AirWatch Chat Offers Secure Enterprise Messaging

AirWatch by VMware (VMW) is offering up a new secure instant messaging application for iOS and Android to give enterprise users a way to discreetly chat through their existing user directory resources. The EMM company kicked off the AirWatch Connect event in Atlanta this week by announcing AirWatch Chat, which is expected to be available in Q3 2014.

“AirWatch enables the enterprise to secure mobile content from end to end, but when employees use consumer SMS applications, they may inadvertently expose sensitive information and compromise mobile security,” said John Marshall, senior vice president and general manager for AirWatch by VMware, in a statement. “We launched AirWatch Chat to provide a friendly user experience while extending the security and management capabilities IT demands. AirWatch Chat, along with our suite of enterprise-grade applications such as AirWatch Inbox, AirWatch Browser and AirWatch Secure Content Locker, provide the most comprehensive enterprise mobility management platform for our customers.”

Its no secret that employees like to talk to each other via popular chat applications such as WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger, but these consumer apps aren’t always secure, which could lead to data leakage or information falling into the wrong hands, according to AirWatch. The company’s new secure mobile SMS solution aims to give employees in highly regulated industries such as health care, government, finance and legal to communicate with their colleagues while ensuring data remains secure.

AirWatch Chat will feature enterprise-grade message security for end-to-end message encryption as well as data loss prevention and specific administrator settings to restrict employees from using the app when off the company’s premises, according to the press release. The company also promises features such as single sign-on integration and app-level authentication in addition to providing a native user experience similar to that of other popular SMS apps.

“AirWatch continues to expand its platform to address a broad range of use cases with solutions for device, email, applications, browser and now secure enterprise messaging,” said Stacy Crook, research director for Mobile Enterprise Research at IDC. “AirWatch Chat enables employees to securely exchange messages with one another across an organization and enables employees with real-time communication and IT with robust security and compliance capabilities. The ability to provide employees with a secure, internal communication tool is especially important for highly regulated industries and security-conscious organizations.”