South African Airways (SAA) has deployed software applications provider OpenHand`s Mobile E-mail version 4.1 to streamline its office automation processes, the company says.
Since June last year, SAA has been running a pilot project consisting of 20 test licences. The software was installed on PDAs and mobile devices of the senior executive team, allowing access to data while they were travelling on business across the county and abroad, says Brian Kgosi, head of IT strategy and governance, SAA.
This month, the airline fully deployed the solution, which runs on various operating systems ranging from Symbian to Windows-based systems.
"We have a large number of mobile executives who need to be in constant contact with their e-mails, calendars and other personal information," says Kgosi.
"Other mobile e-mail solutions were disregarded as we felt uncomfortable with our corporate data residing outside our firewall and beyond our control."
Kgosi says with the OpenHand solution, data does not reside on the handsets. "In terms of data safety, data is encrypted while in transit to prevent unauthorised access during transit.
"When you switch off the handsets the information gets 'deleted` from the handset. To gain access to the handset, users need to key in their normal network username and password."
"The software is installed behind the firewall next to the mail server. Users are registered and are then able to make a connection using GPRS, 3G, WiFi or GSM," says Pierre Cronje, MD OpenHand SA.
"We have worked closely with SAA to ensure the initial trials met their requirements and will continue to work with the airline as it pursues its business strategy," says Cronje.
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