Why VMI is the future for our BYOD Generation

By Israel Lifshitz is chief executive officer of Nubo Software

While many approaches are being used to control the impact of the mobile age on IT, VMI technology shows your organization can both embrace and thrive in this new world.

VMI (Virtual Mobile Infrastructure) is a new technology concept that evolved from VDI, only this time the focus is on enterprise mobility. Unlike any previous solution that came before it, VMI runs and stores all corporate apps and data on a mobile operating system running on a remote cloud. Never run or stored on employee mobile devices, enterprise apps and data are instead mirrored to the device as a flat display using a thin client. While this is very familiar in design and operation to the remote operating system used by VDI, VMI has transformed this technology for today’s mobile age by running on a mobile platform compatible with both Android and iOS. The result is the evolution of the remote workspace.

But what will make VMI a success where others have stumbled before? Implementing VMI will help achieve 5 important business objectives for your organization by providing the platform they can build on for the future to safely reap the benefits of BYOD culture:

1. Maximizing Mobile Security

2. Native Mobile User Experience

3. Enhanced Productivity

4. Cost Efficiency – Less than 10% of VDI costs

5. Scalability for a Successful Future

1. Maximizing Mobile Security

VMI technology installs and runs a remote mobile platform on a cloud which contains all apps and data. Zero data is saved or stored onto the device – it is merely reflected as a display. This flat image can be neither analyzed nor manipulated. This achieves maximum security by keeping all critical corporate data where it needs to be, the enterprise’s secured server. Keeping all data off of the device means there’s no data to contain and supervise from a security perspective. MDM/MAM and EMM architecture forces IT to employ multiple protocols – one for each app added to the device. The more protocols that are running in the tunnel, the more weak links exist which can be attacked. VMI requires just one flat protocol to be transferred to the datacenter.

2. Native Mobile User Experience

There’s little value in creating and implementing a BYOD program that looks and feels like a round peg in a square hole. It’s no secret that solutions which do not emulate the native applications employees have grown accustomed to end up being used sparingly at best and avoided at worst. Running VMI technology on mobile operating systems that compliment both Android and iOS eliminates these barriers from the very beginning. This allows employees to share files and folders and interact with their colleagues in one comfortable and consistent environment tailored for mobile screen display and native touch functionality. VMI has also demonstrated high performance on weak and busy data networks, as well as seamless connection when users are moving across various cellular and home networks.

3. Enhanced Productivity

In defining BYOD strategic goals and objectives, it’s important not to forget the underlying psychology behind this workplace phenomenon. Rather than expending painstaking resource hours training users and troubleshooting issues on enterprise IT technologies that blend ineptly on personal devices, VMI’s mobile-friendly applications help bypass much of the learning curve for new employees.

Giving employees consumer app functionality and the flexibility to seamlessly switch between devices makes them more likely to respond quickly during and after work hours. This achieves the buy-in and productivity that any BYOD policy should strive for.

4. Cost Efficiency – Less than 10% of VDI costs

It’s pretty rare when enterprises can capitalize on far-reaching and impactful solutions that are actually much less expensive than their predecessors, but at roughly 10% of VDI hardware costs and none of the software licensing fees, this is precisely the case with VMI. Operating a mobile OS on a cloud avoids daunting server hardware, software and information security costs, saving valuable IT budget space for other strategic projects.

5. Scalability for a Successful Future

One fact is already a given when setting out a BYOD plan: We are just beginning to scratch the surface of the constantly growing market demand for mobile devices and apps which will connect with enterprise IT. Planning with the big picture in mind helps build the framework for long-term success in any aspect of a business, and mobile security is no exception. VMI has effectively taken the lessons learned from other approaches and produced a holistic antidote for both security experts and employees. Having no data on personal devices alleviates much of the security concerns that need constant attention within MDM/MAM solutions, while removing the need to control personal devices. Employing a mobile platform that delivers ease-of-use, mobility and flexibility at a fraction of the cost breaks through the virtual wall experienced by VDI.

Going forward VMI gives both employees and IT security the freedom to make decisions that produce ideal results for sides, helping BYOD achieve its intended purpose for the organization, and providing the formula for a BYOD-enabled workplace that is sustainable and successful.

Israel Lifshitz is chief executive officer of Nubo Software. Contact him through the company site at http://www.nubosoftware.com.