AirWatch Connect 2013: 3 MDM, BYOD Topics for MSPs

AirWatch told MSPmentor big announcements are coming at AirWatch Connect 2013 this week in Atlanta, Ga. But after AirWatch aimed to define mobile device management (MDM) in 2013, we’re curious to see how much further the company will push its limits. Where will AirWatch focus during the conference? We have a few quick guesses.

Bring your own device (BYOD) is the norm, but what about bring your own software (BYOS)?

Gartner, Inc. (IT) recently projected that collaboration applications will be equally available on tablets, desktops, smartphones and browsers by 2016, opening up a pricing discussion for managed services providers (MSPs), while hinting at another topic of conversation: BYOS.

Plenty of U.S. companies are worried about BYOD leading to security, privacy and intellectual property problems, but there hasn’t been any focus on BYOS. A research report from Huddle and Ipsos MORI claimed that nearly 75 percent of U.S. office workers leverage company-issued tablets to downloaded personal software and applications. Do we have a hardware or software problem? It will be interesting to see if AirWatch touches upon this distinction.

How one should embrace enterprise mobility

Open the agenda for AirWatch’s conference, and you’ll find a lot of sessions covering how enterprise mobility should be embraced, along with identifying challenges and opportunities with the mobile enterprise. While we understand this need, we’d like to see how AirWatch will set the market up for the next steps. And how will that affect AirWatch’s position next year in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM?

Security, security, security

This may sound like a no-brainer, but readers should look for conference talking points focused heavily on security. This, of course, is not a bad thing for managed services providers. We must, however, remember to think of the customer, too. As we push for more security, we may not want to lose sight of BYOD basics: security vs. flexibility.

We’ll continue to cover the coference over the next couple of days, especially AirWatch CEO John Marshall’s speech.