This blog post will have to be updated in just over a week if the new announcement from Apple brings about new handset options as expected but this article is still relevant now. This article covers both handsets , operating systems and Apps. Over recent years, the changes to handsets have been incremental but with ever expanding 4G LTE dada networks and the increased download speeds associated  with this, how handsets are being used has changed.
With this article I am going to focus on the two major operating systems – Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Previous iterations of this article may have mentioned Blackberry and WIndows phone but they have such low penetration in Australia to warrant discussion of their networks unnecessary.
The popular phones in Australia at the moment are the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ from Apple, and the Samsung Galaxy S6 running on Google’s Android platform. I am not going spend too much time in this article espousing the benefits of smart phones. I am going to assume that most, if not all of you, reading this article, already have a smart phone so we are going to talk about how lawyers should use smart phones differently in order to improve their effectiveness.
Safety and security is vital for lawyers, mostly the safety and security of data. If a lawyer loses their smart phone you need the ability to remotely wipe your data to ensure the safety of data – more importantly the safety of your clients data.
Before warning you off an enterprise mobility solution for your business I want to first discuss benefits of enterprise mobility. The Australian Signals Directorate, part of the Department of Defence, talks about some of the benefits of Enterprise mobility.
Potential benefits of enterprise mobility include:
- improved customer service delivery, business efficiency and productivity, especially for employees who work out of the office, are field agents, or who travel frequently
- improved productivity that is independent of an employee’s physical location, and provides employees with the opportunity to be productive when otherwise idle such as when travelling on public transport
- enabling the recruitment of talented people from anywhere in the world who don’t want to relocate to the city of the organisation’s office
- flexible working hours enabling employees to blend personal time and professional time to achieve an integrated work-life balance
- opportunities to transition employees on extended leave back into the workplace sooner by working part-time from home
- reduced costs of real estate, building operations and building maintenance if employees hot-desk and are encouraged to work out of the office
- business continuity if employees are unable to work in the office, for example due to an air conditioning failure, power outage, public transport strike, flood, fire or other event
- environmental benefits such as reduced commuting to the office and reduced use of printed paper.
They recommend the following operating systems as the most secure.
- iOS version 5.1 or later
- BlackBerry version 5 or later
- Windows version 8 or later
- Android version 4 or later running on devices from specifically-named hardware manufacturers with a history of distributing security updates in a timely manner.
As well as device choice, law firms should consider the types of cloud computing software they are using. There are a number of enterprise grade and off the shelf solutions available to firms. One of the most popular is Google Apps for Business. Microsoft also has Office365.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+handsets are both incredibly popular and come in a number of different sizes. Here are some of the great features of the iPhone handsets
Email & Calendar – iOS comes with easy to use and readily installed email and calendar Apps that work with most of the major service providers.
Security – Through iCloud, iPhones have a great Find My iPhone feature. This allows users to lock down their handset if it’s lost or stolen, and you can also wipe clean the data. You are also able to locate a missing handset.
Microsoft Exchange & Synchronisation – As many firms still do not trust cloud technologies and run their own exchange servers, it is important that any chosen handset integrates will with Microsoft Exchange. The iPhone 6 and 6+ will both easily integrate with Exchange servers.
Applications – As at July 2015, the Apple App Store has 1.5 million Apps available.
In Australia, Samsung handsets running Android are also popular behind the iPhone. Across the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy Note handsets there is some divergence amongst which handset is most popular but they will be all discussed here together. Like iPhones, Samsung handsets have standard email and calendar functionality out of the box, and they can relatively easily synchronise with Microsoft Exchange. Later versions of Android can more easily be made secure but there are other 3rd party apps for earlier versions of Android. They also have a large App Store, similar in size to Apple’s – if not a bit larger.
One reason that you may consider the Android handsets -whether from Samsung or other suppliers – is that they can more easily integrate with Google Apps.
To be honest, it really comes down to a matter of personal preference. The latest handsets are all high feature, high spec devices that make great handsets for all lawyers. It’s really worth having a discussion and getting into further details
At Best Business Deals we are carrier agnostic- we have access to Vodafone, Telstra and Optus Plans and can provide you access to all these handsets. If you want to chat handsets and discuss the best solution for your needs, please get in touch today.