An email solicitation put him in touch with Good Technology, whose Good for Enterprise has several attractive features. The management product places an employee’s personal information in a sequestered, encrypted container. It features password policy enforcement; prevention of cut, copy and paste from the secure container; and a remote wipe feature. It also offers AES-192 encryption, so government data is stored securely not only on the device but also when sent over any wireless connection.
The cost was roughly the same as the RIM system. The installation began with a handful of employees at the end of 2010. The software worked fine, but there was a learning curve for the staff: "We had been used to working with the RIM system, and the Good solution had a different interface and feature set," says Coverdale.
The agency ran a test for a few months and began rolling it out to its BlackBerry users, as well as those with other devices. Employees now have access to business applications, such as Microsoft Office and SharePoint, and the IT department has the visibility needed to ensure regulatory compliance.
Another plus is the IT department has also become more productive. Good for Enterprise features a Web-based management console that's easier to manipulate than the RIM solution. Consequently, technicians are able to spend more time working on enhancements to existing systems and less time configuring mobile devices.
About 100 users still rely on BlackBerry phones, but that system is expected o be retired later this year. Additional changes are planned: The Napa County Health and Human Services agency has begun using Apple iPads, which eventually may displace the laptops and PCs that employees traditionally have relied on. "We want IT to be viewed as an enabler, rather than inhibitor of new technology," says Coverdale.
Longer term, the county plans to create and run its own catalog of in-house and third-party mobile apps so employees can become more productive. "The BYOD era is clearly here," says Coverdale. "It offers many potential benefits--as long as organizations have tools to ensure that employees using mobile devices do not compromise their IT systems,"
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