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Remote connectivity, collaboration, and support solutions provider LogMeIn announced a preview release of AppGuru, a product designed to help IT professionals secure and manage the influx of business and employee-introduced cloud applications in the workplace.
The preview of AppGuru gives IT pros the ability to manage LogMeIn’s collaboration apps, join.me and Cubby, as well as third party cloud offerings like Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365 through a single, centralized tool. LogMeIn said it plans to roll out support for dozens of cloud apps in the coming weeks and months.
AppGuru aims to help IT pros address application management through a centralized console, which provides an easier way to manage multiple cloud apps than with dozens of application-specific admin tools. The platform also allows users to create and manage identities in the cloud.
IT pros can also create new users, import existing users from current cloud apps, and leverage existing Active Directory services to provision users, onboard them, and as needed, off-board employees across all cloud apps under management. In addition, granular policy enforcement allows IT admins to control app-level security and customization settings, and simplified policy creation and customization across apps helps address varying requirements across the organization.
Once out of beta, LogMeIn plans to offer AppGuru both as a standalone cloud app management solution, as well as an integrated component of new enterprise versions of Cubby, LogMeIn’s cloud file sync and share app, and join.me, LogMeIn’s online meeting and collaboration app. Users interested in the AppGuru preview can request an invite through the AppGuru site. A company release noted preview versions of the enterprise editions of Cubby and join.me are also available.
“The feedback we have received from our IT customers is consistent: Today’s IT pro isn’t looking to impede the use of employee-introduced technology, and they fully appreciate the benefits of the cloud. The challenge many of them are facing is, as their role shifts into one of expert advisor and partner to the business, traditional approaches to user management, provisioning and security are often ill-suited for these new dynamics,” Michael Simon, CEO of LogMeIn, said in a statement. “AppGuru is designed to help these IT professionals embrace the new app centric world, and redefine their role as business partner in a cloud-enabled workplace.”
A December 2012 study conducted by Edge Strategies on the bring-your-own-app (BYOA) trend found nearly 70 percent of companies reported active use of employee-introduced cloud apps at work. According to the findings, only 22 percent of IT pros indicate they are fully prepared to handle BYOA and 43 percent are concerned with the lack of control over these apps.
Not surprisingly, 67 percent of the small to medium-size business (SMB) IT pros surveyed listed data security of apps in the cloud as a primary factor limiting adoption of BYOA, while 43 percent cited lack of control/management as a limiting factor. Other key factors limiting broader growth included lack of integration with corporate applications and systems, as well as industry-specific regulations.