MTN Business has introduced an enterprise mobile management (EMM) solution to help corporates manage and secure mobile devices, data, and applications within their businesses in an age of the bring your own device (BYOD) environment.
Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, MTN SA's chief enterprise business officer, says BYOD means companies have the task of ensuring the integrity of their corporate data, while allowing employees to store personal data and apps on their corporate mobile devices.
MTN Business' EMM solution allows for the management of mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops. It also provides organisations with a platform that enables and maintains compliance with regulatory and corporate policies.
MTN is one of many service providers to introduce products specifically addressing the BYOD phenomenon. Last month, mobile rival Vodacom signed an agreement with Samsung to offer its clients a single point of contact for Knox licences and Samsung enterprise services.
Smartphone maker BlackBerry has also been active in the EMM space for some time now. In May, the company announced it would enable mobile device management companies to manage devices directly with its BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Security features
"The consumerisation of technology has resulted in many benefits to organisations. However, some might feel that this has led to the business losing control of IT while complying with the demands of employees," says Lambotharan.
He notes one of the biggest concerns around the BYOD environment is the possibility of the mobile device getting lost or stolen. "MTN Business' EMM solution has been designed to give an additional layer of security that protects the company data, should any such event occur."
The solution includes features such as password locking, remote wiping, and geo-location, and keeps data encrypted while in transit. It is also compatible with conventional IT security tools like firewalls, proxy servers, mobile gateways, and network access servers, and can be managed from the cloud.
The EMM solution has a mobile management console that enables the IT department to manage numerous mobile devices across the network. It also includes a built-in dashboard, reporting, auditing, analytical, and compliance tools.
"It has become increasingly easy for a company to lose control of its data when an employee leaves the building. EMM allows for the creation of multiple profiles for the same subscriber. These work and personal profiles are kept independent, with the work profile managed by the IT department, while users have privacy and access to their personal workspace."
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