Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of its System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 solution for mobile devices to provide workers with a way to better manage and control how business information is sent and delivered to these devices while on the go.
Alec Taylor, director of mobile communications business at Microsoft Canada, said the new solution is a reliable, low-cost management tool that integrates well with a business’ existing IT environment.
“It gives IT the functionality on how they want to manage mobile devices,” Taylor said. “IT can also deploy and manage the applications they want on these devices such as CRM (customer relationship management) and device encryption features. They can even disable certain communication features on the mobile device,” he added.
Designed for smartphones and PDAs, System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 protects sensitive business information via file and storage card encryption on the phone.
For the channel, Taylor said this release marks huge opportunities for the Microsoft Windows Mobile partner community since more people are now taking their business and work mobile.
“In emerging markets, a lot of people can’t afford a PC, so they’ll probably opt for some sort of mobile computing device,” Taylor said. “In the developed world, more people are becoming mobile workers out of the office. This makes them more productive while they’re out in the field since they don’t have to wait to come back to the office.”
With a Windows Mobile powered device, users have access to the mobile version of Microsoft Office, which includes Outlook Mobile, Word Mobile, Excel Mobile and PowerPoint Mobile.
Since Windows Mobile enables users access their e-mail, calendar and Windows Mobile Office on mobile devices, Taylor mentions customer opportunities being in the healthcare, enforcement, inspection, sales, logistics and oil and gas patch sectors and says the opportunities for partners extend out from there.
In the Windows Mobile space, Taylor said systems integrators (SI), independent software vendors (ISVs) and value-added resellers (VARs) can now feel confident about having conversations with their customers to help improve and cater to business needs.
“Our VAR partners can do mobile makeovers with Exchange and unified communications around Office Communication Server and with Windows Mobile,” he suggested. “For ISVs, they can now customize the solution to allow the sales professional to take information and work wherever and whenever they need to,” he added.
