Mobile Device Management

Mobile devices have become absolutely critical components to our society. Currently, its been suggested that more than 230 million Americans over 13 use them. They’ve become crucial pieces of many aspects of our daily life, including our work. More than 30 percent of all mobile service subscribers in the US are businesses. But, with great technology comes great responsibility, and many an employee has been faced with the daunting prospect of telling a boss that they lost their company phone. Thanks to mobile device management systems, however, the number is growing smaller.

In the past, many companies utilized a bring your own device or Byod policy, however such models posed threats to the security of company information. For that reason, most employers whose employees would need devices in order to work efficiently now provide devices for their use. In these instances, iPhones have become particularly popular devices for businesses to provide, although Blackberrys have also been chosen for their strong encryption systems based on multiple factors besides a user’s PIN. iPhones are also quite secure, as both Blackberry and iPhone devices come equipped with AES or Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm. AES is a data scrambler widely regarded as completely unbreakable, making iPhones and Blackberrys highly popular for companies wishing to secure their information.

Often, companies that provide iPhones to their employees are literally responsible for iPhone security and iPhone management of hundreds of phones. Should an iPhone be lost or stolen, company information on a phone could easily be compromised without the help of iphone management systems. Part of keeping iPhones from becoming susceptible to security attacks is keeping software up to date. When the latest updates are applied in a timely manner, the chances that an iPhone will have trouble with a virus are significantly lessened. Though individual users might find it easy to keep their phones up to date, the task is trickier for a large company managing hundreds of devices. An IT manager needs assistance identifying, tracking and fixing computers that are not up to date, and an iPhone management system can provide that help. This is where patch management software comes into play. Patch management software allows IT managers to discover which devices need software updates and can allow them to automate updates to devices without needing to physically access each phone. Such software saves an incredible amount of time and energy with the added bonus of keeping company devices secure and up to date.

As the technology we use in our daily lives has become more and more complex, so has the protection of our information. It is, however, comforting to know that technology helping to keep our information safe is progressing at an equal rate.