How to manage Business Apps - Case for a Mobile Access Strategy -

Transcription

1 How to manage Business Apps - Case for a Mobile Access Strategy - Hans Heising, Product Manager Gábor Vida, Manager Software Development RAM Mobile Data 2011

2 Content Introduction 2 Bring your own device (BYOD) 2 Business apps 2 IT Challenges 3 How to deploy the apps to the employees (and only to the employees) 3 How to support the different flavors and brands of end user devices 3 How to manage the remote users 3 How to keep the infrastructure manageable and secure 4 MEAP 4 App development (HTML5) 4 Enterprise App Store 4 Business Space 5 Conclusion 5 RAM Mobile Data

3 Introduction Much quicker than anticipated smartphone shipments today already exceed personal computer shipments. The astonishing rate at which new mobile devices emerge and their widespread private use is the major force behind the recent consumerization of IT: the migration of consumer devices into enterprise computing. More and more employees are bringing their personal devices to the workplace. While mobility increases employee productivity, corporate IT management is facing new and serious challenges in the areas of data security, service and support. Bring your own device (BYOD) Research from Forrester consulting shows that already more than 20% of the companies allow employees to bring their own lap-tops, tablets and smartphones and use them for business purposes. Forrester Consulting interviewed the IT managers of 546 companies for their research; 50% of the respondents explain that a better self-service is the main reason for supporting the BYOD policy. Employees, who choose the devices themselves and treat the devices as their own, will also manage the devices better. Similar research in the Netherlands shows that already 30 to 40% of employees use their personal devices for business purposes. At the same time, today s increase in flexible work arrangements contributes to the blurring of the work and home environments. As a result employees require access to business applications on private devices with the same ease they experience with private consumer apps. Business apps Functionality for mobile consumers has become conveniently available. Public app stores give access to a variety of apps from which the consumers can choose whatever functionality they need. With the consumerization of IT a similar approach is appropriate for business apps. Instead of having to use complicated interfaces and processes, employees prefer to select a simple user friendly app for an action or task. For example, instead of a wading through a multifunctional web interface to the HR part of an ERP system, it is much easier to start a simple app for holiday requests, and another simple app to submit expense claims. Moreover, these apps should work on any smartphone or tablet. RAM Mobile Data

4 IT Challenges These advancements urge IT departments to address questions regarding access to the company network, access to the business critical back office systems and the question how to manage this. In other words, a mobile access strategy is required. The mobile access strategy for any company that decides to support business apps on private devices should at least answer these questions: > How to deploy the apps to the employees (and only to the employees) > How to support the different flavors and brands of end user devices > How to manage the remote users > How to keep the infrastructure manageable and secure How to deploy the apps to the employees (and only to the employees) Public app stores are open to every consumer, inside and outside the company. Deployment through a public app store means that everyone can download the apps and try to access the company back-office. To avoid unsolicited access to the back-office, the configuration should be kept separate from the apps in the app store. Obviously this will generate a lot of service requests to the IT department. How to support the different flavors and brands of end user devices Since public app stores target a single mobile platform (OS), the IT department will have to submit the business apps to all the different app stores and make sure the correct version of the app is available in all app stores. Together with the fact that business apps downloaded from the app store should not automatically connect to a back office, makes the public app stores not suited for the deployment of business apps. The leading brands today are Apple, Android, Blackberry and Windows, and it is not likely that there will be a single winner on the short or middle term. How to manage the remote users When connected, users can access company data. As long as they need this data, this is a good thing, but if they leave the company, or the device gets lost, the IT department should be able to remove the company data from their device. Additionally, if access rights of users change, it must be possible to manage this remotely. Preferably in a way that the private use of the device is not touched. If employees bring their own device, they are free to do as they like, until they connect to the company network. From that moment on apps, data and user rights should be managed by the company IT department. RAM Mobile Data

5 How to keep the infrastructure manageable and secure Apps with direct access to company systems will cause a myriad of connections between the company network and the outside world. Gartner has introduced the rule of three for this: if a company has three or more back-office systems or a user has three or more mobile applications, the infrastructure should contain a platform that supports the IT department to keep the infrastructure maintainable and secure. MEAP Part of the answer to the above challenges is a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform, or MEAP for short. A MEAP manages and controls all connections from the mobile devices to the back-office systems. It connects to back-office systems using standard adapters and to the devices via the mobile network. User management of the MEAP controls the remote users and, preferably, should be able to connect to a central back-office user management system. App development (HTML5) Added value can be provided by MEAP apps that operate both online and offline; the latter to ensure no data is lost and employees can continue to work without network connectivity in case of poor radio coverage or network disruptions. Local data storage on the device also increases performance. Apps based on HTML5 combine the possibility of local storage together with the powerful ability to deliver crossplatform support, thus supporting different flavors and brands of end user devices. A MEAP should include, or support, app development tools to easily create any required business app. Enterprise App Store Mobile application management is required so that all employees work with the correct version of the apps. And if employees leave the company, the business apps can be removed from their device, together with the company data. An Enterprise App Store (EAS) is a self service portal for the mobile employee. Employees visit the Enterprise App Store and select the apps they need. Combining an EAS with MEAP user management provides a solution where employees can download and install the business apps that they are entitled to. A MEAP with an integrated EAS also takes care of the back-office connections and user rights for any app installed through the EAS. RAM Mobile Data

6 Business Space Apps installed from the EAS should be accessible from the Business Space on the mobile device, ensuring a secure environment separate from the private apps. Within the Business Space they work instantly, without any intervention from IT. Conclusion Due to the consumerization of IT, companies are challenged to come up with a mobile access strategy. Elaborating on the key issues such strategy should address, it is advisable to: - Support any type of mobile device (smartphone, tablet, lap-top) and support connectivity to all your - back-office systems to allow for easy future scalability. - Support apps that work both online and offline to ensure business critical tasks will not be dependent - on mobile network availability or performance. - Allow for easy installation of apps (Enterprise App Store) and make sure the apps work instantly - (security, authorization, connectivity) - Allow employees to choose their device themselves (BYOD), but ensure that business apps can only - be accessed from a separate secured environment and can be managed centrally. - Focus on self service and ease of use. - Choose a solution that supports (third party) app development. - Incorporate your cloud strategy. If you opt for an on-premise installation, check the possibilities to later - migrate to a cloud solution. Over RAM Mobile Data RAM Mobile Data is al meer dan negentien jaar een vooraanstaande speler op het gebied van mobiele data communicatie voor de zakelijke markt. RAM Mobile Data is eigenaar van het Mobitex datanetwerk in de Benelux, dat vooral gebruikt wordt bij tijdskritische applicaties. Naast haar fleetmanagement oplossing Track-and-Trace, biedt RAM Mobile Data dedicated Hosting- en ASP-diensten aan. Zij heeft 24 uur per dag en zeven dagen per week de mensen en kennis paraat om de veiligheid, betrouwbaarheid en beschikbaarheid van uw toepassingen te garanderen. De klant heeft geen zorgen over het systeembeheer, support op de hardware of de koppeling aan mobiele envaste netwerken. Navara, de softwaredivisie van RAM, ontwikkelt applicaties voor organisaties die hun mobiele medewerkers toegang willen geven tot relevante informatie. RAM Mobile Data is binnen de zorg NICTIZ gecertificeerd en heeft vestigingen in Nederland en België. Wilt u meer informatie? Neem dan contact op met of mail ons via [email protected]. RAM Mobile Data