BlackBerry's Updates to Its Enterprise Mobility Suite Show Companies Adopting More Technologies

In June 2017, enterprise software and IoT company, BlackBerry, announced several updates to its Enterprise Mobility Suite, the company’s complete enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution that helps protect data and increase workforce productivity. The solution includes mobile device management, mobile application management, mobile content management, and more, and is used by organizations in government, defense, intelligence, and other industry verticals. The update also includes greater support of wearable devices, as well as several productivity and security enhancements.

BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Suite runs on every major OS and network, allowing companies to secure all data, communications, and devices, including bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and corporately owned, personally enabled (COPE) devices. The solution’s features include BlackBerry Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), for control and management of a range of devices and applications; BlackBerry Work, for combining email, calendar, contacts, documents, and more to mobilize the workforce; BlackBerry Workspaces, a secure enterprise file synchronization and sharing (EFSS) solution for securing mobile content; BlackBerry Analytics, for tracking usage to help managers make decisions to increase productivity; BlackBerry Access, for building and deploying applications and accessing intranets; BlackBerry Connect, for quick and secure connection between coworkers; BlackBerry Enterprise Identity, for allowing users to access applications from any device; and BlackBerry Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), for protecting data and security, and reducing helpdesk calls.

As more companies move away from just using desktop PCs and laptops to smartphones, tablets, wearables, and other IoT devices, BlackBerry is extending its features with more support, features, and security. The extension of its support of wearables includes smart glasses from Ubimax and Atheer, which are used on factory floors, repair bays, and other industrial environments. Companies can also create policies to aid with controlling Apple watchOS and Android Wear devices, including restrictions related to location. A development to the analytics feature gives managers the ability to track daily and monthly active users, daily minutes used, usage by OS type and version, and user engagement by feature. This allows managers to make decisions to further increase business productivity, such as where training is required and what work individuals should be completing. For BlackBerry, this positions them favorably across the enterprise device market, capitalizing on fast-growing segments. BlackBerry’s growing support for enterprise wearables serves as another indication of the importance of these devices in the wider market, and the role they can play in workforce efficiency.  

The updates and developments to BlackBerry’s Enterprise Mobility Suite show the importance of companies having a secure and up-to-date platform for devices, including wearables, computers, and smartphones. Companies using devices that have access to a company’s information require strong security protocols, which is pushing platform vendors to update their technology to support the increasingly varying device types. Concern surrounding security is growing as new device types are considered, which often creates a barrier to adoption. This is exacerbated by the ubiquity and greater IoT role of these devices: highly connected devices feeding data to a network, with analytics and machine learning feeding higher level decision making and ultimately user-level applications, as well.

As more companies look to devices like wearables to improve processes and productivity, with enterprise wearable revenues expected to top US$55 billion in 2022, up from US$10.5 billion in 2017, platform and software vendors are extending their support to include more of these technologies. The number of platforms that offer support for wearables, either integrated into a current platform solution or a standalone solution, is on the rise, with major companies including Augmate, BlackBerry, PTC, TrackVia, and Upskill. These companies will continue to develop and improve their platforms to ensure that companies have access to the latest technologies and can use a range of devices to access information and communication. New platforms are also likely to be developed, learning from current platform vendors on what features are required and what security protocols must be included.