3CX Mobile Device Manager – an app for corporate device and/or family location management
by Paul Wilks
Jun 19, 2012 8:03 AM –
Install
3CX Mobile Device Manager, among numerous other things, let’s you monitor the location of various Android devices, via a user friendly browser dashboard. If you’re a corporate network administrator and want to monitor field employee locations and more, the app is simple to use and provides lots of tools and functionality.
Price: Free for 5 users, subscription fees for more.
Tested on: HTC One X, HTC Hero, HTC Desire HD, Nexus 4
Content Rating: Low Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Range of useful functionality for corporate users!
- Easy to use browser interface!
- Ability to manage apps remotely!
- Ability to send messages to each device!
- Multi-platform: Android, iOS, Windows!
- Easy to sign up!
Cons
- Only really suitable for corporate users, not the individual.
Features:
3CX Mobile Device Manager is a means for organisationsto monitor their Android devices while being used in the field. Whether that be to supervise staff locations or protect sensitive corporate data on the devices, there is a lot of functionality.
The first thing you need to do is set up an account, which I managed to do via the app, and then the web. You have to authorise the device in the web interface, but once you do this, you are ready to go. The app itself is essentially a client, embedded on the phone to push location and administrative data to the web dashboard, or portal. All the action essentially takes place in your secure browser. For testing purposes I installed and signed up the Android -toting members of my family (unfortunately I don’t have a workforce of many to test this out on properly). Once the client is on their devices, all they need to do is log in to the host account, allow permissions and it’s set up.
So, here’s what you can do:
- Monitor the location of every device
- Send messages to individual or all devices
- Enforce strong passwords
- Remotely manage apps on every device; from Google Play prompts and pushing APK’s directly to devices to removing insecure or unproductive apps
- Administration – deploy new WiFi network passwords and more all securely from your desktop
- Block, lock or wipe a device remotely
It’s not easy to test if you do not have a workforce to administrate but the features I have been able to check have worked very well. Locations are accurate, messages, actions and other content delivered almost instantly
One aspect which worked really well was app management. You can send apps to devices for install by pushing a Google Play link, which is pretty good. While there was a very short delay, it was pretty effective. The dashboard also lets you see what apps each device has installed, and you can remove apps if you need to (although these are prompts- the user has to manually remove the app pending the request).
Overall, the service is very easy to use, but I’d certainly recommend to any business to try a full field trial first, before rolling it out as a full solution. In my experience the service works really well, but far better suited to corporate users rather than individuals.
One new feature to get excited about regarding this app is the forthcoming ‘Aqua Mail’. This will allow you to configure corporate email- even letting you delete sensitive email content should the device become lost or stolen.
Lastly, it’s incredibly easy to get set up. The phone app can be installed as simply as any other and all you need to do is create a secure account (usual details) on the website. You link the phone using the account details and the service syncs the two almost immediately (just be sure to then activate the phone link on the website otherwise it doesn’t work).
Learn more about 3CX Mobile Device Manager and sign up for your free 5 device account here.
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Main screen
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Application management
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Noticiable delay in sending and receiving messages
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Dashboard, devices
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Dashboard, devices 2
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Monitor device location from desktop
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Optional satellite view
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Remove apps
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Device location history
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3CX Mobile Device Manager – Apps list
Usefulness:
For monitoring and managing device movement, in addition to powerfully administering remote devices, it’s a comprehensive and very useful service. The app is fast, responsive and very user friendly.
Ease of Use:
The whole service is incredibly simple to use; both with setting up and using the browser dashboard. Instructions sent to devices are also quite simple too (so even if your users are utter technophiles, they should be able to use the prompts easily)
Frequently Used:
Obviously this depends on what you would using the service for, but clearly it’s something that would be on all the time, at least in the background if it wasn’t being used for specific purposes throughout the day.
Interface:
The interface is quite simple. The app only really has basic administrative and information screens. The web browser dashboard however is more detailed, but looks good. The map takes centre stage so-to-speak, but the menus are well laid out and would not take too much staff training.