Mobile Application Management Without the Heavy Hand

IT concerns are fast moving from mobile device management (MDM) to mobile application management (MAM) as part of a shift in thinking from whether to allow mobile devices in to how to best take advantage of them. At IT conferences, I hear more and more questions about how to manage those applications. For organizations used to controlling the software on a user’s PC via tools such as IBM’s Tivoli and Microsoft’s SMS, the iPhones, iPads, and Androids now becoming commonplace herald a Wild West environment.

The heterogeneity of those devices is daunting enough — most desktop application management tools can’t even do a decent job of handling Mac OS X applications, so no one expects them to go near the mobile devices. But mobile OSes veer even more dramatically from the desktop, making app management less suitable for IT’s traditional approach. The use of app stores means IT isn’t the central distributor of apps in mobile, while the mix of HTML and native apps raises another level of complexity. Sure, IT can put together its own mobile app “store,” but it’s often a glorified website or intranet site with links to approved or recommended apps, both internal and external.

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