Key considerations when investing in mobile device data sync, access, and sharing.

For the last 15 years, IT Administrators dealing with client technologies have had a fairly manageable set of challenges. The advent of smartphones and tablets over the last 2 years have been a hugely disruptive force that has made administration, management and data access a huge challenge.

A typical mobile user demands that their data is available anytime, anywhere, using any device. “Consumerization of IT” has resulted in the proliferation of Bring-your-Own-Devices (BYOD) to work and again, the user expects that IT support any and all devices. As a result, the challenge of dealing with a multi-vendor laptop/desktop scenario has quickly grown out of control to a multi-device, multi-vendor, multi-OS environment. And keep in mind, 2011 is the year that smartphone/tablet shipments EXCEED that of laptops! In today’s enterprise, corporate data sits in multiple locations – laptops, file shares, backup servers, SharePoint, Documentum, FileNet, etc. It is extremely important to consider all these different “data stores” when implementing a solution to keep your mobile users happy.When listing your requirements and evaluating vendors to solve BYOD data access challenges, think of the following considerations:

Key Considerations when Investing in Device Data Sync, Access, and Sharing

1. Where does corporate data live? Is it a combination of laptops, file shares, SharePoint, etc.? Are my users using Dropbox/Box.net or some public cloud service because IT can’t support access demands?
2. How do I allow access to corporate data stores like SharePoint, file servers, or backup servers, etc.?
3. Data duplication – Is it global or localized? Is it Block, File or Object based? How does this impact my storage costs?
4. In the case of data sync, is self service restore important for my end-users? Is the process integrated into the operating system?
5. Are service level thresholds for error management important for my organization?
6. Audit requirements – can I produce a report that shows all sync and restore actions performed?
7. Can I perform a federated search across all endpoints for e-discovery? Can I place documents on legal hold?
8. Can the vendor solution scale to manage remote offices with slow WAN connections?
9. Does the vendor solution allow secure access from anywhere, without requiring a VPN (which promotes unfettered access to the entire network)?
10. Is multi-factor authentication important for my organization? Does Active Directory/LDAP integration matter to my IT organization?
11. Is centralized administration important for my IT organization? Will it require extensive training of end users?

The answers to these questions will go a long way in making sure that you have a comprehensive solution to keep your mobile users fully productive, secure and happy!