July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

This is a guest post by Cimarron Buser, vice president of business development at Apperian.

Many companies have begun to embrace the concept of “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD). This starts with the agreement that your company’s email, calendar, and contacts can be used on an employee’s personal device and you may reimburse the employee via a stipend. But this is the easy part.

The challenge begins when companies want to move business processes to mobile apps or enable the sharing of corporate data out to a mobile end-point. Now, security issues take a sharper focus, and the mobile device management (MDM) solution that might have been installed a few years ago that allowed IT to check off the box for compliance is not enough. Device wipe and restricting users to specific apps doesn’t work.

So, how do businesses provide real, usable, and fun (yes, fun is important) apps to employees while securing corporate data? There are many solutions pitched today, and while each approach offers benefits there is probably no “one size fits all” approach as new technology evolves.

The latest approach to gain buzz is “dual personality,” which can be seen in the recent BlackBerry announcements, and will be launched soon by Samsung with its KNOX initiative. VMWare, Enterproid, and others have solutions in the market, but the trend towards building in the dual persona into the hardware stack and OS is likely going to raise the stakes.

The challenge for these systems lies in the heterogeneous nature of mobile: you can’t expect every employee and user to use the same hardware or OS. Another challenge is that the dual personality model chafes against the user who has been conditioned (let’s just say “iPhoned”) to a simple, elegant model where all apps run seamlessly together in the same environment. The user never has to remember which mode they are in, and sending mail or making calendar appointments just work.

If the jury is out (both in terms of market adoption and technology approach) on the dual personality solution, what else can a business do? Another approach is to treat each app and its data as an individual, secure “container,” thus making sure that personal and business apps and data are separate. However, from the user viewpoint, the apps are easily accessible and the experience is familiar. There are several ways to do this, but the most prevalent is “app wrapping” where policies such as authentication, copy-and-paste restrictions, integrated VPNs, and data-at-rest encryption can be applied to any app with the click of a check box.

Adding to the fun is that beyond iOS and Android (still the dominant platforms when it comes to the new enterprise app ecosystem), we will see BlackBerry and Windows Phone entering the fray. Any solution that needs to be applied to all your company devices needs to play well across the board. This is an additional challenge to the dual persona model, where unless everyone is using the same technology it may not be feasible to have universal policies, and training and support costs increase. We sometimes forget why we’re all building apps for employees in the first place. It’s all about employee productivity, convenience, and ultimately ROI for the business.

Apps — and their security model — should be easy to use. User engagement should be encouraged, and include consumer-like features such as app rating, comments, crowd-sourcing for new ideas, and even the (future) ability to build your own app with corporate data. Ultimately, security issues should be handled in a way which is seamless and based on user roles.

We still need to deal with lost devices or the circumstances when an employee leaves the company. However, security policy must be combined with employee education and forward-thinking companies make sure employees buy into the solutions, and not try to do workarounds to get their jobs done because no solution is offered.

Businesses have a great opportunity today to make all their employees more effective with these fancy gadgets, and industry leaders have already seen multi-million dollar ROIs on mobility investments.

The good news is that enterprise mobility works.

Cimarron Buser leads Apperian’s products and marketing for enterprise solutions. He has worked in technology for over 20 years, providing creative and visionary leadership for products and services in the technology, web and mobile arena.

Businessman using tablet via ollyy/Shutterstock

A stealthy startup called Armor5 wants to alleviate fears about employees and remote workers bringing their own devices to work.

The Santa Clara, Calif., based Armor5 has a new way for mobile workers to access their company’s applications without sensitive data hitting their handset. The beta version is available for free as of today with a self-service sign up.

Chief executive Suresh Balasubramanian, a former general manager of antipiracy at Adobe, believes that BYOD (employees bringing their own devices to work) is a big problem for IT departments; they have “no choice but to deal with the issue,” he said. But it also raises “significant security, compliance and cost problems.”

You’ve been living under a rock if you’re not concerned about the security risks of BYOD. The topic was the center of discussions at the RSA Security conference, particularly given that the sophistication of attacks on corporate firewalls are increasing.

Balasubramanian told VentureBeat that competitors — including mobile device management and desktop virtualization (VDI) vendors — don’t address IT’s growing needs. MDM software used by an IT department to manage employee’s mobile devices is hard to administer, he explained, and VDI can’t deliver on all app functions.

A lot of companies have attempted to solve this problem by locking down certain apps or enabling IT to access specific parts of a personal device.

But Amor5′s approach is a bit different: The technology connects to a company network via an existing VPN, virtualizes Intranet data and cloud apps, and generates a URL for mobile workers to access content safely from a personal or company-issued device. The entire process takes just a few minutes.

Balasubramanian was brought on as CEO after the company incorporated in 2011. Its founders are former engineers from Microsoft, Adobe, and Motorola.

“CIOs are understandably concerned with data security given the rise of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices inside their organizations,” said Fred Wang, the general partner at Trinity Ventures, the firm that led the seed round.  ”Its [Armor5's] singular focus on the intersection of data security and BYOD, and its unique approach to solving the problem, is the reason we are investing.”

The startup has emerged from stealth mode today with $2 million in funding from Trinity Ventures, Citrix, and Nexus Venture Partners. 

Your company’s IT department has the power to wipe personal data from your smartphone  – a responsibility it doesn’t want, and certainly never asked for.

Today, a San Francisco-based startup, MobileSpaces, has pulled in $3 million in first-round funding from Accel Partners to scale its technology that can keep employee’s personal data off-limits.

David Goldschlag, founder and CEO of MobileSpaces

“If you ever leave the enterprise, they reserve the right to your data,” said David Goldschlag (pictured, left), the company’s founder and chief executive, and the former vice president of mobile at McAfee. To prevent data disasters, it has developed a mobile workspace, which segments professional apps from personal ones.

This project has been brewing for several years. During his time at McAfee, the Internet security and virus protection provider, Goldschlag noticed that corporate IT teams were often given “too much visibility into their employees personal data.” There is a growing trend that has contributed to this problem: bring your own device (“BYOD”).

When we use devices like tablets and smartphones interchangeably in our professional and personal lives, it’s a huge headache for IT. They are under pressure to maintain centralized control over corporate data, including mobile apps and email, and to manage network security.

MobileSpace’s solution is simple. Using a UI marker (the tiny blue icon in the screenshot, left), employees can demarcate any of the applications used for work (company email, Salesforce, Yammer, and so on), thus enabling IT to safely gain access to that data.

“We are enabling the enterprise to comfortably let its apps run and coexist with personal apps,”  Goldschlag explained in an interview with VentureBeat.

To succeed, the company will need to overcome some stiff competition. Tech giant, VMware, has its own mobile virtualization offering, and there are a number of mobile device management (MDM) companies that are major players in the space. Goldschlag also counts Good Technology, a mobile security provider, as a key competitor.

As part of the financing, Richard Wong, an Accel partner, will join the company’s board.

Mobile security image via Shutterstock

The result of this merging of business and consumer applications is a new class of general and vertical apps that are as social as they are powerful. These new applications are increasingly easy to use, collaborative, and based in the cloud.

While IT managers may cringe each time they hear “can you help me connect my iPad to the company server,” here are seven reasons businesses should embrace the consumerization of IT.

1. Real-time communication
In their personal lives, people are becoming more and more accustomed to web-based communication channels outside of email. When people are used to FaceTime, chat, and instant messaging at home, the act of sending an email to a vendor, or even sending a fax to a lawyer, seems like an artifact from a different, and far slower, era. If I can chat with my friends on Facebook, why can’t I interact with co-workers on our CRM system? Why I can’t I have a secure instant message session with my lawyer?

The socialization of enterprise applications gives workers, clients, colleagues, customers, and vendors better tools to communicate in real time. These tighter communication loops should ultimately drive key performance goals for any business, including employee productivity, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

2. Greater accessibility
While traditional enterprise systems trap data in a single location, the cloud makes applications and business data available to more users on more devices in more locations. For employees, this can be a game changer, as the information they need is right at their fingertips – whether they’re at a client location, on route to a meeting, at home, or on vacation.

3. End-user buy-in
Ultimately the success of any technology initiative hinges on the ability to convince employees to actually use the software, device, or process. When employees clamor to bring their own tools into the workplace, there’s no risk that a new tool will sit idly by.  Throwing employees in front of a stodgy application is hardly a recipe for success. Rather, end users are more likely to use those tools that evoke the same look and feel of their friendly social networks and consumer apps.

4. Shorter end-user learning curve
A savvy workforce, familiar with its own favorite tools, can dive right into technology that leverages consumer elements in the corporate environment. Training costs go down, and employees can be productive with their new tools right out of the gate.

5. Affordability
Cloud-based applications shift the financial costs from the upfront capital expense of purchasing software licenses to an ongoing operating expense. When calculating the total cost of ownership, the benefits of cloud-based tools go beyond the cost of subscription vs. software seat to include: lower management costs, lower provisioning and upgrade hassles, and lower hardware costs. A 2009 report from Forrester Research concluded that Google Apps costs less than a third as much as on-premise email for equipping 15,000 employees with email.

6. Security
While data is often the chief concern holding businesses back from the cloud, web-hosted applications can actually increase data security, particularly for those small to mid-sized companies that don’t have proper in-house technical expertise or resources like a dedicated, lockable server room. In these cases, off-premise storage removes the company’s sensitive data from on-premise risks, such as access by cleaning staff, employee error, even physical threats like earthquake and fire.

7. Productivity
Consider for a moment who is behind the consumerization of IT. While Apple may benefit greatly as iPads and iPhones cross over to the enterprise, it’s the employee and not Apple who is pushing to use these devices for work. At the heart of this trend is the simple idea that employees know which tools can make their work day easier and, hopefully, happier.

The key question to ask is: If employees are asking to use their own tools so they can be more productive in the office or catch up on work after hours, is that such a scary prospect?

Jack Newton is CEO and co-founder of Clio, a Vancouver-based company that offers web-based practice management software for solo practitioners and small-to-medium sized law firms.

[Top image credit: Goodluz/Shutterstock]

SAP, a customer relationship and business management software company, has acquired mobile business service provider Syclo, the company announced Tuesday. Details, including purchase price, were not disclosed.

With the bring-your-own device movement gaining steam, it’s no surprise that SAP snatched up Syclo. Tons of businesses are using iPads and smartphones in day-to-day operations on the go, and mobile app for business-use are popping up left and right. SAP is hoping to offer even more mobile services to business with Sylco’s existing technology.

Syclo, which has been around for 12 years, builds mobile apps for business employees and consumers. Most of its apps are aimed at field service workers, such as inspectors, utility workers, or contractors. People with jobs like these take devices with them on the go and need to access data away from a computer.

SAP and Syclo have partnered for the last four years to offer apps that work on both systems. One product is Syclo’s SMART Mobile Suite for SAP, which is a set of pre-built mobile apps for asset maintenance, inventory management, and time tracking.

“With this acquisition, SAP adds momentum to our already powerful mobile portfolio, advancing our vision and leadership while accelerating our mobile apps,” said SAP’s president Sanjay Poonen in a statement. “Syclo brings both domain-savvy expertise and industry-leading solutions, as recognized by customers and analysts. This will drive innovation and mobility in the workplace.”

Per the terms of the deal, Syclo’s technology will integrate with SAP’s mobile platform as well as SAP Afaria, a mobile security and device management system. All of Syclo’s employees will join SAP’s team.

Business man with laptop image via Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

IBM announced its own “bring your own device” manager today, as well as its most recent acquisition, Worklight, which helps companies focus on developing applications for multiple operating systems.

BYOB, or bring your own beer, used to be the simple way to get a party going. You’re at a party, you’re thirsty, but oh wait, you brought that six pack. Now you don’t have to awkwardly ask the hostess where the fridge is, wonder if you’ve had too much of her stock, or reach into your pocket to subsidize the party costs. Nope, it’s easy sailing because you brought your own beer, and you’re in control of it.

But it’s that personal control that is scaring IT departments in the bring your own device trend.

IT managers get concerned thinking about the thousands of wild devices roaming their networks. Different companies have come up with solutions to connect those devices and control them, and IBM is now one of them.

The company’s endpoint manager is a product of IBM’s acquisition of Big Fix. Big Fix was a management tool for a number of different devices including laptops and point of sale hardware. Under IBM, that reach now extends to mobile phones and tablets. The software can restrict e-mail access to phones acting oddly, or outside of its normal routine, wipe specific company information from a device that has been lost or stolen, and allows IT staffers to manage the system from one interface.

Apps are also a concern for the BYOD age. It’s hard to monitor apps across different operating systems as well as deploy your own internal applications. IBM’s newest purchase, Worklight, takes care of this by connecting devices’ applications to the respective company’s IT system for monitoring and deploying apps. It works across multiple operating systems including iOS and Android.

Devices image via Shutterstock