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Mobile solutions specialist Citrix announced an updated release of its XenMobile enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution, which is designed to optimize the mobile experience for end users while automating and simplifying the IT deployment and management process.
The release features multiple design enhancements for users, enabling them to create new workflows with the XenMobile suite of integrated business apps, including WorxMail, WorxWeb, WorxNotes, WorxEdit, WorxDesktop and ShareFile.
Integration between WorxNotes and Exchange enables syncing of Outlook Notes on desktops with WorxNotes on the mobile devices keeping all notes in one place for secure storage and retrieval from any desktop or mobile device any time, anywhere.
“Mobile technology across apps, data, and work styles is redefining the way people work and the way companies are interacting with their customers and partners,” Manoj Raisinghani, vice president of product marketing for Citrix’s mobile platforms group, told eWEEK. “Companies are investing heavily in mobility to improve and have tighter engagement with customers via their mobility apps—which are easier to use and help with simple to complex interactions.”
In addition, integration of WorxNotes and ShareFile creates a workflow for secure document capture and storage.
The WorxNotes application allows users to create notes from text, audio and images or videos captured by the device camera, and these always remain part of the secure note, which is automatically synced to ShareFile.
The latest release unifies the server infrastructure for mobile device management (MDM) with mobile application management (MAM) and provides IT administrators a single plane of control to manage apps and devices from a single virtual server.
“While employees demand the use of personal devices and consumer cloud-based services for work tasks, organizations are struggling to reconcile expanded worker freedom with business imperatives, such as security, control and cost,” Raisinghani explained. “Roadblocks range from IT concerns about loss of control over data, apps and devices to executive worries about the costs of revamping business processes and updating IT infrastructure.”
Integration with NetScaler gateway extends IT’s view into the network infrastructure from the same unified console, which helps administrators manage automated connectivity checks of multiple systems that are part of the mobility environment.
The new XenMobile release also provides mobile users with a new self service portal for managing important tasks, such as tracking, locking and wiping lost or stolen devices.
Based on Citrix testing, this can result in an estimated 20 percent reduction in IT help-desk tickets from mobile users.
“Mobility is driven by experience—any device, any app, anywhere,” Raisinghani said. “For an enterprise mobility deployment to be successful, IT needs to provide employees with secure and useful business apps and tools to do their work and access corporate information so they can get it done efficiently wherever they are and on any device. Otherwise, if there’s not an easy, IT-sanctioned way to access, sync and share corporate information, people won’t hesitate to find alternatives, like their own app on the consumer market, regardless of how IT might feel about it.”
The new client is currently available for XenMobile customers to download, and the server enhancements will be available in the first quarter of 2015.