Finally, mobile management both IT and users can get behind

Every week, some company pitches a better way to manage apps or content on mobile devices, but when I look at them I find the usual straitjacketed tools that users would deem too limiting to be worthwhile. They may appeal to security-minded IT folks, but have no chance of gaining adoption in the real world, regardless of any official status they might gain.

So it was a breath of fresh air to see MobileIron’s Anyware app and content management service, unveiled today. It treats apps and content as resources to distribute, which sounds like a no-brainer but is not how most organizations approach the issue. Most treat apps and content as resources to limit. That mindset flies in the face of why mobile is so popular: It lets people get stuff done almost anywhere — which can’t happen when devices and content are turned into locked-down fortresses.

MobileIron is well known for its mobile device management (MDM) server tools, and it provides locked-down application management tools — similar to what’s provided by main rivals Good Technology and AirWatch. MDM has become a “been there, done that” item for most companies, whereas application management and content management tools have largely foundered due to highly proprietary approaches designed to limit apps and content.

The fresh thinking in Anyware centers around the notion of enablement. Yes, you get all the policy restrictions you might want, but you apply them sensibly in a tiered-security model in service of getting the right tools and content to workers. For example, IT sets the device security policies and configuration profiles, as in any competent MDM tool, and it can handle the app and content distribution. But IT can also delegate distribution rights (based on policies, not as a free-for-all) to business managers for content and apps.

That just makes sense: After all, a sales manager will decide what documents her sales team should get, not an IT admin. And why have an IT admin execute the sales manager’s wishes? That adds labor and delays to what should be a straightforward business decision. Within the security parameters set up by IT, that sales manager can also apply access rights, such as disallowing editing of specific files or classes of files, or disallowing copy and paste of content, again based on class, role, or other parameters.

But that manager can also enable her team to work on documents, such as updating PowerPoint presentations or commenting on territory reports. That’s a far cry from the content controls I typically see, which create read-only document repositories managed by IT, or extend existing ones such as SharePoint repositories to devices like those running OS X, iOS, and Android that Microsoft doesn’t truly support.

Many mobile application management (MAM) tools today are limited to homegrown apps or to apps that use the management vendor’s APIs, which basically means they focus on a locked-down, often trivial set of programs. By contrast, Anyware lets companies build app catalogs from the public Apple App Store, business Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and homegrown collections. Some might be company-licensed, some may be company-developed, and some may be recommended “regular” apps for users to buy. It doesn’t matter which.

That expansive view of an app catalog is not unique to Anyware — but Anyware’s integration with Salesforce.com is. Anyware is available via Force.com, as well as a stand-alone service, and Salesforce administrators can use it to distribute content and apps. Given that businesspeople best know what content and tools they and their staff need, the Salesforce integration is sound. That’s why so many organizations use tools like Salesforce in the first place: to let businesspeople get their jobs done themselves, without waiting for IT. The notion that IT must be the gatekeeper for all activities is untenable, and it’s not a great use of IT’s chops.

Anyware is a first-generation service, and it could go further. For example, it’s designed for iOS and Android devices, but not for Windows PCs or Macs. That’s not such a big deal for apps, but of course content doesn’t — and shouldn’t — care what device a person is using it on. Effective content distribution needs to be treat mobile devices and traditional computers equally and interchangeably. MobileIron says it plans to support OS X and Windows 8.1 in 2014, as well as Windows Phone.

Anyware does not not integrate its content distribution with Salesforce, so business admins will end up using both systems even for the same content. That might change in the future, whether due to the efforts of third parties or MobileIron itself will depend on user demand.

But the fundamental approach in Anyware to me reflects how the world does and should work: Businesspeople should be enabled to use the tools and documents they need, and they should have easy ways to distribute them — except when they shouldn’t.

This article, “Finally, mobile management both IT and users can get behind,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Galen Gruman’s Mobile Edge blog and follow the latest developments in mobile technology at InfoWorld.com. Follow Galen’s mobile musings on Twitter at MobileGalen. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.