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Business! Are your mobile devices that work for you?
In recent years, mobile devices have become powerful and wealthy property and are calling the attention of consumers and businesses. faster processors, more RAM and flash, along with technologies of communication have made multiple mobile devices to deploy and implement appropriate business applications. These advances help companies take to improve mobility processes resulting in increased revenue and efficiency, while reducing operating costs. mobile device is an important component of any mobile solution. There is great variety of mobile devices to choose from. Most of the company use mobile devices based on Windows Mobile operating system from Microsoft and has become the preferred platform used by companies around the world.
Problems
Windows Mobile is a feature packed and versatile operating system. There is much that a company can take advantage of this platform. But most companies do not need all the features available. Have a powerful mobile device for power mobile work can sometimes become a serious reality that workers can use the device for personal use and not for business. In addition, companies a lot of money and effort invested in developing and implementing business applications. They want to ensure that workers use the solution to its full potential for the company. The following are some of the challenges that must be addressed to maximize the benefits of a solution involving mobile devices
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Entertainment at work
All Windows Mobile devices contain built-in applications such as browsers, games, phone, etc. all of which can distract a worker mobile. A game of Solitaire can waste critical hours. personal phone calls and SMS can eat away from worker productivity and will surely cost the company money. Any audit policy for such use plus resources and money. All this is certainly not favorable for business.
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Maintenance issues
An employee who is very knowledgeable about Windows Mobile can easily change the configuration of important device (for example, the network, system files, etc.). Such intentional or unintentional manipulation of device settings can cause the application of business-critical failure. Imagine a user turn off the WiFi on the device, while the application is the transfer of critical data to the server. The results can be costly in terms of money and time. Excessive handling can "corrupt" the device, which must be returned to the IT department, again causing loss of productivity and wasted IT resources. While the device is with IT, the mobile worker can be folded arms, waiting for the device again him / her. Loss! Loss! Loss!
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Installing third party applications
There are thousands of third-party applications (For personal purposes and play) available on the Internet these days. These applications can be easily installed on a Windows Mobile device. Unauthorized Facilities third party applications for their personal use and not just a waste of time the mobile worker, but can also disrupt the operation if the third party device malfunctioning application or consume too many system resources (CPU and memory). In addition, these applications can contain malware and viruses that may pose a risk to security of the organization. These viruses are so harmful and rapid dissemination similar to those prevailing in the desktop PC environment.
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Physical Data Security
Business applications are designed to work online or offline. If connectivity is not available the application goes back to offline mode. This enables mobile workers to continue working until the connectivity is achieved again. In offline mode the application stores the data locally. If the data is sensitive, it is mostly encrypted. This keeps the data from misuse encases the device is lost or stolen. But once a device is stolen the thief can connect the device to a PC via ActiveSync and copy data files out. hacking tools based desktop can be used to encrypt or decrypt data. There must be ways to block the user to copy data from one device.
Solutions
Blocking used Windows Mobile devices kiosk mode can solve the problems mentioned above. By blocking devices, the company can restrict the user to set up and use only "Approved" the applications and functionality. For example, a company can provision mobile devices that workers can not install applications third on their own. Another example would be to allow the data connection only on the telephone network, while blocking of voice calls.
There are two alternative methods to block mobile devices:
Method 1: Building Custom Kiosk devices
This approach requires an enterprise to build products as kiosk to do what the company needs. Windows CE operating system is the most commonly used to develop customized products. This solution has the following advantages and disadvantages:
Advantage
- Since the requirements are linked to the hardware, the company can precisely control the device characteristics.
Disadvantages
- It is very expensive to develop a hardware device from scratch. This may not be possible in all small and medium enterprises, since it requires huge initial investments.
- No business sense to build your own hardware if required volumes are low, for example if only a few hundreds of devices are needed
- Device custom will develop custom applications. Number of software developers to a custom platform will be very low if any.
- Once the hardware is custom designed and built, is very expensive to modify or update it. This is a very common problem with this approach.
Method 2: Lock mobile devices with tools such as Studio SureLock
SureLock Studio offers companies the power to easily block out the robust platform or Windows Mobile devices. An administrator can lock the device with a kiosk configuration SureLock generated by Studio. A kiosk configuration contains the features and applications are "approved" for mobile workers. These settings are generated in the form of CAB files which makes it very easy to implement in their large number of devices. Kiosk CAB installation works the same way as any other CAB application. Over the Air (OTA) deployment can happen quickly and seamlessly, without user intervention.
Next are the advantages of locking devices Windows Mobile with SureLock Studio :
Advantage
- Save Costs: Companies can buy off the shelf "(HTC / ASUS / iPaq etc) or Ruggedized Windows Mobile devices (Symbol / Motorola / Intermec) and implement the business the company uses them. SureLock will ensure that the worker is limited to use only "approved" device functionality.
- Selection Device: Like all Windows Mobile devices are based on the same core operating system, companies have the option to select a device model based the characteristics that the model may have. The implementation of business model works on any device with little or no modification.
- In business the future may alter the configuration of the kiosk on whether to allow new features or applications. For example, the company may decide later to allow mobile workers to use the devices to make phone calls. A new configuration SureLock kiosk can be deployed with the phone function enabled.
Disadvantages
- For SureLock device lock software, hard reset the device factory (clean boot) will cause loss of configuration kiosk. There are a couple of solutions. Kiosk cabin can be kept in the storage card along with a Autorun.exe. After a reboot, the configuration of kiosk can be installed which will lock the device. In addition to some vendors ruggedized mobile device (symbol / Motorola) have support for companies to build their own images ROM disc. Kiosk configuration can be stored in ROM and can be installed automatically after a clean boot.
Conclusion
Using a tool like SureLock Studio makes the process of blocking the Windows Mobile devices easy and painless. Enterprises can control the use of mobile devices and can be used by workers mobile only for the benefit of the company.
About the Author
Author is the founder of 42Gears, developer of mobility solutions for enterprises. We primarily develop for Windows Mobile and Windows CE platforms.
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