With user management, role management, content management and security features already included, DronaHQ offers a complete MAM solution for any enterprise. Able to integrate with Salesforce, email and internal systems like an HRMS, LMS or a CRM, the possibilities for customization are limitless. Having worked with large companies like Colgate and Pfizer, a variety of apps for Sales, HR, L&D and C-Suite Executives have been built across many diverse industries.
Remember, when thinking mobile, think for the future because enterprise mobility has only just begun and is not going away.