Four New Ways You Can Use Zebra DNA Cloud (Whether or Not You Have an EMM)
If you work for a larger organization, you’ve probably been using an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solution for years to manage a fleet of mobile devices used by front-line workers. If you’re a small business owner, you may have never used an EMM because you didn’t need one. Either way, you’ve probably said to yourself at some point, “I wish it I could more easily stage, monitor and manage my workers’ mobile devices.”
The specific capabilities that would make that job easier may range from being able to remote control into a device being used by a worker at another site to being able to push security updates to all deployed devices. But the point is that you could have really used those capabilities.
Though we’ve granted a lot of those wishes over the years with the Zebra Mobility DNA enterprise software suite – and, more recently, the rollout of Zebra DNA Cloud – we know that you have new wishes every day. There are many problems that aren’t solved by the EMM alone. That’s why our engineers are constantly developing new software capabilities specific to mobile device management and rolling them out in Zebra DNA Cloud. It’s also why I make it a point to blog about the updates. I want you to be aware of your options.
So, let’s talk about four new things you can do with Zebra DNA Cloud:
1. You can enroll your Zebra mobile devices into both Zebra DNA Cloud and your EMM simultaneously. By doing so, Zebra DNA Cloud and EMM will work side-by-side as complementary tools to help you do everything from deploy, monitor and secure your mobile devices to integrate line-of-business applications and optimize the user experience. In fact, with the availability of more and more EMM solutions, it resulted in not every solution supporting all of Zebra’s value adds and customers are telling us that Zebra DNA Cloud gives them capabilities they don’t have with their EMM, such as the ability to deliver Android LifeGuard updates Over the Air (OTA), remote support devices, or see their battery health. So, the fact that they can now co-exist – that you can enroll a single mobile device into both Zebra DNA Cloud and EMM for harmonious management – makes it a lot easier for device administrators to keep the devices accounted for, secure, and online.
Of course, if you don’t have an EMM, Zebra DNA Cloud can step in to essentially serve as a simple and intuitive management tool. In fact, several businesses have started using Zebra DNA Cloud exclusively since we made it available last year. They have found it to be simple to understand and use, as well as cost-effective. (Zebra DNA Cloud has a mix of free and premium features, so many smaller businesses get along fine just using the free tools.)
I explained a bit about how both might work in this blog post if you missed it.
2. You can use Zebra DNA Cloud to remote control into devices being used in a Workstation Connect setup. If you’re not familiar with Workstation Connect, it’s definitely worth checking out since it reduces the need for you to have dedicated PCs and mobile computers in your environment for each employee and instead enables employees to use their mobile computers for desktop applications as well as shop floor or field tasks. When they’re out and about working, they can pick up the mobile device and go. And when they need a PC experience again, they can just dock the mobile device in the Workstation Connect cradle and get a full desktop experience – no PC tower or separate laptop required. Sounds perfect, right?
For your front-line and other highly mobile workers, it is. However, the dual-use device creates some potential support challenges for your IT staff if they don’t have the right tools, as it won’t be possible to remotely see what’s on the mobile computer screen and the cradle-connected desktop monitors at the same time. (The beauty of Workstation Connect is that, even though the mobile computer is essentially serving as the desktop processor when docked in the cradle, the mobile device and desktop experience are independent. The employee could be having a conversation on a speakerphone with a customer or colleagues via the Workforce Connect voice app on the mobile device while the device is docked and powering a desktop order search on the full-size monitors connected to the Workstation Connect cradle.)
So, we had to make sure that if a worker has their Android Zebra handheld mobile computer docked in the Workstation Connect cradle, you can see what’s happening on either the handheld or the larger connected desktop monitor to help troubleshoot or guide them through other support actions. And that’s exactly what we did with this new Zebra DNA Cloud tool. You can now remote in to see the devices being used in a Workstation Connect setup.
3. You can create traditional StageNow barcodes in the cloud. Many customers have grown accustomed to using our StageNow server tool to create barcodes, as it has allowed them to streamline the steps of enrolling a device in their EMM system or Android Zero Touch. Simply unbox a device, turn it on and scan the barcode to watch the magic happen. If you’re one of these customers and rely on these barcodes for enrollment, you’ll be excited to learn that you can now create and store your barcodes in the cloud without the need for hosting a StageNow server. This reduces the overall effort required to leverage these barcodes, in large part because we’ve improved and simplified the experience of building these barcodes in the cloud.
4. You will soon be able to license/use Enterprise Browser in the cloud. Why would you want to do this? Well, if you’re wondering why your workers should be using an enterprise browser instead of a standard internet browser, this post has a great explanation. If you’re wondering why you would benefit from licensing Enterprise Browser in the cloud specifically, then the answer is, “It depends.”
Two scenarios stand out to me:
Either you're interested in equipping your front-line workers with the WS50 Android wearable mobile computer and want to leverage the power of Enterprise Browser to create HTML5 based applications that work seamlessly on that device. (Cloud licensing comes in handy as the WS50 doesn’t have an on-device licensing mechanism.)
Or you are already using Zebra DNA Cloud for configuring and installing Enterprise Browser, and you would now prefer to take advantage of Zebra DNA Cloud’s simplified licensing system.
If something I just shared sounds interesting (as in, it could make your job easier or enable you to make a change to the user experience that you’ve been considering), reach out to your Zebra account manager. If you don’t have one, we can connect you to the right person here. You can also learn more about Zebra DNA Cloud on our website.
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Adam Arruda
Adam Arruda is a Product Manager responsible for driving Zebra's partner-facing Administrator Tools strategy. He has more than 15 years of technology industry experience and has spent the past eight years in the Mobile Management and Support space. He works closely with ISVs, OEMs and VARs to help customers execute effective mobile strategies.
