14 DAY TRIAL // Today, leading provider of enterprise mobile management and mobile device management software Zenprise Inc. announced officially the launch of an Enterprise App Store and a Remote Control solution for Android smartphones and tablets.
This new set of capabilities added to the company's MobileManager platform was aimed at offering IT managers the possibility to easily configure, provision, secure and support various devices based on Google's Android OS.
Today's enterprise environment shows a trend towards the increased adoption of smartphones and tablet PCs, which are more pocketable than laptops, which determines companies to look for ways to keep IT managers in touch with devices in the field at all times.
“Without question, the tablet has become the new laptop and is indicative of how organizations have embraced enterprise mobility to enhance and differentiate their business,” said Jayaram Bhat, CEO of Zenprise.
“With the large growth of Android-based tablets coming into the enterprise, Zenprise is committed to helping organizations get the most value out of their Android deployments.”
Zenprise is the first and only company to come up with an enterprise application store for devices running under Google's Android operating system, and also the first and only one to offer remote control capabilities for Android, Ahmed Datoo, Vice President, Marketing, explains.
The company also has a history of being first to market in certain areas, as it was the first company to support the iPhone, also the first to support the Palm Pre, or the iPad.
Zenprise's new offering would offer companies the possibility to easily send new applications to users' devices, while also updating existing ones, not to mention that it also adds remote control capabilities into the mix, while maintaining a connection between IT professionals and users.
But this is not all. Zenprise's enterprise app store would also enable companies to choose certain sets of applications for their employees, such as sales applications for sales people, marketing applications for those in the marketing department, or other apps for executives.
With a single push of a button from the IT person, all of the apps appear on the user's device. But the feature is not limited to pushing software, as videos and presentations can also be included there, along with other documents, and even instructions on how to use a certain device.
“When a sales person is on the road and there is an updated sales presentation, our customers want to be able to push that sales presentation directly to the user's device. If he/she doesn't know how to use the presentation, they want to push them a video that walks them through how to present it,” the company explains.
IT administrators would also want to have at their disposal a solution that would allow them to easily deploy certain software on the various devices in the field, while also looking for software that would provide fast, easy and secure management of these handsets.
Zenprise's solution is shaping up as being one such option, and the company's expertise in the field backs up this assertion.
Along with the new Enterprise App Store, the company also announced the release of a Remote Control for Android feature, aimed at offering reduced troubleshooting support times through enabling IT managers access a device remotely.
“The remote control capabilities will allow the IT person to see exactly what the user sees. When the user experiences a problem with the Android device, either a tablet or a smartphone, the IT department would be able to see their screen, walk them through how to fix it, and even initiate chat sessions with the user, do file sharing, or other similar actions,” Zenprise explains.
In case the user cannot stay on the phone, the IT person can create a chat session, thus being able to guide the user silently.
The Remote Control feature would enable IT deck personnel to close applications on the device to make it run smoother, replace files if necessary, install new apps, or manage any other problem with the device.
According to analysts, Android is set to become the most popular mobile platform on the market in the next few years, and Zenprise believes that the OS would also see great adoption among enterprise users, Ahmed Datoo states.
He also says that the company is already successful with the enterprise solutions it offers in support to other mobile OSes, and that it aims at providing Android adopters with similar capabilities. On Android, they would offer support for handsets and tablets with newer flavors of the platform on board.
Moreover, he explains that the company is set to offer enterprise customers the possibility to manage all of their devices, including BlackBerry, Android, Windows or iOS ones from the same interface, while making sure that they have consistent security policies across all these devices.
