Thursday, May 17, 2012

Canada tops for mobile data loss

The HR Reporter recently shared a study by the Ponemon Institute which Crashplan also highlighted on their blog.

HRReporter.com notes:
  • Corporate mobile devices and the bring-your-own device (BYOD) phenomenon are rapidly circumventing enterprise security and policies in Canada.
  • 71 percent of 421 respondents in Canada agree the use of mobile devices in the workplace is important to achieving business objectives.
  • 72 percent of Canadian respondents also believe these devices put their organizations at risk — and only  half of the organizations surveyed have the necessary security controls to address the risk.
  • 58 percent of the organizations experienced data loss resulting from employee use of insecure mobile devices.
  • Canada and Italy ranked the highest out of 12 countries surveyed for mobile data loss.
Bottom line is Mobile devices are a huge security risk.  Smartphones can store an immense amount of sensitive emails and contact databases which may easily fall into unfriendly hands.

Google Apps has excellent built in Mobile Device Management that allows customers to remotely wipe the synced data contents of iPhones, and Androids plus enforce password and screen lock policies.  You can even control and approve what devices are allowed to connect to your organization's Google Apps data.
For Blackberries we offer a Google Apps integrated Blackberry Enterprise Server solution for $10/device/month with similar capabilities for remote wipe of data, etc.

There are no complex integrations requirements or other extra costs for Mobile Device Management with Google Apps for iPhone, iPad, or Android devices.  There is no need to purchase expensive 3rd party solutions like RIM Mobile Fusion that exceed the $50 USD/year/user cost of Google Apps.  Zenprise is another Mobile Device Management solution with prices starting at $40/device/year.

Contact us at Interlockit.com to learn more about protecting your organization's valuable data with Google Apps.

Friday, May 4, 2012

The rumours were true... Announcing Google Drive

On April 24th Google announced Google Drive, a new way to access and share all your files and folders, at any time and on any device.  Google Drive replaces and enhances what you know today as your Google Documents List.

Google Apps users now have a fantastic alternative to other cloud storage solutions like Dropbox, Egnyte, and Box.
An immediate benefit to Google Apps customers is that your 1 Gb non Google Docs storage limit has been expanded to 5 Gb.  The storage of Google Docs format files is still unlimited.

Effective this week Google Apps Resellers like us can sell you Google Apps domain licenses for additional storage that you can then assign to specific users.  Pricing starts at $4/month for 20 Gb.

Think of Google Drive as your personal stash of files and folders that follows you wherever you go - it lets you keep everything and share anything. With Google Drive, you can access files, folders, and Google Docs from a web browser or any device where you've installed your Google Drive.

Your Google Drive is in the cloud, but you can also install the desktop and mobile application to access your files from your computer, smartphone, tablet, or other Android or iOS mobile device, in addition to the online interface at drive.google.com. Google Drive's built-in sync capability ensures that your files, folders, and Google Docs are the same on all your devices.

To try it out visit drive.google.com/start

Note that currently only rapid release domains will see Google Drive.  Scheduled Release domains will see it in Phase 2 for which a timeline has not yet been set.

Contact us at Interlockit.com if you'd like assistance with configuring Google Drive, purchasing licenses, or understanding better how this might help your business eliminate file servers completely!