Smartphones are becoming an incredible force in our daily lives and in the world of business. Offering a way for us to access all kinds of information on the go, they have been integrated seamlessly into the daily business dealings of thousands of American employees. By 2015, it is estimated that more than half of smartphones used in the workplace will be owned by employees at companies implementing BYOD policies. It is only expected that BYOD policies will grow in the near future, as more than a billion smartphones are expected to enter the market over the next five years.
With the large quantity of personal mobile devices being used to store sensitive corporate data, mobile device management systems are of utmost importance for corporations implementing BYOD policies. Such systems are designed for Android management to manage inventory and security of data on devices used for business should they be lost or stolen. This is, unfortunately, incredibly common. Almost half of companies allowing BYOD have experienced security breaches because of those systems, presumably because a full quarter of them don’t have Android security models.
Android security models reduce security risks and support costs by controlling configuration as well as data of employee devices. They often encompass desktop management interfaces designed to manage the hardware and software components of BYOD models and utilize software that updates hundreds of devices without individual visits to an IT professional.
Usually, security solutions for Android in the enterprise include a server component which sends out management commands to the devices of all employees and a client component which runs on the individual devices and receives and implements the commands from the server. Though systems used to require physical connection to the handset or the installation of a SIM card in order to make changes and updates, later systems began to allow client initiated updates. Today’s iPhone security systems send commands over the air, providing scalability benefits to companies managing hundreds of devices or more.
Unfortunately, a vast quantity of businesses implementing BYOD policies don’t use any sort of Android device management system. Such corporations put their sensitive data at risk, especially since personal devices are lost, stolen, and even hacked all the time. As devices become more important fixtures in the business world, Android security model systems will be an indispensable part of corporate IT departments.