Over relatively short periods of time the popularity of mobile devices changes rapidly in different geographies and with different demographics. Right from its invention, Android has been adopted generously by masses. It is customizeable, diverse, fragmented, new and novel. A lot of customers enjoyed these features. A lot of business did not.
Android outshines iOS in the enterprise for a variety of reasons, chief among them being the fact that it is an object oriented architecture based on the mature Java language. Being open-source, developers around the world are contributing to and improving Android every day. That helps account for Android’s staggering market share. Even though Android is a relative new-comer, it already has half of the market for mobile devices, while Apple has slipped down to a 30% share.
To be fair, neither Google nor Apple cared much for the enterprise in the beginning. Android really went a long way in shielding the user, as a consumer, from some of the controls that an IT division may wish to impose on an enterprise platform. This tune started to alter, though, as far back as Android 2.2 with the introduction of the Device Administrator APIs and Google’s focus has actually remained to shift in current modifications to better security, extended device admin APIs and cloud-based mobile device management functions.
Android saw a sharp jump in enterprise market share in 2012 and 2013. According to Good Technology’s Mobility Index Report, the platform hit a high of about 30% of general market share in 2013 (iOS controls the majority of the remainder), however has since leveled off. Regardless, Android remains to see net boosts quarter over quarter in complete number of activations.
For the Business
Unless your company owner have actually been on a different planet for the last 5 years, they have most certainly been witness to the rise of the smartphone, the tablet and mobile in general.
The predominant deployment type here appears to be BYOD at financial and business services firms. Penetration into retail, healthcare and the public sector, areas with great potential beyond the standard BYOD arrangement, is negligible. Your business owners have the opportunity to be at the forefront of using Android in book and innovative ways.
At the very least, know your deployment types and Android’s strengths in each, when talking with your organization.
Android as a BYOD Platform
BYOD (Bring your own device) is by far the most typical and simple use of Android in the enterprise. Many of your options below are specified by your organization’s mobile device management platform. At a high level, and with respect to the concerns of business owners, Android can do the following for your BYOD users:
- Support a custom enterprise ‘Application Store’.
- Deployment of in-house, internally-facing applications.
- Support VPN connections to your corporate network.
- Support corporate e-mail.
- Deploy corporate WIFI configurations.
Android as an Embedded Device
This is where Android really shines in comparison to iOS and Microsoft and is probably the most untapped and interesting use of the platform in the enterprise. The open and flexible nature of the operating system and its potential for customization make it a prime prospect for the special and non-standard requirements of embedded systems. Microsoft also has an embedded solution in the form of Windows 8 Embedded Handheld, but you’re constrained on the software side by what Microsoft chooses to offer in each release. With Android, as an example, you have the option of working with among many device manufacturers on OS customizations and new API’s.
Android as the platform for Customer-facing Apps
This should be an easy sell– Android is all the rage in the consumer world, and even the most cautious company owner have definitely thought about a port of their item. If you require some ammunition, here are over a billion reasons to develop an Android version of your consumer app.
Conclusions
Don’t get left behind: Android is big, getting bigger and still in its infancy as an enterprise platform. Your customers are familiar with it, your associates will enjoy using it, and your IT personnel will appreciate the chance to learn it. Applications of the technology in the retail, healthcare and manufacturing industries are largely non-existent, yet hold immense potential for innovation and efficiency gains.
The platform is mature: It’s only natural for folks in your organization to be nervous about a platform change, particularly those in risk-wary departments like Security. However Android has matured in a number of ways over the past two years. Google is serious about security, has continued to improve and introduce new tooling and has extended the platform in enterprise-friendly ways.
Don’t buy the same thing twice: You likely already have the infrastructure and personnel in place to support huge enterprise Android tasks, specifically if you’re a Java store. Tailor your overall strategy to your group’s and organization’s strengths.
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