The mobile revolution is well underway, creating an environment in which enterprise IT departments increasingly have to tailor their service distribution and support models to meet the needs of mobile users. According to a recent Wired Cloudline report, the rise of mobility is closely aligned with cloud computing, as many mobile apps are hosted in the cloud. As a result, organizations supporting mobile plans have to be prepared to also enable the cloud.
How to address the intersection of cloud and mobile
Within this dynamic, it is vital that organizations develop a way to unify cloud applications, the news source said. Implementing mobile strategies creates a major access control problem, as most cloud applications require a high level of authentication to ensure secure access. At the same time, mobile users tend to want to avoid typing in multiple complex passwords as they go about their day-to-day work.
IT departments that work to unify cloud applications can create a common login that will apply to all of the cloud services. This will provide the important access control needed in the first place and do so within a framework that is more user friendly. When such a system is used, it is vital that passwords are strong enough to adequately protect applications.
The logical benefits of cloud application unification
On a purely practical level, unifying cloud applications can play an important role in improving mobile security. But on the logical side of operations, it can also be used to enable better operations. When business process management software and similar technologies are used to support cloud and mobile efforts, the data used by various applications and services can be integrated into a unified approach to operations.
While the security implications of this strategy are insignificant, the operational benefits are substantial. BPM software aligns the data and applications that mobile users need at any time. Through process automation, easy, repeatable decisions are handled by the software. This ensures that workers are presented with the information they need while using applications without having to sort through superfluous data. As a result, the flexibility and productivity gains enabled by cloud computing and mobility are maximized. This allows technological innovation to create process-level improvements.
Ben Farrell
Director of Corporate Communications
