Managing a mobility system is a significant undertaking for a business, especially given the increasing power and technology of smartphones and related applications. A strategic approach is required, however, to ensure the right technology and enterprise systems are adopted to prevent potentially devastating fallout for today's businesses competing in a global marketplace. In this regard, mobility management solutions become an essential requirement for any business.
Ideally, the correct, tailored technological management solution from the outset is the best way to ensure seamless results and value for the investment. Altering or updating a mobility management system already implemented in a business can be challenging due to the cost and interruptions to business. You are then left looking at working with a less than the ideal solution and facing the consequences of scrapping the system and starting over.
Either way, the business is looking at serious interruptions for not adopting the management system best suited to their requirements.
What can a business do, therefore, to avoid negatively impacting their operation? How can costly errors be avoided from the start so that technology assists in realising the full potential of the business?
Here we discuss some common enterprise mobility system issues that arise and analyse the best ways to address them to avoid harmful outcomes for businesses:
Misjudging the Development Requirements of Mobile Applications
Underestimating the unique development requirements of Mobile Applications is a very common mistake. Web and desktop apps are not the same as mobile applications and require a different technical approach. If in-house developers are creating solutions, the team may need training or skill development, specifically in mobile application technology, in order to produce a suitable solution. Alternatively, external mobile app specialists may need to be consulted to ensure any application designed is firstly functional but also meets the design brief and needs of the company.
Incorrect Integration Into the Network
Before launching a mobile application, it needs to be first integrated into the company's own IT network and tested. In order to develop a mobile application that is supported by the companies exiting infrastructure, the design and integration need to be considered early on in the process. So not understanding the interplay between the Network and application is a common critical mistake. Connections with the server and how the app is going to communicate data back and forth from the Network are just a few things to be considered.
Not Testing the Mobile Apps Before Launch.
Many times users are turned off forever after using an application for the first time and encountering too many errors. Not Testing the mobile application features and functionality before deployment can lead to serious implications down the line. The team needs to look at compatibly, performance and security issues. Simply by not testing on all operating systems before launch can often see difficulties in implementation. Also, the security standards need to be considered in terms of whether they will interfere with the optimal performance of the application.
Ignoring User Experience
It seems obvious that the user experience would be foremost in the plan for developing a mobile application; however, often, the design comes from the angle of addressing the businesses needs first, not the user's needs. Various issues can be addressed at this stage to ensure the technology is optimising the business function and connectivity, as well as ensuring employee uptake and correct use of the application occurs.
Implementing Unplanned BYOD Plan
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is where employees or contractors use their own personal devices in the business. It has become increasingly common; however, it does come with some inherent risks. One costly error businesses can make is not creating a plan for the incorporation of BYOD programs into the existing networks. Security is an obvious area of concern. Issues like malware brought in from devices outside the business is one major problem encountered. Also, keeping the integrity of private data shared and stored between the business and personal devices can prove to be a major challenge.
A BYOD strategic plan will, therefore, encompass correct handling and security of devices. Procedures and policies need to address ensuring devices are kept updated and secure.
Inadequate Security of Mobile Devices
As alluded to above, one of the primary reasons for a business to implement enterprise mobility management is to address the issue of security. However, the system itself cannot fix the problem in isolation. A range of supporting business infrastructure and processes need to be in place in order to address all possible security issues modern businesses face. Cyber-security, as it pertains to your individual business, should be part of an overall risk management strategy and work in conjunction with the enterprise mobile management system.
One way to support the system is to invest in employee training. A solid understanding of basic and contemporary security principles and practices should underpin an overall security strategy. Passwords and authorisations are another area of the system where attention is required. A system to manage password security is invaluable when and if devices are stolen or lost. Increasingly strategies for security centred around the new landscape of risky content and social media use have been required by businesses to ensure a robust, secure system.
Security of mobile applications is another area of concern for today's businesses. As mentioned earlier, the enterprise mobile management system can assist with security, but it cannot be effective as a standalone response. Technical staff can play a key role in selecting the right applications for the business and ensuring the applications are kept up-to-date to maintain the integrity of the security system.
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An unfortunate reality is that people pose the highest security risk to enterprises in mobile management systems. Often it's the employees' lack of diligence that results in breaches to systems. It serves to highlight the point that the enterprise mobile management system is only as good as the integration into the wider security network, which includes staff. Education, along with supportive procedures and technology, can all see results in this space.
Data security is essentially a concern for all businesses today, and secure mobile devices play an important role. The enterprise mobility solutions and its various tools, alongside secure mobile devices and involving staff in the system, all work towards ensuring the integrity of data stored.
The advent of blockchain technology, which is at the forefront of ensuring the highest level of security, offers a much-desired solution. Hence, a business needs to hire a Blockchain app development company which can easily address its security issues.
No Long Term Vision
Planning for the long term requires vision; however, future scenarios are often hard to account for when it comes to technology. Lack of vision is often one of the prime mistakes a business can make when implementing a new system.
A set of KPI's can be one way to identify and measure the rollout of an enterprise mobility management solution. The strategy could answer such issues as separating personal and work data on BYOD devices, the ability of IT staff to remotely remove company data, file sharing and connectivity protocols and email data sharing policies.
Another way to improve the mobile management system may be for the business to view their employees as 'clients.' This serves to supply valuable feedback to the IT staff about the end-user experience as well as create a sense of importance and priority to the system to the rest of the business.
The IT function of the business should be encouraged and supported to demonstrate the value of the system to crucial stakeholders who can support the implementation of the system. While employees, vendors and other interested parties are not fully engaging in the system, the integrity of the system as a whole is vulnerable. If others understand issues such as the future importance of mobile technology programs, and the issues surrounding security, the entire system surrounding the enterprise mobile management system is likely to prove more successful.
Future changes to the structure of an organisation can impact the success of the enterprise mobility system. The system should be developed to not only cope with current-day business scenarios, but be able to adapt to a changing structure or function. In order to address a plethora of such functions, mobile application development services should consider the above-mentioned issues.
To demonstrate this point, a local system may be developed to address reporting lines for subordinates to their managers. The company may grow, however, and start to include a remote workforce, which could mean a potentially significant rebuild to the enterprise mobility management service to accommodate the change of structure. Unless the system is scalable to a web app or SaaS platform, an update to the enterprise mobility system will be required. So you can see the importance of future planning and flexibility when initially designing an enterprise mobility solution.
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The answer to these issues is to, therefore, to gather a team with vision and try and develop an application that is scalable and versatile to handle future changes in direction and function. The investment in this technology should ensure that solutions are developed for long term use by the company, not just a short term answer to current issues. Productivity and overall company performance and security could be riding on the efficiency and suitability of the technology integrated into the wider Network.
Therefore an investment into a future-proof enterprise mobility management solution which is scalable, flexible and integrates into other areas of the business can ensure a successful deployment.
Read the blog- How Blockchain Can Be Significantly Beneficial for HR Managers is in the Area of Recruitment?
Insufficient App Testing
We all know the impression of a badly presented website or application can leave with the user. This can especially be seen when going from mobile to desktop versions of applications.
The same bad impression can also result from an enterprise mobility system that has not been sufficiently tested throughout development. Thorough research and development stages can go a long way to ensuring the success of the mobile application and how well it is received and ultimately used by the stakeholders.
Feedback is invaluable, as is proactive testing by the developing team. Hardware scenarios need to be tested along with overall performance and a smooth end-user experience. To gain a clear picture of whether the application is matching the design, proactive testing is an essential step not to be skipped.
Ignoring Device, Software, and Firmware Updates
One function that can pose a security risk and cause future issues is that of failing to install timely device and software updates. Many users decline to update when prompted; however, this has obvious potential dangerous ramifications for security. This frequently encountered issue in businesses can be addressed via a management mobility service that manages updates.
Not Responding to Advancements in Technology
Enterprise mobility management platforms have come a long way in terms of sophistication and the management of mobile devices, data and related applications. However, in order to ensure long term success, it is vital that enterprise mobility be monitored in terms of its response to the fast-changing technological environment.
The first area of note is the ever-changing mobile security environment. New threats and risks are a constant challenge, not just to wired networks but to mobile devices and networks too.
The widely-reported increase in recent times of cyberattacks to mobile networks and devices is evidence of this dynamic environment. To ensure the cost of the investment by business in enterprise mobility is fully realised, security personnel in IT departments will need to monitor and respond to the constant and increasing threats to mobile networks. With the increasing adoption of latest user-centric apps such as wallet apps, enterprise mobility management systems should consider wallet app development as an essential part of future development scope.
Conclusion
A final aspect to consider is the wider security and regulatory environments. Companies are facing the imposition of increased auditing requirements and system testing to remain compliant with today's new standards and threats. This increased burden of compliance is made all the more difficult when factoring in the involvement of multiple mobile platforms. A way to approach this is via a database of devices containing regulated data and using software to run regular tests on your mobile devices. The drastic and irreversible consequences of failing to comply with regulations, let alone internal company requirements, can be tremendous depending on the nature of the business.
