How iOS 7 Makes Your BYOD Program More Secure

IT professionals of the world rejoice! With the release of iOS 7, Apple has redoubled their efforts to secure enterprise data. As a result, we expect to see BYOD programs gain even more traction with enterprise companies.

Apple’s  commitment to data security is nothing new. According to SilverSky’s CTO Andrew Jaquith, “Before iOS 7, Apple already had a secure operating system, with many options available to enterprises to lock them down.” However, iOS 7 goes even further, addressing several lingering concerns. “It’s clear,” Jaquith added, “that Apple is listening to their enterprise customers.”

We’ve always envisioned Revenue.io as a powerful BYOD solution, and our apps are currently being used across a diverse cross-section of industries ranging from healthcare to financial services to cloud computing. Since your business’ data security is one of our primary concerns, we’ve put in a lot of work revamping our mobile apps to be iOS 7 compatible. Here are a few reasons why we think iOS 7 is great for BYOD.

Improved Containerization

With iOS 7 Apple delivers new ways for companies to segment personal and business data. Its “Open In” management allows corporate data to be accessed only by apps that have been approved by IT. In addition, companies can get more granular with mobile device management (MDM), gaining the ability to determine which apps can access which content. For example, IT professionals could restrict documents from company emails from being accessed in cloud storage apps like Box or Dropbox.

Companies Can Keep Application Licenses

Another change that we’re quite excited about is that companies can now retain control of application licenses. Prior to iOS 7, the BYOD model had been that when an employee left an organization, they’d retain control of the software. Not only did this create security issues, but it also required purchasing additional licenses. Not only that, according to AirWatch’s Blake Bannon, tax issues also arose “in terms of gifting software to people and things like that. It was just a little bit of a nightmare.”

Enhanced Device Security

Finally, iOS 7 makes mobile devices themselves more secure. Using fingerprints for security access has been a staple in science fiction and spy genres for decades. But the iPhone 5S introduces a system that can require a user’s fingerprint to access the device. And in the event that a phone is lost or stolen, whoever finds the headset can no longer simply perform a system reset and reuse the phone. In such an event, a system reset renders the phone into a veritable paperweight.

Data security has always been one of our top priorities when developing our mobile CRM apps. Apple devices have always had great traction in enterprise BYOD programs, but with the release of iOS 7, they can now boast data security features that can go head-to-head with Blackberry or Samsung Knox.

We’re proud to announce that we’ve revamped our mobile apps to be compatible with iOS 7 (they’ll still owrk with previous versions of iOS, of course). And since our apps help make enterprise telephony more secure, we think that Revenue.io and iOS 7 are a match made in BYOD heaven.