MobileIron (NASDAQ:MOBL), the secure foundation for modern work, today announced that it has enabled the Municipality of Emmen, the largest municipality in Drenthe, to become compliant with all GDPR and Baseline Informatiebeveiliging Nederlandse Gemeenten (BIG) regulations. MobileIron has helped the municipality to securely and efficiently transform several of its external and internal communication processes, facilitating collaboration with external stakeholders.
The municipality chose MobileIron in 2012, when its management decided to work with iPads, and switched all their devices from Blackberry to iOS. Recently, the two parties expanded their collaboration in light of the Baseline Informatiebeveiliging Gemeenten (BIG) and the GDPR regulations. These regulations impose specific requirements for mobile security and access management, such as the ability to look for, wipe, and block devices remotely.
"The Municipality of Emmen operates on the basis of public support and is in constant dialogue with its residents, consultation partners, entrepreneurs, and social partners and institutions,” said Maarten Visser, concern manager at the Concern Management Team (CMT) at Gemeente Emmen. “Solid information and communication are of great importance to us. In the context of e-participation, residents can, for example, digitally weigh in on the municipal policy. Optimal security of our communication processes and data is crucial — partly in the context of the recent privacy legislation."
Residents now benefit from more effective mobile services outside the town hall, such as maintenance, supervision, and inspections. Mobile case workers now get their information or new requests while they are on the road, whereas before they could only read their emails and plan new visits when they got back to their offices. In addition, the municipality can collaborate more efficiently and securely with related regional government institutions. The adoption of MobileIron has also benefited the effectiveness and security of internal communications, which ultimately enhance the experience of both external and internal communications.
"Optimal service to our residents starts with great internal communication processes,” said André Dekker, employee systems (IT) at the Municipality of Emmen. “IT plays an important role in this. The Municipality of Emmen is a large organization with multiple locations and partners. The functionality from MDM solutions has evolved since 2012, along with our organization. Thanks to MobileIron, as the municipality’s IT department, we can easily offer internal support and respond to the rapidly changing requirements, while being compliant with the new laws and regulations. Everybody wins."
The security strategy involves internal apps such as iBabs for paperless meetings, PowerMobiel for real estate case management, MyLex Overheid to search within the municipality’s own databases, and ISEC7 which allows them to install multiple mailboxes on Apple devices. All the apps are managed centrally and offered via a secure app store. Access is permitted based on role-based authentication. Additionally, the municipality offers its employees a much-desired, custom-made, and secure internal phone book with click-to-dial functionality to simplify internal communications.
“The ease of use to manage and implement solutions really helped our decision making when looking for solutions to meet both the GDPR requirements and the current business needs for modern ways of working,” said Dekker. “For example, the Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP) is very much appreciated because we can now enroll devices much quicker. Another big plus is that we see that people are more inclined to follow instructions to work securely.”
The mobile team from the Municipality of Emmen supports Emmen as well as the municipalities of Borger-Odoorn and Coevorden (within the BOCE partnership), the Regionale Uitvoeringsdienst Drenthe (RUD), and the Social Domain of Borger-Odoorn. Within the social domain of the Municipality of Emmen, the team also supports the foundations De Toegang and Menso.
The municipality uses MobileIron to manage over 600 iPads and more than 1200 iPhones. It is also currently in the process of migrating to Microsoft Office 365 and working on a project to securely enroll and manage Windows 10 desktops using MobileIron Bridge. Relevant data and information can now be edited and securely shared anytime, anywhere, protecting the privacy of its residents, employees, and other stakeholders. By securing digital communication channels, the Municipality of Emmen has laid the foundation to optimally facilitate citizen participation.
“MobileIron takes great pride in enabling the Municipality of Emmen to optimize the services it provides to its residents with the utmost security,” said Hendrik Van De Velde, country manager Benelux at MobileIron. “The municipality was one of our first clients in the region. It is really inspiring to see how its organization and services have developed over the years. Emmen is at the forefront of technology, adopting solutions like MobileIron Bridge to unify mobile and desktop operations. It is dedicated to embracing innovative technologies, which enable the best possible services for its residents.”
To learn more about how MobileIron supports the Municipality of Emmen with best-in-class security solutions, read the case study here: www.mobileiron.com/en/case-studies/Emmen.
About MobileIron
MobileIron provides the secure foundation for modern work. For more information, please visit www.mobileiron.com.
About the Municipality of Emmen
Emmen is the largest municipality in Drenthe. The happiness of its own residents, as well as that of residents of the region, is high on the agenda. The BOCE partnership with Gemeente Borger-Odoorn and the Municipality of Coevorden should reinforce these ambitions in the Southeast Drenthe region. The administrative agreement for 2018-2022 of Gemeente Emmen focuses on six themes: Involvement, quality of life, sustainability, accessibility, sociality, and entrepreneurship. According to the happiness index in the Atlas for municipalities, residents of Drenthe are the happiest in the Netherlands (2017). Emmen ranks 16 out of the top 50 largest municipalities in the Netherlands.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181011005107/en/
Contacts:
Marjaneh Ravai
mravai@mobileiron.com
