Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is one of the most popular business practices today. It allows employers to save money on technology investment and it allows employees to enjoy using their personal phones. That doesn’t mean it’s a perfect scenario though, as it makes managing the device more difficult for the company, and app usage for the employee gets muddy with multiple profiles or accounts.
Most importantly though, it’s a huge cybersecurity risk for the company. If that phone gets compromised, all the business data is compromised.
Android has a solution
Google has a solution in mind, and it’s imminent with the rollout of Android 13.
Among the variety of showcases at Google IO 2022, Google recently announced the latest update and iteration of their phone OS, Android 13 ‘Tiramisu’. Google realizes the landscape of modern business, and the challenges involved. That’s why they incorporated many new features with business in mind.
Mainly, they have a focus on separating the “work” and “personal” being used on the same device. An upgraded version of the Android Management API makes it easier for IT admins to manage (and protect) company and employee devices.
What they’ve done is allow the creation of both a work and personal profile on the device. This allows the company to see and manage the apps and data that are relevant to the business. What the company can’t see is the personal apps and data. This sounds like the perfect solution for the mobile device management portion of your BYOD policy.
The features in how it works are the true test of where the rubber meets the road. Android 13 does this in a few ways.
Separation is the key
Not only are there two profiles, but the navigation between the profiles is intuitive. All while maintaining cross-profile admin policies. This means the organization can manage the usage policies of their apps and data. However, they cannot manage the usage policies of the personal profile.
You can separate the apps to each of the personal or work profiles to keep them organized. This gives the choice of application per profile. For example, if you need to watch a YouTube video for work, you can choose to have it open in a browser instead of the YouTube app where it would then reflect in your personal history and watchlist.
You can also separate photo galleries, having a separate one for work instead of having everything in your media library in one place. I know some of you are sighing with relief at that one 😉
NFC (Near-field communication) is also separated for work apps. This can mean you have a separate tap to pay with a business account or even company digital access badges.
If you use smart dictation, you can keep the work dictionary separate from your personal one. No need to have all your professional jargon get recommended in personal chats.
There are more features planned as well, such as Lost Mode and Stay Private on Work Wi-Fi. Plus, integrations between Android devices and Chromebooks are also in the works.
The wait isn’t long
With the powerful functionality for admins and the ease of use for employees, Android 13 will surely be a welcomed improvement.
Android 13 is expected to drop any time now. The last 3 versions of Android have been released in September or October, so it’s likely to repeat the same schedule this year. Pixel devices will receive it first, with rollouts from other device manufacturers to follow.
If you have any questions or need any help with your company’s mobile device management, get in touch to discuss it with us.