enterprise

Nokia has announced that Lumia Windows Phones will be used by select sales teams at The Coca-Cola Company in Vietnam and Cambodia. The hardware will be utilised on a daily basis by sales associates in the market for order processing, equipment validation and market execution improvement. The reasons behind the switch are a familiar story.

If there were one area where Microsoft’s Windows Phone devices should be doing well it is within business. Nokia have just posted a new video extolling the headline features of Windows Phone 8 to the corporate crowd.

Even though Windows Phone has a whole feature set designed to be consumer friendly, it also has arguably the best office friendly apps too, mobile office anyone?

Microsoft has released an official SharePoint app for Windows Phone, enabling users to stay connected with colleagues using service backend functionality and features. Newsfeeds from SharePoint sites are displayed, which can be added to, with the ability to follow people, access documents, tags and more.

ThinkPad 2 for $799 w/keyboard?

Last night we popped by PepCom, a little tech event that happens every few months here in New York City. We were curious if Samsung would be there with their ATIV lineup (answer: no) and we were hoping to maybe spot some interesting tidbits for you folks. We're not too heavily focused on tablets here, but sometimes we find out things.

For instance, we managed to get our mitts on the upcoming Lenovo Thinkpad 2, sporting Windows 8 Pro and a 10.1” 1,366 x 768 IPS display. Impressions? It’s very nice and we’re kind of itching to get one, especially with its reported 10 hour battery life, 2MP/8MP camera, AT&T LTE, NFC, USB ports and even a stylus.

We have already seen with the initial announcement of Windows Phone 8 that Microsoft is much more serious about building enterprise features into their next OS. Along with better security through full device encryption and secure-boot technologies Microsoft will allow business to deploy apps directly to the phone.

Currently the only way to manage a Windows Phone device is through the ActiveSync framework but this isn’t able to provide the level of granularity that micro-managing Systems Administrators need. Microsoft has now revealed that their In Tune product will provide the one stop shop for device management for Windows Phone 8 and also WinRT tablets. Hopefully this should mean much wider adoption of Windows Phone in the enterprise considering it will play nicely with existing Microsoft technologies.

Good Technology has released their annual report detailing the spread of device activations for Q2. Good are well known for being at the forefront of providing technology for IT departments to facilitate users who wish to use their own devices for work, commonly referred to as BYOD, or to allow departments to use technology that's not quite as secure or manageable out of the box. The premise is simple; the software provides a heavily encrypted shell to keep corporate email private and secure. Windows Phone is making its presence known in the workplace according to this report.

The Good Windows Phone client was only debuted in April 2012 but already it’s showing as accounting for 1.2% of the overall activations. Bear in mind that the lion’s share of activations are currently going to the non-enterprise friendly, but current executive fondle-thing-business toy, the IPad. The iPad is accounting for a whopping 94.5 of all activations.

We reported a few weeks ago that Good Technologies was planning on releasing their Secure Enterprise Messaging app for Windows Phone in a deal with Microsoft giving business users a new tool in their arsenal.

This morning Good is evidently alerting users that their app should be hitting the Marketplace in the next 24 hours:

"Good announce Good for WP Good for Enterprise™ Windows Phone® Available Tomorrow!

Good Technology is pleased to inform you that Good for Enterprise – Windows Phone will be available tomorrow for download from the Marketplace. This release will support Microsoft Exchange and will be available for Windows Phone with OS version 7.5. Most features require upgrading to the latest Good Mobile Control and Good Messaging servers for Exchange. To ensure that your users can take advantage of the new Good client features, we encourage you to upgrade your Good for Enterprise servers."

That's some good news (morning pun!).

As we previously mentioned, Windows Phone has not been the strongest contender for enterprise even with Exchange support. Giving companies the additional option of having Good Technology on board in combination with the extremely popular Nokia Lumia 900 seems like a win-win for Microsoft in getting their mobile OS the attention it deserves and a nod to enterprise.

The full feature set for the Good for Enterprise™ Windows Phone® app is listed after the break. We'll keep you posted when it goes live in the Marketplace.

Thanks, WPMan, for the heads up

Here's an interesting little gem: On February 1st, AT&T pushed out a new app to the Marketplace called "AT&T Secure Messaging". Part of their new service, the app looks to be an excellent addition for Windows Phone users on the all-powerful network. From the app's description:

"AT&T Secure Messaging enables the exchange of encrypted messages between businesses, enterprises and government agencies who are using AT&T's Global Smart Messaging Suite powered by Soprano. AT&T Secure Messaging ensures your sensitive personal data is protected -  for example, a one-time password from your bank/online payment broker or a healthcare appointment reminder. Your secure messages are encrypted, then sent to the AT&T Secure Messaging mobile application and decoded, ready for you to read."

Fascinating stuff, especially for Windows Phone users in those key industries. For perhaps obvious reasons, we have no experience with AT&T's Global Smart Messaging Suite, but a quick trip to their site gives a plethora of details on the service which even regular consumer can opt-into (for a hefty price):

"The AT&T Global Smart Messaging Suite is a powerful web-based application designed for large enterprise messaging and communication. The AT&T Global SMS service enables 2-way communication (via SMS or e-mail), and can reach employees and opted in consumer subscribers at most wireless carriers globally. AT&T can help organizations get started using domestic short codes for cross-carrier SMS messaging, and the AT&T platform can also be extended on a global scale for messaging to employees and consumers worldwide."

Think of it as an in-house messaging service akin to Exchange. This push by AT&T into secure message delivery seems to be relatively new. A quick glance on YouTube shows a recently uploaded video detailing how this service can benefit the healthcare industry like hospitals in protecting vital doctor-patient data. Of course in the demonstration Android and RIM are shown using the service but it's now clear that AT&T also intend for Windows Phone to be there too as the app and service are both ready to use. That's good news as this could be a big area for AT&T to be entering especially as institutions look to support the many different devices of their end users.

If you're on AT&T you can find the app here in the Marketplace. QR code and video demonstration of the service can be found after the break. Thanks, Ben H., for the find!

Avanade, business solutions and managed services provider, has sealed a new partnership with Microsoft to develop and release enterprise solutions and services for Windows Phone. The strategic relationship, announced today, will see Avanade collaborate with Microsoft to develop said applications to enhance business productivity and increase the rate of adoption throughout the sector.

Avanade executive vice president, Ian Jordan, has said that the two companies will also be working closely with Accenture, and as additional investment into the platform, Avanade is building "Windows Phone Centers of Excellence" in the United States, Europe, China and India, which will bring foster innovations that address the specific needs of enterprises, mobile operators and original equipment manufacturers (OEM).

"Microsoft’s strength in consumer, enterprise solutions and cloud services positions it well to create a compelling mobile offering to empower a new generation of consumers and organisations. Today’s announcement will stimulate innovation in mobility, leading to new services and solutions to create greater value for mobile customers."

Avanade will also be enabling unique business productivity functionality by integrating Microsoft Dynamics, SharePoint and Lync into the mobile platform. Paul Bryan, senior director of the Windows Phone division at Microsoft, goes onto talk about businesses requesting a new wave of mobile solutions to meet the increasing expectations of both employees and consumers.

All in all, interesting stuff. It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft tackles business and the working sector with Windows Phone (and Windows 8).

Source: iTWire; Thanks, Jason F., for the tip!