Mobility is exploding. The devices are being used virtually everywhere today, from the small mom-and-pop retail store to the largest enterprise organization. Many of our kids and parents are carry smartphones and tablets today, creating a seemingly insatiable demand for mobile technologies.
While there were approximately 237 million iOS devices shipped worldwide in 2014, almost 1.15 billion Android-equipped units were delivered in that same timeframe, according to Craig Boswell, Co-founder and President of HOBI International, Inc. In his CompTIA Mobility Community meeting keynote at ChannelCon 2015, he also pointed out that by 2017, 71% of connected devices will be smartphones. “These technologies have become an integrated part of our business (and personal) lives. To that point, there are now more mobile phones in the world than there are toothbrushes.”
Mobility is where business and personal lives collide, helping us maintain connections with family, friends, and business contacts. That’s why protection and recycling methods need to be heavily scrutinized by all IT professionals. Solution providers in particular have to understand how mobility re-use and recycling can affect their business customers.
Consider the repair process and the security concern that could present. “Mobile devices break ─ often! You can take it to a repair shop and hand off access to all the information it contains to someone you don’t know.” Corporate IT teams have to keep that potentially compromising security issue in mind when they formulate their mobility repair and device management policies. What options could solution provider use to help reduce the risk of data leaks (a company’s worst security nightmare)?
- Hot swaps: offering secure devices will help customers maintain proper data and network security practices.
- Add “kill switches,” applications that lock and secure stolen or lost devices.
- Realize that some data wiping options simply disconnect the pointers to the data, not the information itself! Ensure your solutions truly remove all the data.
Future Concerns
Do you recycle mobility devices for your clients? It can truly be a challenge today. Those who repurpose smartphones often find they are locked into specific carriers or, worse yet, with the “Find My iPhone” app engaged.
If the device can’t be disassociated from the original carrier, it become less valuable to perspective purchasers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) keeps the resale prices of these devices low since the market size for carrier locked devices is often considerably smaller. Similarly, the FMI lock is basically a kill switch with no possible bypass. Designed to keep anyone else from using your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch if it's ever lost or stolen, if it is killed remotely by the user, you might as well throw it away. HR teams need to ensure that any employee they plan to terminate (or who voluntarily leaves) disconnects the FMI feature before they turn it in.
That type of advice is invaluable to business customers. Solution providers should spend a little time learning to properly secure and recycle mobile devices. It’s truly a value-added service.
Brian Sherman is Chief Content Officer at GetChanneled, a channel business development and marketing firm. He served previously as chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and senior director of industry alliances with Autotask. Contact Brian at Bsherman@getchanneled.com.
