What is the best way to manage enterprise mobile apps
The mobile app market is never going to stop. The reason behind this is that mobile apps are essential regarding marketing, branding, public relationships, market survey, security and much more. Mobile apps are used by individuals as well as by organizations.
Mobile apps are of various types like enterprise apps, chat apps, games and e-commerce apps. An Enterprise application is a term used to describe the applications that are used by the business to actually assist the organization in solving enterprise problems. The term refers to a software platform which is too large as well as too complex and is developed by Enterprise app Development Company.
These enterprise apps may involve payment processing, billing system, product catalogs, content management, human resource management and many more. These apps are widely used by many companies, but they can also have some security risk factors. The app can develop some technical issues, sloppy coding, no encryption-decryption, and many other problems.
What happens when an enterprise app encounters security issues?
The mobile app may leak the confidential data of the company to the unauthorized people. The app may stop working, or it may lose data on its own. These problems affect the performance of the enterprise and also its users. The make the enterprise app more secure Mobile application management software is used which secures and enables IT control on enterprise applications on end users’ personal mobile devices.
Benefits of MAM
MAM allows IT to manage the corporate applications efficiently without interfering with the personal apps. With MAM, the Custom Application Development Company wrap a software developer’s kit (SDK) within applications which provide security to the enterprise applications.
Additionally, MAM allows IT to deploy applications with the help of an enterprise app store instead of publishing the business applications on the public app stores. The deployment of the company’s app in a private app store allows the businesses to control the distribution of its apps without having to worry about the risk of rejection and complexities that are involved in getting an approval from the public app store.
Why is MAM complex?
MAM is a valuable tool for any business, but few things make it complex for the developers. To eliminate the complexities, developers should ensure that they are using the latest version of SDKs, and they are not using the third-party resource to develop the applications.
Whenever IT updates the MAM coverage, it’s essential that the developer also update the applications to enable the security features or to conform to the new guidelines.
It is also crucial to know that BYOD users operate the application on multiple operating systems and this OS difference should not affect the mobile app security. All this makes the MAM highly complex but effective.
Why is mobile app management important for enterprises?
1. The security of the enterprise applications’ is important – Mobile app management exists to secure the enterprise applications. The major concern of the companies is that applications are the best ways for hackers to gain access to the company’s servers. If a company follows BYOD policies, then a malware installed on an employee phone can get access to company’s applications. Once the hackers get into the system, nothing can stop them from doing the damage.
Employees are not aware of the dangers associated with installing the apps on the phones, and some apps may gain unauthorized access to the mobile data which includes both personal and corporate data.
2. Employees need peace of mind – A company can upset its employees if it starts to micromanage everything. Privacy is certainly becoming one of the most critical issues for people around the globe. Some companies in order to add security to the corporate data interfere with the employees’ personal data.
Mobile app management does not have access and control to the employee's device, and it only controls the enterprise applications which give the employees the peace of mind that their company is not breaching their privacy.
3. Mobile device management is not enough – Mobile device management was once very effective, but now things have changed. Rather than controlling the devices, controlling apps make more sense. Mobile app management gives the IT administrators full freedom to manage and control the business applications on the employees' device.
4. Personal apps – The employees are not dependent on their companies to provide them with mobile applications, they are creating their own. Employees are using their own apps for sharing, notes taking, communicating etc. According to Forrester, 25% of the employees globally are bringing their own mobile apps to fill the gaps that they need to get their work done.
5. BYOD posing security risks – BYOD is new normal in the workplaces. It increases the efficiency of the employees. But companies are struggling to keep their corporate data secure on the personally owned devices. According to a research of Gartner, 20% of the BYOD programs are going to fail because the companies are trying to implement the restrictive MDM solutions. Organizations should instead use Enterprise mobility solutions that separate the personal data from corporate data allowing the IT department of the company to gain full control over the corporate data leaving the personal data alone.
6. Multiple operating systems – Due to the diversity in mobile devices, the IT departments have to support various operating systems. Different operating systems need different API interfaces and security management capabilities which makes it impossible for IT departments to ensure consistent policies and controls. Enterprise App management simplifies this by offering consistent security to the mix of mobile devices and operating system.
Conclusion
Mobile app management is an impressive approach and with the popularity of bring your own device; its use has become inevitable for the organizations. It’s an excellent way to secure the corporate data and applications without interfering with the employees’ data.