We often consider our government as the least tech-friendly organization. Don’t you think technology often strives hard to reach the core of government processes? I don’t think there is an objection to that fact. But, in reality, it’s often the dark side of tech that forces us to remain a bit too cautious before implementing it. However, with new tools like Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) solution, the concern of endpoint security in government organizations has begun to subside.
Despite these, the fear associated with data loss in the government sector is so profound that digitization is often met with a big no! But this is not always the case; sometimes technology becomes so much incorporated into our lives that all other sectors are left with no choice but to implement it!
“The advance of technology is based on making it fit in so that you don’t really even notice it, so it’s part of everyday life.”
Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft
With such a change comes the need to implement more tools that help you avoid most of the dark sides of tech. Such a tool that became indispensable in the government sector due to implementing smart devices is a solution.
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Advantages of digitization in the government sector
With changing times, the government sector has also undergone a lot of changes. The most important of these changes is indeed its digitization.
Digitization in the government sector offers a lot of benefits. Some of these include:
- Increased customer experience for its citizens, giving them personalized and responsive services similar to the private sector.
- Enhancing return on public investments by improving the management of resources through smarter spending, boosting accountability and trust.
- Ensuring citizen’s security by safeguarding them from threats, ensuring that they live and work without fear.
- Improving capabilities in the public sector and improved work resulting in greater economic growth.
- Smarter infrastructure harnessing the latest technologies creating maximum value, resilience, and sustainability.
Why do government organizations need UEM solutions?
Digitization though beneficial also comes with a set of challenges. In order to keep the system running hitch-free, it’s often recommended to address these concerns beforehand. Endpoint security has become a hot topic in various organizations and even the ones managed by the government.
Some of the reasons why government organizations need a UEM are as follows:
- Increased security needs of government data and risk associated with data loss.
- Better versatility and efficiency in device management to increase employee productivity.
- Reduction in IT asset management cost.
- Efficient authentication standards that strictly check unauthorized access.
- Employees using their own devices for work (BYOD) and the need for ensuring data security.
Managing employee time logs with Hexnode
One of the important areas that need an efficient management mechanism is the right logging of employee work times. Without an efficient mechanism in place, it’s often difficult to know the extent to which the employees are working or how productive they are. Recently smart devices are increasingly being adopted to enhance the efficiency of the process.
Washington County, established in 1828, is a county in the northwest corner of Arkansas. It has eventually grown into a well-organized and prosperous county from a small settlement of farms and mills. Some of its key features include Walmart Stores, Tyson Foods and JB Hunt Transport Services.
Every prosperous county has a highly efficient administrative and managing team. The team in Washington county used digital timeclocks to register the work hours of the employees. Corporate devices were the digital logbooks used to store the work time data. However, this implementation was not that perfect as it seemed. Devices mishandling and data manipulation by users began emerging as serious concerns.
So, the need for a solution capable of ensuring the utmost security and preventing devices from being wrongly utilized became the need of the hour. In this situation, Kyle Sylvester, the Circuit Clerk at Washington County, Arkansas, began his quest for a solution capable of helping him smartly manage the devices. He came to Hexnode as a result of dedicated research over the internet.
After initial research and comparison between the available MDM solutions, they decided to purchase Hexnode as it was found to satisfy all their requirements. Kyle then went ahead with Hexnode’s 14-day free trial, culminating in her purchasing the required licenses. Hexnode’s budget-friendly pricing tier further proved to be the icing on the cake. You can read more about our case study here.
“We do have some more devices that we put on there…we used it for different purposes, so it’s good to create different kiosk machines.”
Kyle Sylvester, Circuit Clerk at Washington County Arkansas
Some of the challenges faced
- Mishandling of corporate devices used as digital logbooks to store work time data
- Manipulation of data by users alarming the team’s concern
- Need for a solution that could ensure utmost security and prevent devices from being wrongly utilized
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode could easily solve all the issues that they faced. Some of Hexnode’s benefits that helped them include:
- Kiosk lockdown offered by Hexnode ensures that the devices are utilized for the intended purposes alone
- Easy to lock the devices to the custom timeclock app so the employees couldn’t access any other settings or applications on the device
- Unlocking devices with the help of exit passwords allowed only for admins
- Remotely manage devices and keep track of them
- Easily onboard devices and assign policies based on requirements
- The technical support team and their timely responses and follow-ups helping in the effective implementation
- Increased productivity by incorporating Hexnode into their business
Ensuring endpoint security for the government with Hexnode
We all know how critical the government is for the betterment of society. Recently many steps are being adopted to increase the productivity of workers in the government sector. This is indeed indispensable as it acts as the pre-requisite that consequently strengthens the functioning of society.
The City of Fort Payne is a county located in Alabama, United States. The city offers great opportunities to craftsmen and domestic workers and a wide range of industries due to its proximity to the interstate. It is well known for its excellent transportation, water, and sewer facilities. Its major highlight is its centrally impartial governance.
Managing multiple devices turned out to be a hefty task consuming a lot of productive hours. Further keeping track of the device’s location and remotely controlling them was another hurdle for the team. All these, coupled with instances of device loss, forced the team to try on an MDM solution. Their search for an MDM and their comparisons between multiple MDMs over the internet took them to Hexnode. The journey, which began with a free 14-day trial, eventually ended up in the purchase of Hexnode. Further, Hexnode’s simple and intuitive product interface was another important reason that convinced them to choose Hexnode. You can read more about our case study here.
“One of the greatest things for me is being able to deploy apps, control data and things like that.”
Erik Mcbryar, IT Administrator at the City of Fort Payne
Some of the challenges faced
- Managing multiple devices being hectic and consuming a lot of productive hours
- A need to remotely control devices and keep track of device location
- Cases of iPads being lost that needed a solution
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode could easily solve all the issues that they faced. Some of Hexnode’s benefits that helped them include:
- Simple and intuitive product interface
- Easy to deploy applications onto managed iPads
- Selectively push required apps to devices making sure they are utilized for work alone
- Ease of data management
- Admin could restrict data usage on apps as well as devices, reducing the overall data expenses to a great extend
- Remotely tracking the location of managed devices proved helpful, and identifying the location of iPads from a single platform
- Detecting and tracking lost devices easily
- Technical support at Hexnode ensuring that all their concerns were duly recognized and solved with their prompt responses
Hexnode for ensuring endpoint security in healthcare sectors managed by the government
The Healthcare sector is indeed an indispensable component of any society. Being a sector dealing with people digitization often acts as a boon saving much time and allowing the workers to focus more on things that actually matter.
Storfjord Kommune is one of the six Nord Troms municipalities with around 1900 inhabitants spread along the valley. It is a government administration company founded with the goal of ensuring a safe, secure and healthy environment. Their team of 300 employees delivers healthcare services in the municipality.
It is a government administration company striving to offer its citizens a safe, secure and healthy environment. This goal is often linked to many other factors, and digitization often comes at the topmost position in that list. With this goal, iPads were deployed to the politicians elected for a four-year term. This was a cyclic process as it often required the iPads to be refreshed and given to the newly elected leaders. This turned out to be a time-consuming process. The IT Manager at Storfjord often had difficulty developing applications and managing the iPads simultaneously with such a limited resource availability.
This requirement to manage multiple devices at once made him look for a Mobile Device Management solution. Morten then began his search for an MDM as they had some prime requirements like resetting devices remotely and distribute the in-house apps to each of the iPads. Though he searched for many of them, most of them were either too complex or failed to impress him. He eventually ended up trying Hexnode, and with the help of Hexnode’s technical support, it was easier for him to be up and running on his own. Further, with Hexnode’s user-friendly tool, it was easier for the technicians to get started even without being experts in mobile device management. Hexnode’s tech support, coupled with its easy setup process, assured them that Hexnode was indeed the right choice for their organization. You can read more about our case study here.
“…Now I have all the iPads, I can reset them from my office. I really liked the user interface and the setup in whole, and the price, there are 5 choices of pricing, and I like that too…”
Morten Dohl, IT Manager at Storfjord Kommune
Some of the challenges faced
- Difficult to manually refresh devices and give them to newly elected leaders.
- The time-consuming initial setup process
- Hard time developing applications and managing iPads simultaneously with limited resources
- The company’s need to manage multiple devices at once made him look for a mobile device management solution.
- Need to reset the devices remotely and distribute in-house apps to each of the iPads
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode could easily solve all the issues that they faced. Some of Hexnode’s benefits that helped them include:
- Easy to get started with Hexnode
- Active tech support handling the whole process reassuring that he chose the best MDM solution
- Easy to remotely push the apps to all devices directly from the MDM console without any user intervention
- Remote app installation making it possible to install in-house apps developed by the IT team seamlessly onto the devices
- Easy to find misplaced devices by fetching real-time device location
- Eliminating the need to manually wipe every single device
- Significant time saving with remote management capabilities of Hexnode providing a clear response to queries
Access Health CT, founded in 2012, is one of the largest health insurance marketplaces in Connecticut. It aims to increase the number of insured residents by improving and providing healthcare facilities at a reduced cost. It also includes coverage for essential health benefits like annual check-ups, lab tests, drug prescriptions, etc.
Health insurance programs often involve dealing with customers. To make this customer interaction even smoother, the organization deployed fire tablets, iPads, and MacBooks to their employees dealing with customers involving health care insurance programs. The process, however, wasn’t as smooth as imagined. The employees often had to bring the devices back to the office each time there was a need for servicing, updating apps, or even troubleshooting issues that consumed a lot of time.
In addition, managing the whole device fleet of employees turned out to be a cumbersome task. They then felt the need for a more efficient mechanism to control and manage the devices remotely. Managing devices remotely and locking them down to work essential applications, being important MDM functionalities, the team decided to go ahead and choose an MDM for their organization. Their search took them to several MDMs available in the market and then ultimately to Hexnode. Hexnode’s ability to manage the whole device fleet smoothly convinced the IT Manager and the organization’s Director. Further, its FireOS support, not supported by most MDMs, proved to be a cherry on the top. You can read more about our case study here.
“Our original business decision for Hexnode came down to the adaptability and basically took on all OS and in addition fire tablets too, which is a rare aspect when you’re looking at an all-in-one tech solution.”
Joshua Booth, IT Security Analyst at Access Health CT
Some of the challenges faced
- Employees had to bring the device back to the office each time for servicing, updating apps, and troubleshooting issues, consuming a lot of time
- Manually managing the whole device fleet turned to be a cumbersome task
- A more efficient way to manage and control devices
- Manage devices remotely and lock them down to work essential applications
The way ahead with Hexnode
Hexnode could easily solve all the issues that they faced. Some of Hexnode’s benefits that helped them include:
- Easy to manage a large device fleet smoothly
- Multi-platform support including FireOS
- Hexnode’s kiosk lockdown to lock down your iPads to the essential applications to ensure the use of devices for work-related purposes alone
- Prevent users from downloading or accessing unauthorized apps, helping them concentrate more on work
- Restricting the users from tampering with the device with unnecessary apps and features and also enhancing the end-user experience
- Hexnode’s app management to remotely install the apps onto devices without manual interventions
- Hexnode’s remote view to remotely view, monitor, and control devices and resolve issues raised by employees in real-time
- Easily find lost and misplaced devices with Hexnode’s location tracking feature making it possible to fetch the real-time device location
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