When companies leverage cloud computing and mobile technology, this combination brings new ease of access and efficiency to the digital workplace, with users able to work from any location and access business information from a range of devices. But this also raises concerns about security, especially in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment.
“Mobile first, cloud first” was a major theme at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC 2014) in in July. One interesting development at the conference was the creation of the new Enterprise Mobility Suite. This suite takes three standalone tools — Azure Active Directory Premium, Windows Intune and Azure Rights Management — and bundles them together as a comprehensive solution for securing the mobile digital workplace.
- Azure Active Directory Premium: To briefly review, Azure is Microsoft’s cloud operating system, a conglomeration of hardware and software services that competes against Amazon Web Services and other cloud platforms. Part of that system is Azure Active Directory, which allows you to identify individual users and add attributes. With all of this user information stored in the cloud, you don’t have to worry about maintaining it or losing access.
- Windows Intune: This tool allows you to secure business information based on a set of rules, effectively telling your different systems which data is corporate or personal information. In the BYOD digital workplace, it allows for business information management on personal devices without interfering with the personal experiences.
Let’s say an employee loses a company-owned smartphone that has corporate information stored on it. With Intune, the corporation would be able to delete company information only, or all of the information on the device. As another example, if an employee with a BYOD tablet leaves a company, the organization is able to decide which corporate data to delete from that device. - Azure Rights Management: This third tool integrates with your current systems and allows administrators to access a variety of applications and manage enterprise security across the company, including personal mobile devices.
Individually, these tools might not sound very interesting to the average end user. As a suite, however, they offer a convenient way to secure your digital workplace — both inside and outside of the cloud.
While the Enterprise Mobility Suite is cloud-based, it works seamlessly with on-premises systems and hybrid solutions. Even if you’re using an on-premises enterprise content management system, this suite helps solve these security needs without requiring you to house any of your content in the cloud.
This integration is intended to encourage user adoption and make organizations more comfortable about bringing cloud computing and mobile technology into the digital workplace. As organizations continue to embrace BYOD and other mobile strategies to become more effective and competitive, they need new tools to support and secure business information and devices.
Learn more about helping your organization leverage today’s digital workplace capabilities by contacting Portal Solutions.
