Enterprise Communications Featured Article

Dell (News - Alert) officially announced a new offering it will be bringing into the Enterprise Mobility Management market: a “virtual smartphone” app designed to help employees balance work and personal usage of their device as well as help companies manage security and expenses of their employees’ business phones. This is Dell’s solution to the Bring-Your-Own-Device issue that many businesses have complained of and many telecom companies attempt to address.

To put the system in place, employees must simply download the Dell Virtual Smartphone app onto their personal devices. The app will then assign the employee a Voice over IP (VoIP) number, powered by Vonage’s VoIP services, and add the contact information of colleagues thanks to Microsoft (News - Alert) Exchange and Active Directory. Employees can then use that number for work-related calls and texts and have access to additional features such as voicemail, conference calls, and—importantly—call recording.

There is full integration with Microsoft Office 365 tools and Box (News - Alert) storage, both of which are very popular services for enterprises. The entire service is part of a secure mobile access bundle called Dell Mobile Connect, which is required in order to take advantage of the Virtual Smartphone functionality.

Companies have a variety of management tools at their disposal using this system. Enterprises can set customized policies for routing calls over Wi-Fi, data or cellular networks, and track voice and data usage. They can even lock out an employee’s personal phone number during business hours. Security options allow for the protection of company data, solving one of the main problems that plagued the BYOD issue.

However, Dell has offered reassurance that the integrity of employees’ personal phone data will remain completely intact. The Virtual Smartphone app operates only on the surface and adds alternative functionality without access to any information that isn’t necessary for basic functionality. For example: even if an employee is using the camera app at home to snap a photo and a business call comes in, the Virtual Smartphone will only be activated to take that call and the photo will be saved in the phone’s personal camera roll.

The app is available for iOS or Android (News - Alert) devices, a notable feature since it is the first offering of its type to be completely platform-agnostic. Additionally, Dell says support for Windows Phone (News - Alert) is in the works. The Virtual Smartphone plan will run $19.99 per line per month, which includes 1,000 voice minutes and unlimited texts, and is slated to launch in early October.