Businesses! Are Your Mobile Devices Working For You?

In the latest times, cellular gadgets have become quite effective and function wealthy and have become attention from customers and agencies alike. A couple of communication technologies, faster processors, larger RAM, and flash reminiscences have made mobile devices suitable for installing and running enterprise packages. Such advancements help companies embrace mobility to improve their procedures, thereby growing sales and performance even as reducing operational costs. The mobile tool is an essential component of any mobile solution. There are wide-sorts of mobile gadgets to choose from. Most commonly used organization cell gadgets are based totally on Windows Mobile running device from Microsoft, and it has become a desired platform utilized by businesses around the world.

Problem

Windows Mobile is a function-packed and versatile working gadget. There is a lot an agency can take advantage of out of this platform. But most of the businesses don’t want all the available features. Giving an effective cell device to a cellular team of workers can occasionally honestly come to be an extreme subject as employees might use the tool for personal use in preference to for the business. Besides, organizations spend masses of cash and effort in developing and deploying enterprise packages. They want to ensure that the employees use the solution to its complete capability in the enterprise’s desire. Following are some of the challenges that need to be addressed to maximize the advantages of an answer that involve cell gadgets:

* Entertainment on the process

All Windows Mobile devices contain built-in packages like browsers, games, cellphones, and many others. All of that can easily distract a cellular employee. A sport of Solitaire can waste critical running hours. This kind of cellular tool utilization is, in reality, no longer favorable to the agencies.

* Maintenance Problems

A worker who isn’t always very knowledgeable approximately Windows Mobile can, without problems, exchange the critical device settings (e.G. Network, machine files, and so forth.). Such intentional or accidental manipulation of tool settings can reason the business’s vital utility to fail. Imagine a user turns off the WiFi radio on the device while the utility transfers crucial data to the server. Results may be pricey in phrases of money and time. Too plenty manipulation can “corrupt” the device, which needs to be again to the IT department, once more inflicting lack of productiveness and wastage of IT assets. While the device is with IT, the cellular employee might be sitting idle, waiting for the tool to go back. Loss! Loss! Loss!

* Installation of Third-party programs

There are thousands of 1/3-party packages (for personal and gaming purposes) available on the net these days. These packages can be easily set up on a Windows Mobile device. Installation of unauthorized 1/3-birthday party packages for personal use sincerely wastes time and disrupts the device operation with the aid of ingesting memory and processor assets. Besides, those applications can contain malware and viruses, which may pose a safety hazard to the enterprise.

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* Physical Data Security

Business packages are designed to work online or offline. If connectivity isn’t always to be had, the application is going to return to offline mode. This makes it feasible for cellular workers to preserve operating until the connectivity is done once more in offline mode; the application stores the facts domestically. If the data is touchy, it is more often than not encrypted. This saves the facts from misuse in case the tool is misplaced or stolen. But once a tool is stolen, the thief can join the device with a PC via ActiveSync and copy the statistics files. Desktop primarily based hacking gear may be used to decipher/decrypt the statistics. There must be a way to dam the consumer from copying the data from a device.

Solutions

Locking down fashionable motive Windows Mobile devices into kiosk mode can resolve the above problems. By locking down the devices, the business enterprise can restrict the user from launching and use the most effective “accredited” programs and capabilities. E.G., a corporation can provision the cell devices so that the people can not use installation 0.33-celebration applications independently. Another instance could be to enable Data Only connection over the phone network while blocking the voice calls.

There are alternative techniques to lock down cellular gadgets:

Method 1: Building Custom Kiosk devices

Businesses

This method requires a company to construct custom kiosk devices that do simply what the organization needs. Windows CE operating device is most normally used to develop custom devices. This answer has subsequent benefits and drawbacks.

Advantages:

* Since necessities are tied to the hardware, the organization can exactly manipulate the device’s features.

Disadvantages:

* It is very pricey to develop a hardware device from scratch. This may not be feasible in any respect for small and medium-sized groups because it requires huge upfront investments.
* It does now not make enterprise experience to construct your very own hardware if the required volumes are low, say if only a few hundred devices are needed.
* Custom device will need custom application development. The number of software program developers for a custom platform could be deficient if any.
* Once custom hardware is designed and built, it’s miles very luxurious to regulate or upgrade it. This is a very not unusual hassle with this technique.

Method 2: Lockdown mobile devices with equipment like SureLock Studio

SureLock Studio offers businesses the electricity to without problems lockdown off-the-shelf or ruggedized Windows Mobile devices. An administrator can lock down the devices with kiosk configuration generated by SureLock Studio. A kiosk configuration consists of which functions and applications are “authorized” for use with the cellular employee’s aid. These configurations are generated inside the shape of CAB documents that make it very smooth to set them up on many devices. Kiosk CAB setup works in the same manner as any other application CAB. There are benefits of locking down the gadgets with SureLock Studio:

Advantages:

* Save charges: Enterprises should purchase off-the-shelf (HTC/ASUS/iPaq etc.) or Ruggedized Windows Mobile gadgets (Symbol/Motorola/Intermec) set up the business enterprise commercial enterprise packages on them. SureLock will make sure that the employee is constrained only to use the “authorized” functionality of the device.
* Choice of devices: Since all Windows Mobile devices are based on the identical middle working system, businesses choose to pick a tool version based totally on the precise functions that the model might also have. The business software will work on any tool model with a few or no changes.
* In destiny, corporations can alter the kiosk configuration to permit or disallow new functions or packages. For e.G. The organization may determine afterward to permit cell people to apply the devices to making telephone calls. A new SureLock kiosk configuration can be deployed with the phone feature enabled.

Disadvantages:

* As SureLock does software program lockdown of the device, hard-resetting the device to manufacturing unit defaults (clean boot) will cause the loss of kiosk settings. There are a couple of workarounds. A kiosk cab may be kept inside the storage card at the side of an Autorun.Exe. After a reboot, the kiosk configuration can be hooked up to lock down the device again. Besides, a few ruggedized mobile tool vendors (like Symbol/Motorola) have to help businesses construct their own Writable ROM photographs. Kiosk configuration can be stored inside the ROM and can be installed robotically after a clean boot.

Conclusion

 Devices

Using a device like SureLock Studio makes the procedure of locking down Windows Mobile devices easy and painless. Enterprises can control the usage of their cell gadgets and allow them to be used by the cell employees most effective for the corporation’s gain.

John R. Wright
Social media ninja. Freelance web trailblazer. Extreme problem solver. Music fanatic. Spent several months marketing pubic lice in the financial sector. Spent 2002-2008 supervising the production of ice cream in Africa. Had some great experience developing robotic shrimp in the aftermarket. Spent several years getting my feet wet with puppets in Miami, FL. Was quite successful at supervising the production of corncob pipes worldwide. What gets me going now is working with electric trains in Mexico.