With new capabilities emerging on a daily basis, most cellular phones can no longer be seen as ‘just a cell phone’. Placing a call and recording voicemail are of the most elementary tasks–today’s mobile phone has its users sending and receiving emails, opening and viewing attachments, and browsing the Internet. Offering an expanse of features, the cellular phone has quickly become a common, handheld computing device used across the public sector. 

In accepting the responsibilities of a handheld computing device, the cell phone has also adopted the management and security challenges associated with an organization’s traditional IT assets. Much like mobile computers, cell phones can prove difficult to effectively allocate, can easily drift within an organization, and when lost or stolen, can compromise data security. To address these challenges, Absolute Software Corporation–the leading provider of firmware-based computer theft recovery, data protection and IT asset management solutions–recently launched Computrace® Mobile for the BlackBerry® platform. [1] This new solution delivers asset management, data protection and geolocation tracking for the popular BlackBerry line of smartphones.

In short, Computrace Mobile aids organizations with the management and protection of their mobile computing devices. It reduces IT operational costs by providing a single portal for IT assets management–the Absolute Customer Center–which provides reports on hardware, software and user information for smartphones and mobile computers. Through geolocation, it tracks the current and historical locations of smartphones, and displays these locales on a map*. Adding an additional layer of data protection and increased compliance with government data breach laws, Computrace Mobile also provides remote Data Delete capabilities for missing or stolen smartphones, allowing organizations to permanently delete sensitive information and keep it away from unauthorized hands. 

For the substantial number of HP customers who already utilize Computrace across their computer population, Computrace Mobile offers the competitive advantage of single portal management for laptops, desktops and smartphones. Centrally managing IT assets helps to reduce operational costs and losses due to theft and inefficient allocation. For those HP customers new to the Computrace name, Computrace Mobile offers a meaningful introduction to the software’s suite of IT asset management and protection capabilities, which can then extend to HP’s laptops and desktops. 

As the public sector’s cell phone use evolves, so too must the tools that manage and protect this modern day handheld computing device. A new breed of IT assets, smartphones require the special consideration of any IT department. After all–a cell phone is more than just a cell phone.