When was the last time you thought of the cloud as the white fluffy thing in the sky? When was the last time you left the house without your mobile device? How much are these two concepts combined in your everyday life? If you’re like most professionals working for the next generation enterprise, you use your mobile device to access the corporate network, leveraging the cloud.

This kind of flexibility lends considerable value to both the enterprise and the employee, but it can also put both at risk. To thwart any threats that may exist, IT administrators are adopting mobile device management to enable the safe use of the cloud and enterprise mobility. Just how important is this focus?

According to IDC’s (News - Alert) Worldwide Business Use Smartphone 2013-2017 Forecast and Analysis, more than one billion new smartphones will enter the workplace over the next three years. This figure doesn’t include tablets or other mobile form factors. While this projected growth is exciting for those in the industry, it’s disturbing for those charged with protecting the network.

Why? Most of these devices will hit the market and the corporate network without access to enterprise mobility management solutions, which protect the network, accessed data and the user. If enterprise mobility management (EMM) is not available to the billion smartphones, malicious attacks are sure to escalate. By leveraging the cloud, however, access can be enabled.

Mobile device management provider, MobileIron recently launched its Anyware solution. This next-generation cloud EMM offering aims to take companies mobile in just minutes. Is it ready for the billion users set to enter the market? A little best practices knowledge from the Facebook (News - Alert) and Google giants of the world provided the experience and architecture to get started.

The company took a proactive approach when designing the administrative user interface, designing it specifically for the business user, enabling tier capabilities, establishing the workflow, avoiding common icon clutter and making speed the litmus test. This not only ensured the optimal performance of the solution, but also ready adoption by the administrator.

This adoption is really just the first stage that needs attention, however. While it’s true that the enterprise needs to protect the network and its data, it’s also important to make the solution easy to use. Employees want to be able to get their jobs done, while still enjoying the flexibility and access of the mobile device. MobileIron Anyway aims to achieve both.

For the enterprise ready to be part of the coming billion smartphone users, a focus on adopting solutions to protect the enterprise, the data and the user is critical. A proven mobile device management solution can help along the way.