Small business owners now have a means of managing their cadre of BlackBerry smartphones that’s free and doesn’t involve setting up BES Express. A new free service from RIM called the BlackBerry Management Center lets administrators plug in to BlackBerry Protect from a web-based console, enabling them to remotely back up, restore, find, lock, wipe, and otherwise control any corporate handsets. The BlackBerry Management Center also supports users that are bringing in their personal devices, so The Boss can still wipe sensitive data while leaving personal stuff untouched à la Balance.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server remains RIM’s core product, enabling big companies to set security policies and profiles for every user, as well as roll out custom apps company-wide, and making sure the flow of e-mail stays secure. Free, lightweight alternatives like the BlackBerry Management Center have been kicking around for years, though not all of them particularly successful. RIM’s still working on supporting iOS and Android through BES, and I would be curious if that’s a feature they’d be willing to give away for free, or if they’ll be holding on to that for their premium product.
The BlackBerry Management Center supports up to 100 employees, so even medium-sized businesses that don’t need any extensive back-end management for their phones could make use the new offering. Head on over here to sign up.