Property investment firm Land Securities has fully adopted the iPad and introduced an enterprise app storefront for its staff.
The FTSE 100 firm has signed MobileIron to provide its workforce secure access to the corporate network and applications from any mobile device, whether corporate- or personally-owned.
The group is also developing its mobile app strategy using MobileIron's App Storefront for the deployment and security of both internal and external mobile apps.
Land Securities uses the iPad to make "significant savings", including reducing the printing costs for the large portfolio brochures it produces to share with potential tenants and retailers.
Graham Gibbs, infrastructure project manager at Land Securities, says his team has now developed an enterprise mobility strategy that can extend secure corporate email and network access to iPads, and address growing demand to use personal smartphones such as iPhones, in addition to corporate-owned Blackberrys, for business.
Gibbs said: "We sought a mobile device management solution that could ensure any device with network access was visible, able to be securely managed by the IS team and used safely and efficiently for professional purposes, while still enabling personal use and experience."
For its new mobile management platform Land Securities sought data, voice and text reporting analytics, security requirements such as encryption over the air and on the device, Active Directory integration, and network access control in addition to features like remote lock and data wipe when devices are lost or stolen.
"Our goal was to replicate a BlackBerry as much as possible in terms of creating a similar experience with an iPhone and an iPad," said Gibbs.
Gibbs said MobileIron maintained the native Apple experience for users and delivered the required automatic updating of devices.
The company has already developed its first internal app for productivity and has integrated it into its enterprise app storefront. The IS team can set policy boundaries for the app based upon the user's role in the business, mobile platform and device security needs, and then publish the app for end-users to download over the air.
Gibbs said: "The IS team likes having one management tool for both iOS and BlackBerry devices that is largely automated, while the end-users appreciate the ability to have both their personal and professional information on one device."
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