Smartwatches may have increased in popularity over the past few years or so, but they have yet to offer secure solutions for enterprise users. Granted, consumers have plenty of options to choose from, but because regular smartwatches lack the necessary security features for business users, enterprises actually have very limited options at this point. Thankfully Samsung SDS – Samsung Group’s information technology services branch – has announced the so-called “Enterprise Mobility Management” solution on January 5th at CES 2017, designed for smartwatches running the company’s proprietary operating system Tizen.
Smartwatches could technically become valuable pieces of technology for workers who usually require working freely with both hands, such as flight attendants at airlines or ground crew airport personnel, however, business owners and companies have been reluctant to make use of wearable technology due to security concerns. The good news for enterprises who might consider using smartwatches in their lines of work is that Samsung SDS has announced a secure solution for businesses, called Enterprise Mobility Management, or EMM on short. Using the EMM platform, companies will be able to remotely manage wearable devices including smartwatches owned by employees, curate content, and include sensitive application data such as confidential corporate information. Furthermore, Samsung EMM will give system managers a range of security tools, such as the ability to activate the screenlock remotely, or set security systems in place that would prevent sensitive information from leaking in situations of device theft. Last but not least, Samsung Enterprise Mobility Management will also offer options for disabling connectivity functions including GPS and Near Field Communication (NFC).
Samsung SDS’ EMM solution will be available only for the Tizen platform, which has been employed by Samsung Electronics across its range of smartwatches, including the Samsung Gear S3 released last year. Tizen OS is, of course, Samsung’s proprietary mobile operating system which, although it hasn’t left a big mark on the smartphone market just yet, it continues to live on and improve as a mobile operating system seemingly designed primarily for smartwatches. It’s unclear when EMM will be launched exactly, but it’s worth noting that according to reports from South Korea, the system has already been certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States last year, and has been recognized for its security measures.