Posted by Jennifer Burns on Mon, May 10, 2010
The replay is now available here.
Smart phone security is complicated by the consumerization of enterprise mobility because it challenges IT to support multiple smart phone platforms and an astronomical increase in mobile applications.
Discover how robust usage policies and nimble management strategies help you get the most productivity out of your mobile assets and minimize security risks when you join mobile guru Philippe Winthrop, creator of independent think tank The Enterprise Mobility Foundation, at this free information-packed webcast.
Check it out and watch it at your leisure. http://www.thevoicereport.com/MobileSecurity
Posted by Jennifer Burns on Wed, Feb 10, 2010
If you missed the educational webinar (Devices out of Control? Wireless Mobility Management for the Enterprise) we hosted yesterday with AOTMP, you can still view it at your leisure.
I was really pleased with the audience's questions and feedback from the session. It was a really informative seminar that mixed in a number of tips enterprises like yourself can apply when establishing your mobility management program. I will try to blog about some of the new tips I learned in the near future.
In the meantime, click here to view the recording.
Posted by Piers Tyler on Tue, Feb 02, 2010
Jenn, our esteemed Marketing Director, has asked me to write something for our blog regarding the market here in SE Asia.
One of my biggest challenges in this region is the considerable number of organisations expensing business-related mobile phone charges, rather than using a corporate-liable service. In my experience, this is particularly common in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Whilst this gives an individual freedom to choose the service, plan and handset they want, it causes headaches for a business. Personally contracted rates and equipment costs are typically higher than those negotiated collectively by an organization. Intra-fleet discounts are difficult for carriers to apply across multiple accounts, and there is clearly a cost for carriers to issue bills and collect debts from numerous users. Even if individually contracted users have access to a corporate plan how can administrators be sure that the correct rates have been applied for each user? Security and manageability of data and applications is a minefield. Reporting and validation is difficult without consolidated billing, and of course, processing the expenses is laborious and costly. On the plus side - you can be sure that your business is only paying for people still employed by the business.
On the flip side, corporate liability appears to solve all of the problems above, but puts the onus for administration and validation back on to an organization. That's when you need a TEM solution to ensure you optimise your costs.
I have heard of a number of large organisations that are mandating a switch back to corporate liability, but this has typically been instigated when moving to a new supplier.
I'd be interested to hear people's views on this...please share your insights.
Anyway, I hope you found this interesting. I'll be back again soon.
photo by Henryleonghw
Posted by Jennifer Burns on Tue, Dec 15, 2009
I had a "Whoa" moment recently that I wanted to share. Did you know that if one of your employees gets into an accident while talking on corporate-liable device, your company may be liable for the damages? Well, I had no idea. It is a pretty disturbing thought. In fact, in 2005 Beers Skanska had to settle a suit $4.75 million after one of its employees slammed into a stationary car while reaching to retrieve a message on a mounted, handsfree cell phone. I sat on a great webinar hosted by the VoiceReport that discussed this and different tactics an organization can use to police mobile devices. Some of the tips included:
The key here is to make sure that you have your employees review, agree and sign off on your policy every year...at a minimum. CYA.
There are also some pretty cool tools/services out there that will disable certain functions (ie. texting and emailing) while driving. It actually monitors the phone's location, acceleration and velocity and shuts down functionality. The service carrier neutral and is just a few dollars a month. Thats a small price to pay when you consider a $4.75 M payout for a mistake.
Come to think of it, this may give parents with teenagers a little peace of mind when they get behind the wheel.
Unfortunately they weren't able to record the webinar but you can access the presentation materials here. It is definitely worth a scan.
Photo by by jk5854
Posted by Mark Evans on Mon, Dec 14, 2009
In response to John's recent post:
Monthly billing for smart phones is far more expensive than simple voice devices. My iphone would come in with data roaming at hundreds of dollars per month - where it used to be around a hundred. This alone makes it worth scrutiny. Add to this the complexity of the information contained; all the various categories of charges and then subsequent detail and I would easily spend 30 mins each bill satisfying myself that I really did rack up $500.
Its an easy stretch then to imagine
what its like for corporations receiving 20,000 such invoices (some corporate liable and some not) each month and having the task of being able to answer the question by their CFO... "This is huge! Are they right?"
photo by cybrgrl
Posted by John Bruce on Mon, Dec 14, 2009
The line between personal and business use of company assets has always been a little blurry - never called home from your desk?- but with smartphones it's becoming way more than that.
If, like me, you use a smartphone (mine's an iPhone) for 
business use and it's one that you chose and expense personally, then you're an ‘individual-liable' user. (not to be confused with a ‘corporate-liable' ). And you're a member of the fastest growing group in the adoption of mobile devices for business use. You also represent a great opportunity for business productivity, but at the same time you're a management challenge.
Stephen Drake of IDC has just published a good primer about the business challenges in employee use of smartphones and some initial recommendations for those of you just beginning to come to terms with the issue. Worth a read.
Photo by niallkennedy