The security of digital data and privacy is pretty much always at or near the forefront of peoples’ minds these days. Surveying over 5,000 of its business customers across the financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, energy and utilities, legal, government and high-tech sectors, in its Q1 Good Mobility Index Report, mobile security systems provider Good Technology found “a monumental increase in activations of more complex secure enterprise apps, most notably secure browsing.”
With the proliferation of mobile and personal telecommunications and computing devices in the workplace, aka the “BYOD” phenomenon, along with growing use of cloud storage systems, so-called “endpoint security” is more difficult for businesses to manage than ever, Good Technology points out in the executive summary of the report. Sixty percent of survey respondents said the biggest threat to information security in their organizations “is the growing number of employees using multiple mobile devices in the workplace, followed by the increase in personal devices being connected to the network.”
In 1Q this year, the number of secure browsing activations spanning Good’s customer base “skyrocketed” 2,900 percent, making it the fifth most-activated app category. It wasn’t in the Top 10 in previous quarters, Good highlights in a press release.
Good also found that its customers continue to use its Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform to develop customized third-party mobile apps. Such custom-app activations grew 77 percent in 1Q 2014 quarter over quarter, and 55 percent in 4Q 2013.
Mobile printing, notes and mobile unified communications also registered quarter-over-quarter growth rates over 100 percent in 1Q, marking a trend toward increasing sophistication in the tasks and types of apps end users are using their mobile devices to accomplish.
Other highlights of Good Technology’s 1Q mobile security report include:
- Tablets recorded twice the number of enterprise app activations versus smartphones this quarter.
- Insurance emerged as a strong new industry category, and recorded 12 percent of total device activations as well as 11 percent of iPad activations.
- Other new categories that emerged in the top 10 for total iPad activations were High Tech and Energy & Utilities.
“Security is at the heart of every conversation we’re having with customers, and this quarter more than ever, we’re seeing the data reflect the significant investment they are making to keep their data secure,” Good Technology president and CEO Christy Wyatt was quoted as saying.
“Productivity, collaboration, efficiency… these can only be realized when mobility is coupled with security. Organizations are seeing there’s no room, or reason, to compromise on one or the other.”
