Threats in Enterprise Mobility and Overcoming Them

Enterprise mobility is the approach to work where employees get to perform their tasks anywhere, using different apps and devices. When talking about enterprise mobility, it typically refers to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets for business intent. Nonetheless, it also covers mobility of organization data and the workers themselves.

Why Mobility is Important

Employees have flexibility and choice with enterprise mobility, thus it is very important, which could boost satisfaction of the job as well as productivity. Moreover, every company and organization these days already are doing some kind of enterprise mobility solutions like:

Mobile app Management- It consists of Operation management, App management for in-store apps.

Mobile Security Management- Like all types of mobile security from multi-layered security solutions to PaaS codes.

Mobile Business Intelligence- Mobile BI integrates with your mobile solutions and will give you measured data about mobile insights.

This will help to keep up with the evolving trends and the changing demand of consumers.

As mobile devices get more and more advanced, business organizations would want to take advantage of the unique benefits they provide. Nonetheless, integration and management of mobile devices are not as simple as they may seem. There are so many challenges about mobility that should be addressed.

Analyzing Enterprise Mobility Challenges

The challenges, including inferior user experience, ineffective security and the rising costs of hardware are growing issues among employees as well as business leaders. Thus, it’s important for an enterprise to analyze these concerns for effective custom application development solutions.

Security Concern

In every organization, big or small, security is a major concern. In today’s digital world, the delivery of user-friendly mobile apps with high-end security networks has become a necessity. Ineffective security protocols could lead organizations to face security threats, including malware intrusion, ransomware attacks, and breaches in data.

Most likely, data breaches occur when a device is lost or stolen. Thus, deploying secure storage of data and exchange mechanisms is paramount. Security regulations compliance is another major job for every enterprise. When it comes to enterprise mobility, it could be more complicated to comply with security regulations.

Failure to comply with these regulations could result in big fines and most of all could expose an organization to security risks. Business leaders then should always be on the update with GDPR and develop protocols that ensure compliance with security regulations.

Application development

Developing thoroughly functional apps could be complicated. A lengthy process may have to be implemented by developers, such as coding, compiling, doing tests, feedback reviews, as well as crushing bugs. Moreover, they should build various apps for numerous OS, such as iOS and Android.

Business leaders should be informed regarding all the necessary expenses as well as the technicalities before entrusting app development jobs. Moreover, they should also take into account the growing number of mobile applications on each device. An average smartphone has over eighty apps on their phones.

And these applications have permissions for camera, contacts, messages, and location access among others. The combinations could be used by cyber-criminals to get unauthorized access to the business. Thus, business leaders should be aware of the loopholes in security.

User Experience concerns

Mobility systems should offer end-to-end user experience for user adoption. The main task of any mobility system is letting employees do their work and access work files anytime, anywhere.

Businesses should make a decision whether to re-purpose existing applications or build new apps, which could integrate with the systems to deliver the quality user experience. Moreover, systems should be upgraded so they would be compatible with enterprise mobility applications.

Integrating Enterprise System

To run in sync, every organization should have multiple systems for workflow automation. For the purpose of sharing critical data, various systems should be interconnected. In the same way, mobile devices, like smartphones and laptops should integrate with complex business systems in a seamless way.

Failure to integrate mobile devices with complex systems could lead to information silos, which are made when critical information is only available on one device and not shared with the network of the company. An employee who works from home from time to time, for example, and fails to share important files after moving to another company would generate an information silo. Thus, advanced apps are needed, which could interact with several complex business systems to simplify the processing of data and workflows across.

Good Read: Mobile App Security For Your Remote Workforce

How to Overcome the Enterprise Mobility Challenges

There has to be a careful-thought of strategy, which is possible with collaboration with a few professionals, such as IT pros and cyber-security experts. Consider the following measures.

Engage in Advanced Security protocols

Skilled cyber-security professionals who could collaborate with developers are necessary to ensure the effectiveness of security. For starters, encrypting all data with a cryptographic hash should be done. The digital signature of each file would be verified by the system to ensure data integrity.

In the event that an intruder gains unauthorized file access, the file’s digital signature would be altered and the system notifies the concerned parties of any malicious activity. There should also be an authentication mechanism to restrict sensitive data access. Businesses could implement a multi-factor authentication of all network users.

Block-chain based cyber-security solutions, like a digital identification system, could simplify the authentication process. Another thing to take into consideration is to adopt an authentication mechanism that’s AI-powered. It will change access privileges based on the network and location of an employee.

Cloud-based System Integration implementation

A cloud mediation layer should be adopted by any organization adopting enterprise mobility. It allows different apps interaction with a centralized cloud. The software layer lets developers create apps for numerous platforms, like Android and iOS, that could function both online and offline. Moreover, the system could minimize network latency by queuing critical data.

To restrict access to data in enterprise integration, the administration should segregate both internal and external mobile apps’ APIs. In general, external APIs could be accessed by users. Internal APIs on the other hand could be accessed by various systems and apps.

Boost App Development

The option for an enterprise would be to hire an in-house development team or outsourcing the task altogether. Whatever the approach, developers could create native apps for different platforms. Native applications are more feature-rich and intuitive than hybrid and web apps.

UI design is another relevant step. Businesses should promote the development of consistent and clean User Interface. A user-friendly app is one with an appealing layout, has seamless navigation and consistent icons. There should also be over-the-air updates done regularly to eliminate loopholes in security and bug fixing. In general, an end-to-end mobile application helps deliver a great user experience.

Summary

Without a doubt, the emergence of innovative technologies, like the mobility solutions could greatly boost business productivity, streamlines the structure of operations, and in boosting revenue. However, the threats and challenges in enterprise mobility should be addressed properly for an enterprise to have a competitive edge.