By Mike Anderson

The mobility movement has taken root in the enterprise, and is shifting gears from control to empowerment. Enterprise mobile strategies increasingly aim at transformational change, and demand new approaches for managing systems that are built around mobile devices. MDM has laid groundwork for managing mobile devices and app-level security functionality is becoming richer.

At the heart of business value from mobile is getting to the right content at the right time and place, and getting control over mobile content is a growing battle with many varied combatants. There are three main factions aiming at this mobile capability, and pursuing enterprise business. Each has a strong mobile component, but each is also coming from a different position of strength.

Content Management: Mobilizing Enterprise Repositories

Enterprise content management systems focus on centralizing essential business documents and streamlining processes with workflow, security and version control. Their main purpose has been to be the keeper of the documents and files with the ability to manage a back-end resource. The mobile value proposition is enabling access to the wealth of information in those enterprise repositories through people’s smartphones and tablets.

Content Sharing: Mobile Content in the Cloud

File sharing has been one of the hottest collaboration tools over the last two years. Putting simple to use file upload and download functions in place for PCs and mobile devices has drawn users by the droves. Mobile access to secure file sharing services to view the same content at home, on the road and in the office – and create uploads of files and folders for collaboration with others – is a core capability. Making mobile just another means for getting at and sharing the content users need at their fingertips is the strength of content sharing. Its simplicity and ability to implement secure storage with secure access to the file sharing services is the value.

Content Distribution: MDM Does Documents

MDM’s transition to Enterprise Mobile Management is built around a broadened set of capabilities, one of the hottest being securing mobile content. Where content management and content sharing start with the files and enable mobile accessibility, the mobile content distribution model starts with attention to protecting what winds up on the mobile device. EMM introduced the ability to lock devices, control apps, and apply policy to what takes place on the mobile device. Securing mobile content takes the same approach, enabling attention to the individual document and offering encryption, isolation through containerization, and the ability to push out or wipe content at a granular level.

Content Futures: Collision and Convergence

Mobile brings a whole new world of capabilities and possibilities. Enabling mobile devices access to massive enterprise document repositories has significant value. Providing easy to use file sharing that users can deploy and leverage on all of their devices to give them access to their work no matter the device is a boon for productivity. Taking on management of content in the mobile environment with access and usage policies, content expiration rules, the ability to push content updates transparently and protection through geofencing enable new ways to mobilize enterprise content. Each of these approaches has a constituency, a market and a core value. Each has its own strengths and model for deployment. What mix will work best for your business? Our research is focused on these trends, and we’ll be publishing more on mobile strategy and content in a mobile world in 2013.