by: VMware Director, Emerging Technologies Sreekanth Indireddy
Consumer industries are at the forefront of optimizing and delivering mobile apps. Personalized experiences, one-click navigation, and ease of access have resulted in an inundation of mobile apps for every aspect of our lives. Consumer app users are the same people who consume enterprise information for their daily work, yet enterprises struggle to find the momentum with mobile apps that the consumer industry has been enjoying.
When VMware analyzed the user and enterprise expectations, they were in conflict. Users expect enterprise information to be seamlessly accessible with one touch, just like the consumer apps; to use the same device or any device for personal and work; and to have their personal privacy protected. Enterprises expect their information to be secure. Apps also need to meet compliance and regulations standards designed to ensure that the applications are being consumed by an authorized user or device.
As we launched our mobile transformation journey, we were faced with these conflicting sets of expectations. Our enterprise information was buried deep, requiring multiple authentications and mandatory VPN logins. We also experienced enterprise application compatibility challenges with mobile devices, etc. We spent a lot of time and money to develop safeguards and enable a consumer experience for our mobile apps. This resulted in significant IT overhead and end-user adoption suffered.
Workspace ONE to the Rescue
Our search for a mobility platform coincided with the launch of VMware Workspace ONE, which provides a fine balance between the end user expectations and enterprise security. The platform gave us a framework for mobile apps that eliminated custom development to bring a consumer experience to enterprise mobile applications. Key features include built-in single sign-on (SSO); multi-factor authentication; and mobile device, content, and application management. It also gives us the flexibility to adopt changing organizational policies.
With Workspace ONE as the foundation platform, our mobility transformation journey has accelerated, resulting in faster mobile app development and adoption by our end users. The productivity of our mobile developers has increased by 30%. Our focus has changed to solving a business problem through an uncompromised user experience, as opposed to building bells and whistles to ensure information security and compliance.
We now have 30+ mobile apps in our enterprise mobile app store serving our employees, business, customers, and partners. These applications are backed by advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning, Internet of things (IoT), BOTs, and voice assistants, which are used to enrich the end user experience and improve employee and business productivity.
Today, enterprise information in VMware is a tap away, without any organizational barriers, yet the information is highly secure and compliant. We continue to solve business issues through innovative solutions.
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