Tips for Managing In-store Mobile Devices

Here are some recommendations from Alan Dabbiere, chairman of AirWatch, for in-store mobility management:

• For corporate-shared devices, retailers should take into consideration how to reconfigure devices when they transfer from one employee to another.

"To make it easy for employees to update, rotate and secure is critical in today's environment," said Dabbiere. He noted the case of a home supply retailer whose 55,000 store devices switch with changing shifts — every four to eight hours — into hands of people who may work in different departments and have different job responsibilities.

• When employees are using their own devices at work, be certain to have the rights and ability to wipe (erase) corporate content when they leave. Dabbiere cited a case currently in court because an employer deleted all the email on the device of a departing worker, including personal child custody documents.

• As retailers increasingly use mobile for communication with employees, partners and customers, security of content distribution should be addressed. Some materials may be sensitive, such as financial reports.

"You want to be able to have data loss protection," Dabbiere said. For forwarded documents, for example, there is email attachment security, which can encrypt and secure the content so it can't be read by everyone.

• Retailers should become proficient in custom-content publishing. Dabbiere cited the case of an AirWatch grocery client who knew he was offending a non-drinking customer by sending its digital catalog that had wine on the cover. But the cover can now be switched for different shopper groups, with targeted product messages and coupons.