Smartphones pose a new type of security risk for enterprises. Employees want to bring their personal mobile devices into the workplace, but these devices can hold a lot of corporate data that is vulnerable to unauthorized access and theft. The iPhone (News - Alert), for example, has 8GB of memory, and do many other smartphones. Enterprises must therefore be prepared to incorporate and support all types of smartphones.

 

The strong interest in the iPhone points to a larger trend -- subscribers in increasing numbers are using mobile smartphones and are increasingly using them to store and transmit data.

 

According to recent research from Coleman Parkes, nearly 60 percent of managers and 30 percent of staff in top U.S. enterprises use smartphones as strategic business tools. Smartphone usage, especially among non-managerial staff, is expected to increase significantly.

 

Currently, these users employ their smartphones primarily for e-mail and calendar support. But going forward, they will use their smartphones to access a broader range of applications, including VoIP, sales force applications, and company file-share systems.

 

Without the proper management tools, operators and enterprises risk the chance that the time and cost of responding to problems will increase even further. However, with an MDM solution that can manage devices automatically, as well as detect and resolve issues before they cause problems, operators and enterprises might feel they have entered a new and better era of mobile device management.