Posted by
Phil Klahr on Mon, Jun 17, 2013 @ 07:38 AM
At Apple’s World Wide Developer’s conference this week, mobile security took center stage with the launch of a new feature, Activation Lock, which locks down iPhones and iPads, making them much less attractive to thieves. This new feature – and the serious market challenge it’s meant to address – was highlighted in a recent article in Government Computer News (GCN), following Apple’s event last week.
In our company blog, we’ve been writing a lot about mobile security because we believe it’s one of the most significant issues facing enterprise mobile adoption today. Mobility has the potential to improve significantly the way we work and collaborate in the enterprise by redefining antiquated processes and giving employees the information they need, when they need it – but only if that potentially sensitive and often proprietary information is secure.
Consider this: According to the GCN article, "the deputy police commissioner for New York City said that, although overall crime rates in the city have gone up 3 percent overall this year, if Apple picking is factored out, crime rates have actually dropped."
Stop and think about that statistic for a moment. The mobile devices themselves have become a lightning rod for theft, which can lead to data breaches, information leaks, and so on. When you consider the effects of hacking and even accidental information leaks, the corporate IT department has a considerable amount of risk to manage if a company is going to take advantage of the significant upside to “going mobile.”
Apple’s latest feature would mean that the device would broadcast its position constantly once it's reported stolen or a user scans for it. And that broadcast could not be turned off except with the correct credentials being entered.
This is a step in the right direction, but to be most effective, security also needs to be addressed at the infrastructure level – as part of a company’s EMM/MDM (Enterprise Mobility Management/Mobile Device Management) strategy. In the past month or so, Webalo has signed important relationships with Symantec, Citrix and Good Technology (and more are forthcoming). This means companies will be able to create mobile applications quickly and easily using Webalo, with the assurance that every megabit of data that passes through the mobile app is secured by their EMM/MDM infrastructure of choice.
For mobility to reach the next level of adoption, companies will need to embrace security as part of their mobility infrastructure, as the focus continues to move from “devices alone” to securing applications and data across the multiple devices that employees use today.
Say goodbye to the end of the day,Excel update fire drills and the never ending drama of forgetting someone on the Salesforce report email list.
By combining Conga Courier Salesforce report scheduling and email delivery functionality with the easy-to-use mobilization capabilities of Webalo, your report distribution will never be the same. Webalo’s mobilized report recipients are determined by the Webalo account, not a Salesforce seat. This enables Webalo to provide Conga Courier report mobilization to all of your end users. This is very similar to Conga’s ability to email any Salesforce contact, not just Salesforce users.
“Need IT Skills?”, you ask? You can relax…there’s no need for a software development course! Neither Webalo nor Conga products require high-level IT skills. Anyone with a computer or laptop can configure and deploy Webalo reports within minutes after completing the setup.
“OK”, you may be asking, “but how do I handle the BYOD explosion? ” Simple…no user left behind! Only one configuration is needed because Webalo runs on Android, Apple, Blackberry and Windows (including Windows 8). This brings you whole new opportunities for BYOD and mobilizing your enterprise and every day reporting. You no longer have the task of tracking who has what device or who can’t see what chart correctly…not to mention the fact that most bi-directional and transactional data exchanges (like inventory look up or product ordering) have to happen via your VPN, when and if it’s working. Another valuable benefit of a Webalo mobilized report, there is no email to the end user nor is there an attachment (so no worries of proprietary data getting into the wrong hands via a BCC.) All of the data in the report is displayed directly on the device and is only accessible to those end users with permission to view the report.
“What about network security”, you ask? It’s usually the biggest thorn in IT’s side. Well no more! Webalo has snipped this issue in the bud. Our client relies on existing Active Directory and LDAP permission based security. (Don’t know what that means? No problem, IT does and it will make them very happy.) And there’s a bonus—we recently integrated with Good, Symantec and Citrix, with even more major EMM players coming soon. You’re no longer on the sideline convincing IT it’s safe to mobilize your data. And because the products are so simple to use, you don’t need IT to set this up either. You can do it all on your own in about an hour. No more waiting for IT, you determine when to set it up and deploy to everyone.
So now that you can mobilize your Salesforce reports, let’s talk about the updating. Automation… ahh….music to a manual update’s ear. Once you have created your report in Salesforce and Webalo, you simply set up the schedule in Conga Courier to email your updated report to the Webalo service. The service will automatically update your report via that email. So once you have completed the process, you don’t need to touch it. End users will now see the updated data on their devices. As Conga says, “Set it and forget it”!
Webalo and Conga Courier…….With this product duo, you’re now in the enterprise mobility game. You have Conga and Webalo on your team handling it all, while you enjoy a cup of jo from the comfort of your computer screen and cozy work from home slippers.
Click here to create your FREE Webalo account. To retrieve your FREE 30 day trial, simply install Conga Courier through the Salesforce App Exchange.
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Mon, Jun 10, 2013 @ 07:30 AM
From a security perspective, the mobility industry is changing before our eyes, as the focus has shifted from device to security, to security of data stored across multiple device types, to the applications and enterprise data that devices use to access information. The number of people accessing corporate networks from personal devices continues to grow exponentially, and this is creating a serious security issue for a number of companies.
A report just published by from Dimensional Research found that last year nearly 80 percent of large businesses experienced some kind of mobile security incident. Of those incidents, more than 60 percent experienced $100,000 or more in financial losses. The company surveyed 790 IT professionals in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany and Japan.
Clearly, companies need to explore more integrated security measures in order to protect the data that’s being shared and stored on mobile devices – and we think better Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) is the most practical way for companies to keep information safe. Having an established EMM plan, and following it, allows companies to better alleviate operational risk and unleash the full potential of mobility. In other words, it’s critical that the mobile apps employees find, download and use for their job will need to function within the established security protocols of the enterprise.
To this end, we have recently announced several partnerships, which reflect Webalo’s focus on providing enterprise mobile app infrastructure within the secure containers of the leading EMM vendors. This includes partnerships with Citrix, Symantec, and Good Technology, all of which reflect a move towards providing our customers with assurance that they will have the highest security capabilities when integrating Webalo into their BYOD policies.
Looking ahead, we believe EMM infrastructure provides the framework companies need to manage the continued explosion of enterprise mobile apps while keeping data secure.
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Thu, Jun 06, 2013 @ 08:00 AM
The announcement this week of Webalo’s partnership with EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) vendor Good Technology continues Webalo’s focus on providing enterprise mobile app infrastructure within the secure containers of the leading EMM vendors. As is the case with recent partnerships and integrations with Citrix and Symantec, Webalo is integrating its mobile client with the Good Dynamics secure container to provide Good Technology customers with the end-to-end infrastructure required to mobilize the enterprise.
The new Webalo for Good mobile client will be available from the Good Dynamics Marketplace, the Apple App Store, and Google Play. Good Technology’s customers can now leverage Webalo’s cloud service and Webalo’s behind-the-firewall virtual appliance to deliver mobile solutions quickly and effectively without the need for programming or any other special skill. Webalo can automatically connect to existing back-end applications and databases from companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, salesforce.com, and even in-house custom-built applications.
Just point Webalo at the data source and Webalo generates the mobile app and publishes it directly to the single-client Webalo app on the device. It is simple, elegant, and easy. It allows CIOs to provide a pre-approved platform that facilitates distributed mobilization of data for a company in a secured, controlled, and inexpensive manner.
The integration with Good Technology now enables Good Technology and Webalo to provide a complete out-of-the-box mobile application infrastructure, from the back-end data and applications, through the security layer providing secure access and control to the mobile device … and then back again. Webalo apps run on Good Technology’s supported platforms, Apple iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as on BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and Windows 8. Webalo’s client technology and architecture allows it to create custom clients, such as Webalo for Good, as well as those for Citrix and Symantec, across all mobile platforms, very quickly and easily.
The rapid evolution of EMM, with the incorporation of MDM (Mobile Device Management) and MAM (Mobile Application Management), has enabled Webalo to plug into the secure containers of these vendors and provide a mobile app infrastructure for corporations. After all, having EMM security control is all for the benefit of having mobile apps being allowed to access the enterprise. It’s a very exciting time for Webalo. The EMM infrastructure is providing the base framework for the upcoming explosion of enterprise mobile apps. And Webalo is right there!
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Wed, May 22, 2013 @ 11:45 AM
My recent blog “Webalo is App Infrastructure” highlighted Webalo’s ability to generate enterprise mobile apps. Through a simple question-and-answer configuration process, a Webalo business user simply points Webalo at the desired backend data source and Webalo generates the mobile app. Webalo solves the CIO problem of scaling mobile data delivery to the massive levels demanded by the BYOD-era mobile workforce.
Citrix, a leading vendor in EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management), provides the other half of the enterprise mobility solution. It gives the CSO (Chief Security Officer) the device and app management, security, and control required to access critical enterprise data and applications from mobile devices. Webalo has integrated its self-service enterprise mobility platform within the Citrix Worx and XenMobile Infrastructure. The combination provides a complete “out-of-the-box” enterprise mobile app solution.
As a Citrix Ready Worx Verified partner, Webalo will be made available to over 250,000 existing Citrix customers and over 10,000 Citrix Resellers.
The enterprise mobile market is undergoing significant change as the focus of IT and enterprises has moved from devices alone to securing data across multiple device types that employees are using today and to the use of applications and enterprise data those devices are connecting with. Citrix is providing the mobility infrastructure to the former and Webalo is providing the app infrastructure and solution to the latter. With companies like Citrix providing the mobility infrastructure, enterprises are turning more of their attention to delivering enterprise mobile apps.
Webalo’s app infrastructure delivers enterprise mobile apps quickly, effectively, and at low cost. In particular,
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Webalo accelerates a company’s ability to deploy enterprise mobile apps … it is 100x faster than traditional mobile application development, a fraction of the cost, simple enough for business users to master, and powerful enough to allow users to take actions directly from their smartphones and tablets.
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Webalo enables business units and departments to build their own mobile apps, off-loading these tasks from corporate IT, which doesn’t have the time or resources, to accommodate the large number of mobile app requests.
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Webalo delivers this through a single Webalo client that is Citrix Ready Worx Verified and is available in the Citrix Worx App Gallery. The Webalo client resides within the Citrix container, allowing IT to set comprehensive policy-based controls such as the ability to remotely lock, wipe and encrypt all data.
As a Citrix Ready Worx Verified platform, Webalo gives businesses a single enterprise mobility infrastructure for confidently generating, securing and managing apps and content on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. IT will have the necessary security and access policies they need, while giving end-users the mobile access to the enterprise applications and data they rely on to do their jobs.
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Wed, May 15, 2013 @ 05:55 AM
We are excited to announce an important partnership with Symantec to bring an "out of the box" mobility platform to the MDM market. As part of the partnership, our cloud-based, self-service enterprise mobility platform will be included in the Symantec Sealed Program, which assures enterprise customers of Symantec App Center that the apps they deploy through Webalo are protected in a comprehensive data and mobile application security workspace providing enterprise-class security, authentication, encryption, and content controls.
Our technology has always had its own internal security, but as part of the Symantec Sealed Program, Webalo will integrate with Symantec’s security and management features, such as encryption, authentication, data loss prevention policies, app distribution and revocation, into its platform.
As a Symantec Sealed app, we will be visible to enterprise customers that are leveraging the Symantec App Center. Customers will then be able to use a single enterprise mobility platform for securing and managing apps, devices and content on both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
The VAR Guy summed up many of the benefits to this partnership nicely by saying “How do you convince users that your apps -- especially those that put their data in the cloud -- are secure? In the past, pinky-swearing that you've reviewed all the code and are pretty sure there are no vulnerabilities might have sufficed. But in the age of the cloud, channel partnerships are playing an increased role in promoting security assurance, as a deal announced this week between Symantec and Webalo makes clear.”
Security is clearly a top priority in the mobile market today. We believe partnerships like this are critical to building widespread confidence that enterprise data and information in transit and at rest in a mobile environment is secure, and we look forward to making sure mobility is fast and easy to deploy for everyone who needs it.
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Mon, May 13, 2013 @ 05:55 AM
We are all aware of the BYOD phenomenon and the enterprise’s requirement that these mobile devices need to be under corporate management, at least to the extent of their interaction with enterprise applications and data. The enterprise mobile industry has responded with products that allow companies to manage and secure these devices, their users, and the installed apps on these devices. These products are commonly referred to as MDM (Mobile Device Management) and MAM (Mobile Application Management) platforms.
The next logical step in the evolution of these platforms is Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) with extended suites of capabilities for content management, collaboration, and applications themselves. Evidence for this is the recent announcements by leading vendors that they are adding security or wrapping services to facilitate the growth of third-party ecosystems for applications. These EMM wrapping tools make it easier for the app developer community to add security to their solutions and solve some of the security issues they face.
The wrapping process helps the CSO, but still leaves the CIO with a scalability problem. CIOs are facing an unprecedented demand for mobile applications and mobile data delivery. In many companies, hundreds, if not thousands, of apps need to be created that access enterprise assets securely. CIOs need strategies and solutions that will allow them to manage the cost profile per app and across the enterprise. Vendors that supply point solutions to data do not allow for applications that need to access multiple data sources. And MEAP or MADP developed apps still have the traditional programming life cycle burdens of cost, complexity and extended timelines. Notwithstanding the use of EMM security wrapping tools, each of these individually-developed MEAP or MADP coded apps still need to be individually evaluated and verified for security risks prior to enterprise deployment.
Webalo’s research shows that 80% of enterprise apps desired by users are mobile apps that get them the specific data they need (to access or to change) to do their jobs. These apps are routine and can be easily generated without programming and without the risk of custom development. A common, reusable client on the device can be verified once and can provide access to all generated apps and data. An “app infrastructure” that can be dropped into an enterprise’s EMM platform provides the CIO with a low cost, fast, and generative process for creating and delivering enterprise data and transactions to mobile devices.
Webalo is that “app infrastructure”. Just point Webalo at the data source and Webalo generates the mobile app and then publishes it directly to the single-client Webalo app on the device. It is simple, elegant, and easy. It allows CIOs to provide a pre-approved platform that facilitates distributed mobilization of data for a company in a secured, controlled, and inexpensive manner.
Over the past year, hundreds of companies have benefited from the generative approach and app infrastructure provided by Webalo through its products, Webalo Cloud (free), Webalo Pro Cloud (SaaS), and Webalo Pro Appliance (behind-the-firewall virtual appliance). With the enterprise mobility market shifting its focus and priority to scalable application generation and data delivery, Webalo is investing to make it easier than ever to fit seamlessly into the evolving EMM landscape and has packaged specialized Webalo clients that are pre-integrated, and pre-certified, with each of the unique policy-driven management platforms provided by the leading EMM vendors. These new Webalo clients will be available from the EMM’s own ecosystem marketplaces and from the device-specific app stores (Android, Apple, BlackBerry and Windows). We will feature some specific integrations in upcoming posts.
An app infrastructure, such as Webalo, integrated into EMM gets the CSO the management and security needed and gets the CIO the ability to scale mobile data delivery to the massive levels that are demanded by the BYOD-era mobile workforce.
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Mon, May 06, 2013 @ 05:55 AM
Every day, there are countless articles, surveys, social media entries, and blog posts (including our own) that focus on the promise and perils of BYOD in an enterprise mobility environment. At the top of almost every list of concerns is security – the security of the enterprise backend, of the data contained there, and of the documents just waiting to be mis-used, misappropriated, or made vulnerable to corporate and even foreign espionage.
Yet mobile devices – the multitude of smartphones and tablets proliferating daily in every organization – are not the primary source of the problem. They’re merely the outermost doorway of the enterprise and the one most likely to be treated with a cavalier attitude toward security.
Security, like charity, begins at home. And home in this case is the enterprise itself. If it doesn’t have mandated protections – user IDs, passwords, permissions, authentication, authorization, and the like – then, yes, any mobile device is a threat. That’s why companies like Symantec, Good Technology, and other mobile device management software providers have a market in the first place – because the enterprise itself isn’t well-guarded enough for mobile access.
On one level, this is an IT challenge, but intrinsic to that challenge is the ability to convince employees – through training and ironclad protocols – that enterprise system and data security is of strategic and paramount importance. It is, in fact, essential to their jobs, both in terms of having a job to do and earning the right to hold onto that job. In essence: you don’t have to be in charge of locking the door to the castle; you just have to be conscientious enough to know that, if it’s open and you don’t take the initiative to lock it, the enemy can take it over... and throw you out.
BYOD users, however, have separate castle doors to lock. The first is a device-specific password. Using a smartphone or tablet without one is like leaving the front door of your house or apartment unlocked – anyone can get inside, take a look around, and basically take whatever they want, whether it’s a bank account number or an eyes-only schematic for a groundbreaking product.
Next is needing usernames and passwords to access any apps that interact with the enterprise. Without that, MDM-based authentication and authorization can ensure that you and your device are approved. And, once you’re “in,” you may still need to enter an enterprise-specific set of identifiers.
Finally, there’s encryption. It’s built-in to some but by no means all enterprise-to-mobile technology and can provide additional protection.
Too many steps? Maybe. But humans are rarely consistent in their voluntary behavior, and all these checkpoints guarantee that they will be.
Posted by
Phil Klahr on Thu, May 02, 2013 @ 05:55 AM
We often mention that Webalo provides for the “dynamic deployment” of apps. I’ve recently been asked to provide more detail on this so I thought I’d share that information to a wider audience.
Each “app” in Webalo provides a distinct business function. You can think of this as a specific business operation, e.g., getting product information, ordering a product, accessing a forecast, entering customer contact information, etc. Consider an SAP-supplied mobile app to access SAP. Typically this would provide access to a wide range of SAP business functions, and necessitate the mobile user navigating to the business function desired. In Webalo each SAP business function you want mobile users to access becomes a Webalo “app” and provides direct access to that SAP specific business operation (and avoiding all the cumbersome navigation to get to the function the user wants to perform).
Further, the Webalo administrator can permission each business function, i.e., each Webalo app, to the mobile users that need to access that particular business function. (In a sense, this extends the permissioning of apps to users … often found in mobile application management tools … to permissioning at a more detailed level, i.e., at the business operation or business function level).
When the Webalo administrator configures a new business function, permissions it to the appropriate business users, and then “deploys” the app in the Webalo administrative website, that app becomes immediately available to the mobile user. So, on the next launch of Webalo by that mobile user, or on the next “Refresh”, the mobile user will see the new Webalo app appear on the home screen. The mobile user doesn’t have to download the app, or request the app; it automatically appears on the user’s device. The only download required is a one-time download of the Webalo app from the appropriate device platform store. From then on newly-created and permissioned Webalo apps appear dynamically as they are deployed.
Join Webalo at All About the Cloud, the leading ISV conference on all things Cloud from May 7-9 in San Francisco. All About the Cloud is produced by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). This year’s conference is focused on helping businesses make contacts, form partnerships, and close deals.
Peter Price, CEO is participating on the panel to discuss Empowering Your Mobile Workforce on May 8 from 3:05pm–3:45pm PT. Attendees will learn how business executives today need to be connected with their business at home, at the office, around town, and on the road. The presentation will cover how CEOs are embracing mobile services to empower their workforces all the while maintaining the security of their data and business processes.
Other panelists include: Anne Bonaparte, CEO & President of Xora, Inc., Sriram Chakravarthy, Vice President of Product & Engineering of TIBCO, Liz Pearce, CEO of LiquidPlanner, and Leo Tenenblat, CEO & Co-Founderof AppMesh.
With the mobile technology landscape rapidly changing, it’s important to keep your business in the loop with this fast mobility space, or you could be holding your workforce back. Webalo lets users connect to the enterprise applications you already have and instantly provide individualized, bi-directional, transactional, secure mobile access for Android, Apple, BlackBerry and Windows smartphones and tablets.
Access the information you need, and work the way you want – Create a Free Webalo Account today.