Now that smartphones are standard-issue equipment for many organizations, the IT department is exercising a lot more influence over which devices wind up in the hands of corporate users. In recognition of that fact, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. is making available an enterprise edition of the Samsung Galaxy Note8 that includes Enterprise Firmware Over the Air (E-FOTA) software that makes it simpler to manage a fleet of smartphone deployments as well as pre-integrated Samsung Knox security software.
Chris Briglin, director of enterprise mobile product marketing for Samsung, says IT organizations can now manage and provision smartphones much like any other endpoint in the enterprise.
“Enterprises want to be able to manage customizations of software on devices,” says Briglin.
The Samsung Galaxy Note8 includes capabilities such as Live Messages and an ability to take and edit notes spanning 100 pages. As such, it’s aimed primarily at business users. Most business users today, however, are using smartphones that were selected by the IT department. Briglin says Samsung is trying to increase the appeal of its devices to an IT constituency that cares a lot more about the software and services wrapped around the smartphone.
There’s no doubt that smartphone manufacturers will continue to try and drum up enthusiasm among business users for one mobile device versus another. But as end users increasingly become less awed by smartphones, many of them will be just as happy to defer the choice of smartphone they use to an IT department that also happens to pay the bills for all the services attached to that device.
