Android for Enterprise – What elephant?

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Google continues to dodge the elephant.

• Google is having another go at cleaning up Android’s act in the enterprise, but while it continues to ignore the elephant in the room, it is unlikely to make any progress.
• Android’s position in the enterprise almost the exact opposite of what it has in consumer where 80% of all smartphones globally use the Android operating system.
• 4 billion data points from Egnyte, indicated that 82% of all enterprise mobile activities were carried out on iOS devices with only 18% being on Android.
• To counteract this, Google has released an enterprise device recommendation program that lists a series of requirements to ensure the best enterprise experience as well as a list of devices.
• This list contains mostly Android handset makers that make the least modifications from stock Google Android which makes the devices much easier manage as the differences between them are consequently much less.
• This is why Samsung is excluded from this list as it does more tinkering with Android and preloads more software than almost anyone else prior to sale.
• Samsung’s absence will further hurt this cause as a substantial percentage of all Android phones in the hands of users today are made by Samsung.
• To make matters worse, this number is even higher at the top end of the range which is where one will find all of the enterprise devices.
• However, I think that all of this is irrelevant as while Google ignores the elephant in the room, its enterprise push is likely to go nowhere.
• This elephant remains the endemic fragmentation that exists within the Google Android ecosystem and Google’s inability to quickly patch its devices when flaws are found.
• This results in an inconsistent experience for users but most importantly, it means that Android devices remain very insecure.
• This is something that no enterprise can tolerate which is the main reason why Android is so badly represented in the enterprise.
• Surprisingly, it is quite a simple process to make an Android device secure by completely locking the phone down allowing no modifications, upgrades or downloads.
• However, in an age where most users bring their own devices into the enterprise, this is not an acceptable solution which has led to most enterprise users choosing iOS.
• I have long believed that the only option for Google to solve its Android problems both in consumer and in the enterprise is to take Android fully proprietary like iOS.
• Then it can create a consistent, secure user experience that will work well for both enterprises and their users.
• Google’s progress in this direction has been glacial and it continues to make a habit of avoiding tackling this issue head on.
• Unfortunately, the only victim of this dithering is Google itself as its usage, loyalty and penetration in the enterprise will continue to suffer until this issue is addressed.
• The real winners here are Apple which looks set to maintain its dominance in the mobile enterprise and Microsoft which will have an easier time seeing off Google’s incursions into its patch while Android remains irrelevant in the enterprise.