It's pretty safe to say that beside Apple and Android, Windows is a small player in the mobile market. With the newest release of Windows 8.1 Mobile, that could be changing. Windows 8.1 mobile has a ton of new features and robust improvements that brings Windows up to speed as an option for office users as well as giving great security options that IT professionals in charge of maintaining network integrity. Let's take a look at what Windows 8.1 offers
Security
Windows has had integrated data encryption for a while now and with Windows Mobile 8.1, that feature is available on your phone. IT professionals have used BitLocker to secure sensitive company data for years, and now the same pervasive data security profiles used on severs and laptops can be applied to mobile devices. This grants a measure of assurance that company data is secure, even when it's being taken on the go. If the device should be compromised, remote data wipe has grown up too. Now data can be marked as either user or corporate, encrypted and wiped via remote, giving network and security administrators great flexibility and confidence with allowing user devices access to company assets. Windows Defender is Microsoft's free antivirus and malware protection software and it's now been improved to monitor network behavior, giving another layer of protection.
Access to workplace
BYOD (bring your own device) is a trademark of todays modern office worker; they want to work the same in the office as they work remotely and they want to work on the devices that they know and feel comfortable with. Windows 8.1 mobile facilitates BYOD programs in some key ways. ‘Workplace Join' allows a personal device to be registered with the network without having to formally join the domain, offering great flexibility to what has previously been a very black and white problem. Workplace Join, in turn, enables features like synced work folders to automatically synchronize your data between a local mobile folder and a shared folder the user has on the corporate file system. Printing has more options now as well with print over wireless without needing drivers or printing to NFC enabled printers simply through physical contact between phone and printer. Remote access, a huge deal when working remotely or in the office on mobile and with improvements to both Windows 8.1 Mobile and sever 2012 R2, RemoteApp behave more like local apps. This means faster performance and more transparency for the end user.
Other
An updated desktop with more features, the ability to turn your mobile into a wireless hotspot, auto VPN prompting when accessing portals requiring authentication are all in this update.
Many of the issues and features addressed have been long sought after by users and IT professionals alike. Now, with this update, Windows 8.1 Mobile has the tools it needs to become a full integrated asset to any company.