Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, brought with it the promise of many benefits. The idea that you can use a personal device for work introduced the concept of having greater innovation, a better work life balance and most of all improved productivity.
Every day, more companies are establishing and implementing BYOD policies in their businesses. While there is no denying that it is a great convenience and can easily improve productivity, the downside is that it also increases the pressure on IT departments to manage and secure not only more devices but also the data that they access.
Last week, SAP announced that it was going to be working with Google in order to support Android for Work. This is Google’s effort to make your smartphone safe for business use. Android for Work allows you to keep work related accounts, apps and data info separate from the personal side of your device. All of this needs to be accomplished while maintaining a high sense of security.
Dirk Boessmann, SVP, mobile development at SAP, said "Companies have experienced a surge of employees and business partners bringing Android devices into the workplace. For several years, SAP has been a leader in developing and deploying Android-based enterprise apps. However, Google Android for Work is a game changer. SAP and Google have worked together to offer customers a simple and consistent way to manage and secure the Android experience, regardless of OS version. They can also take advantage of the innovations in application development and distribution designed specifically for Android for Work. The leading SAP apps will be ready for installation within Android for Work."
The goal that this collaboration is attempting to achieve is that integration with the SAP Mobile Secure portfolio will give IT managers, as well as developers the ability to manage and secure devices, apps and content across the Android landscape which is extremely diverse. At the same time, it will be supporting the development of applications and standard apps.
If your business runs on Android then Google's new software platform can help you manage your company's Android devices, apps and other data from a single dashboard. As you can see from the image below, a work space is created with built-in business apps along with a variety of IT capabilities.
According to SAP, it will continue to work to support customers who want to use the Android operating system with the latest versions of SAP HANA Cloud Platform and its platform-as-a-service offerings including SAP HANA Cloud Platform mobile services, SAP Mobile Platform, SAP Mobile Secure and several hundred Android-based mobile apps from SAP.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle