With BlackBerry UEM, This Major UK Law Firm Stays Ahead in a Connected World

Seeking to better understand the needs of its lawyers, Howard Kennedy interviewed the partnership on what they required from a mobile device. Overwhelmingly, their answer was that they no longer wanted to carry separate work and personal phones. It became clear that the firm needed a way to enable personal use on its devices without compromising any sensitive data, along with a means of securing the connection between external and internal infrastructure.

“We were really looking to do a full Corporate-Owned, Personally-Enabled (COPE) deployment model,” explains Lizzie Ludnow, Mobility Specialist at Howard Kennedy. “As an existing customer of BlackBerry and their BES infrastructure, we realised the best way to achieve this was to migrate to UEM, leveraging its enhanced security features and integrate our new device fleet.” 

Howard Kennedy deployed BlackBerry UEM in tandem with Android Enterprise after an extensive evaluation period. A platform that delivers complete endpoint management and policy control for a diverse fleet of devices and applications, BlackBerry UEM and Android Enterprise allow the firm to securely manage its infrastructure either on-premise or in the cloud, all from a single screen. Android Enterprise allows the firm to separate business and personal data through multiple layers of security, comprehensive management tools, and a range of devices to ft any job.

Although Howard Kennedy evaluated a number of BlackBerry’s competitors, no solution suited their needs as well as UEM. One significant plus was BlackBerry Secure Connect Plus. The ability to connect external devices to internal resources without punching holes in the firewall was perfect for a security minded law firm.

The firm was assisted throughout its deployment process by BlackBerry Platinum Enterprise and Managed Mobility Partner Appurity. A BlackBerry partner for more than a decade, Appurity worked closely with Howard Kennedy to help it better define and meet its mobility needs. It also provided the Rubus Connector, Appurity-developed software that helps extend the functionality of the iManage document and email management solution onto platforms such as Android, while also integrating iManage with the 9Folders Email Client.

“The thing we found was that Android Enterprise paired with BlackBerry UEM gave us exactly what we were looking for – it was the best, most secure version of the COPE model at the time we chose to deploy it,” says Ludnow. “And because Android is changing all the time, it’s actually getting better.”

A Versatile Mobility Solution: One of BlackBerry UEM’s greatest strengths is its versatility. It works seamlessly with Android, but should the firm ever shift to a new deployment model or operating system, it will be able to do so with minimal configuration.

“We’ve equipped our users with devices that they can use for just about anything, business or personal,” explains Clive Knott, Howard Kennedy’s IT Director. “More importantly, we’ve got those devices locked down in such a way that we’ve full control over most of what we do.”

Security and Reliability: “From the start, we were confident in BlackBerry’s security,” says Knott. “BlackBerry has always been the strongest in terms of providing a strong foundation for protecting our data. It’s part of why we chose to use BlackBerry UEM – with it, we can be as secure as we need to be. We’ve also had no downtime since we went live, which is remarkable in IT.”

Enhanced Software Enablement: Since deploying BlackBerry UEM, the firm has had a number of people approach IT to request new applications for their department. Once an app has been enabled on the platform, it can either be set to download automatically or manually from Managed Google Play, Android’s enterprise app store. With this app store, the IT department can seamlessly and securely select, purchase, and manage both required apps and a range of optional applications.

This has allowed the firm to greatly increase the third-party applications available to its staff and led to both improved efficiency and greater satisfaction.

A Simple, Effective Backend: “BlackBerry UEM is surprisingly uncomplicated to install and use,” recalls Ludnow. “After we identified the core apps for our deployment, we were able to easily load them into the work container and set them as essential, so users couldn’t delete them. And the platform itself makes it quite easy for us to keep in track and in control of the devices our firm uses.”

A Fruitful Partnership: Both during and before its deployment of BlackBerry UEM, it was important to Howard Kennedy that it find a good provider that not only understood what it was trying to do, but also had a good grasp of the legal services space. Appurity and BlackBerry together more than met those requirements.

“With BlackBerry and Apcurity, I think we’ve found ourselves a good platform and a good team to get to where we are today,” explains Knott. “Appurity has always been very helpful, approachable, and agile in assisting us with any problems we might encounter.”