What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is mobile security and team members being able to access email and other functionality, in a secure manner.
We were previously on Good Control, then we upgraded to UEM.
How has it helped my organization?
We have client audits, as well as financial, government, and security audits, that we have to comply with. Mobility is always on these audits. Typically, when we provide whichever client or auditor with what mobile solution that we utilized to secure our mobile data, we usually do not have any issues passing audits from a mobile perspective because of the security around the containerized security versus using something else that would use a native email app from an iPhone or an Android.
In addition, we do have a lot of functionality additional enhancements enabled in our test environment that we will be rolling out in the next quarter.
What is most valuable?
Security is the most valuable feature, because we are a financial institution. We have a large number of clients and we have to make sure all communications are secure and PCI compliant.
What needs improvement?
The entry level support needs improvement, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that we do not have premium support. Therefore, we have to go through Level 1 support for any issues. Typically, by the time I have to call in a ticket in, I have already done all the Level 1 or 2 support on my end. This can be a little frustrating when you are trying to figure out an issue. The company is finally going to be signing up for premium support when we do our renewal (fingers crossed). That is my personal frustration. I have been working with the product since it was Good for Enterprise, then Good Control, and now UEM. I know our environment, so I get a little frustrated when I have to put a support ticket in.
There is always room for improvement. It would be nice if there was an easier way for team members to get onboarded in regards to what they have to do on the device. There are some programs like Apple DEP and Samsung Knox. Unfortunately, with these programs, to get existing users onto them, you have to factory wipe your device. If it did not have the DEP capabilities, it would be nicer if it did not have so many steps to go through. That is our biggest complaint from team members. It has too many steps.
We are trying to get it to that point where our user experience is better. We want to be able to provide them with more functions and features (because of our environment), and it is coming, hopefully by next year. What we are striving for is to provide our team members with a better mobile experience.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There have been a few times that there have been issues from the BlackBerry perspective that have caused a lot of headaches in our environment. Thankfully, it has been few and far between. For example, we had one time where there was an issue that caused devices to fall out of compliance because of something with Knox.
For the most part, it has been stable. It is unfortunate because you are dealing with mobile devices and you have to rely on the team member to work from their mobile device. There are times where we have issues because team members are not properly updating their phones and their Blackberry apps, regularly. There is no way to replicate all the variables out there: All the different types of device models, different types of operating system levels, and versions of apps on their phones.
If they have a version from three versions ago, I have no way of replicating that on a device to see what could be causing their issue. The only thing we can do is deactivate them, upgrade their iOS, and reprovision them. This way they have the latest, greatest everything and hope that the issue does not reoccur. With the App Store, there is just no way to get older versions of apps.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
No scalability issues with the current version. We have had some issues with the previous version that we were on, but it seems to be a lot better now with the newer version.
How are customer service and support?
As with any company, you will have some support staff that have been there a little bit longer and have more knowledge, then others you can tell have to keep putting you on hold to check with somebody else. I wish they would just put me through to the other person versus trying to be a go-between.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were originally a BlackBerry shop in regards to Blackberry devices, then we started with iOS devices. We went with Good for Enterprise, so we were Good for Enterprise when were on IBM Domino. Then, when we decided to migrate from Domino to Exchange, we went with Good Control. Now, we are on UEM. We finally got rid of all our legacy BlackBerry devices, so we are strictly iOS right now, and all of our mobile iOS devices are on UEM.
How was the initial setup?
Because we were upgrading from Good Control to UEM, it was very complex to do that method. I have a separate UEM environment on the international side where we did not have to do the migration from Good Control to UEM, setting up the policies and everything, and getting everything working over there was much easier. However, upgrading from Good Control to UEM, it is very complex.
I have not done the final step which is the big database sink. This scares the living heck out of me.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have been told it is a little pricey.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Back when we were looking at iOS devices, we did a demo with AirWatch and tried to test the IBM MaaS360 solution. The MaaS360 was not sufficient enough for our information security department. A couple other ones that we looked into did not have the security perimeters. AirWatch was more comparable, but because of the investment that we already had with Good for Enterprise, and it was familiar to the team members, our management decided to stay with Good, which then morphed into BlackBerry, versus attempting to go with a different product.
What other advice do I have?
If you are trying to go from Good Control to UEM, I would highly recommend going the rip and replace method. Where you set up a brand new environment and go make your users have to deactivate off of one and activate on the other.
We tried to go with a method of being the least invasive for our team members, and in hindsight, I wish we would not have done it. It seems like there is more room for issues.
Our biggest concern is security, and Blackberry definitely meets our requirements in regards to security, which is why we still have it.
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