Iphones in the business

Discussion in 'Software' started by Zainek, Apr 1, 2011.

  1. Zainek

    Zainek Nibble Poster

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    Hi All,

    Just a bit of a feeler really, considering an enterprise roll out out of iphones
    is their an application to manage them and give full Blackberry BES like policies for them ?

    Any thoughts or has someone doen this recently ?

    Cheers
     
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  2. Shinigami

    Shinigami Megabyte Poster

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    Some Exchange policies exist, but unfortunately iPhones do not:

    A) use them all/support them all
    B) for some policies, the device will even lie to the Exchange server when asked if it is compliant...

    But SCCM 2012 will supposedly have support to manage iPhones (and iPads, Android devices etc). Sadly, it's still some way off...

    Maybe third party tools exist, that's just what I know about them internally.
     
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  3. Apexes

    Apexes Gigabyte Poster

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    I'd advise you to avoid iphones for business use, speaking from personal experience.

    Whilst not administering the BES etc - i know there is something similar for the iphone, the ones we have once connected to exchange are enforced to set a password and a timeout on the phone - without it the email/calendar/contacts etc won't sync.

    Users download all kinds of apps, i had one guy try and jailbreak his, they get battered - dropped, and they expect a replacement if that happens. Cost waaaay to much in the end - now we only issue blackberry's out.

    If there is a big need for iphone features, then it can be useful - but for the cost compared to a blackberry, i can't justify it in my work.

    Saying that, i know all companies operate completely differently, so it may be useful for yours, just stating my own personal experience with them in work :)
     
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  4. Notes_Bloke

    Notes_Bloke Terabyte Poster

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    This linky may give you more info about iphones in business.

    We have about 40 iphones in our business and about 25 bberry's (running on BES), and the iphones just don't seem to be as robust as the bberry's. We've had about 5 with knackered batteries, 3 or so that just shut off and refused to start up, and a host of other problems such as mute buttons having no effect on silencing the phone, refusing to charge from a genuine mains charger etc. On the bberry front I think I've had to replace just 1.

    There are third party products out there to manage them, and the one I've briefly looked at is this one. Can't comment on whether it is any good or not, though, as I haven't used it.

    NB
     
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  5. Gingerdave

    Gingerdave Megabyte Poster

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    We rolled them out as cost options to staff, essentially they have to pay £100 towards it but they can keep it at the end of the two year period, as such our return rate for broken phones is much lower (except for the one guy who took his apart and then said it didnt work)

    I think they are fine for business, however we dont do anything clever, as Apexes said you need to set a passcode (or rather the user does) but I think this is the minimum they should be doing.

    We dont use BB or BES so I have no expeirance with that side, but the general concenus is that they are pretty good from our users.
     
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  6. dales

    dales Terabyte Poster

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    Avoid at all costs!!!!!!! I manage a bes and senior management also decree that its fine to use iphones and ipads with exchange much to our dismay. We are busy writing up policies because all those little "productive" apps staff keep purchasing will be wiped out in the blink of a eye with the wipe mobile device button on their exchange account. The most worrying thing is the lack of control over the devices you have. I would much prefer all users have blackberries if they really needed access to emails and the like away from the office.

    You can get app's like prey and a few others that allow you to remotely destroy the device and also geo-locate it when activated, but of course users must hand over usernames and passwords to such applications and theres nothing to say they cannot uninstall it.
     
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  7. Gingerdave

    Gingerdave Megabyte Poster

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    Dales

    whats the issue? they are always free to download the apps again.
     
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  8. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    Wont touch or support Blackberries with a barge pole anymore
    they provide little to no value over Active-Sync devices in reality when done right

    whether that means specifically an iphone, i couldnt say
    I use my personal one at work, and I know others do, but we support a lot of other phones too
    choice is what it comes down to, and empowering users to get things done the way they see fit, while maintaining the security and integrity of the corporate infrastructure
    EAS allows me to do this with iPhones, Androids, and other such devices
     
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