Click here to review Part 1.

Click here to review Part 2.

In concluding our series, 5 Actions to take for an Airtight Mobile Use Strategy in Government, we bring steps 4 and 5 across the finish line.  This excerpt will help you determine if your organization needs a MDM solution, and show you how to capture and report on text message data.

4. Determine if your organization needs to use an MDM solution.

Mobile device management is a security software used by IT departments to monitor, manage, and secure any corporate, or employee-owned mobile devices that access critical business data, deployed across multiple mobile carrier providers, plans, and operating systems.

Some solutions including MobileIron and AirWatch incorporate security, and compliance policies and configurations across an organization from a single platform, and provide the visibility and controls needed to deploy, manage and retire devices when employees replace devices or leave the company.

Depending on the size of your organization, an MDM solution can be incredibly helpful, providing a view into the security of mobile devices on a given network. MDMs can also handle tasks that help ensure the proper archiving of text messaging content (such as disabling iMessage and other non-text messaging apps on iOS devices).

If your organization decides to use an MDM solution, look for one that integrates with your comprehensive archiving solution so text messages can be archived alongside other digital communications, including email, social media, and other data.

5. Capture, monitor and report on text message data.

Your model for providing mobile devices, operating systems, and mobile carriers will determine how your organization should capture and retain text messages. Review the details for the following device ownership models:

• BYOD: For an employee’s personal phone, an over-the-top (OTT) application can be used to provide a virtual phone number and a container-based approach where text messages can be captured and directly sent to your organization’s comprehensive archive. (Make sure iPhones are supported).

• CYOD: To capture text messages without an additional application required on devices, choose an archiving provider that partners with major mobile carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Also, the archiving provider should be able to capture any inbound and outbound content on any US carrier with the use of a lightweight OTT application.

• COPE: When your archiving provider is integrated directly with a mobile carrier’s network, this allows for any device to be archived without installing an additional application on mobile devices. iPhones and other popular smartphones can be supported.

To make risk and records management much easier, look for an all-in-one archiving solution that lets you capture, search, review, monitor, and produce text messages in one platform, alongside other critical electronic communications including email, social media, website content, and more. That way, you’ll be able to see when a conversation begins in an email, moves to text messaging, and concludes on social media. You’ll also be able to quickly produce records of these conversations when you have a records request.

Put it All Together

Fusing the five key elements listed above together to form your mobile use strategy will help ensure that your legal, IT, records, risk management, and HR teams coordinate and prepare to mitigate text message risks. Accurate planning provides a greater opportunity for success. When you expand support for text communication channels while preserving governance requirements, your workforce can become truly mobile, without worry.