With VMworld 2018 approaching quickly, 23,000 IT leaders are preparing to convene at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada for hundreds of sessions at the cutting edge of digital infrastructure. This year’s agenda promises content to help attendees accelerate transformation, from the mobile device to the cloud. Conference content tracks include a focus on next-gen trends, optimizing endpoint management in the digital workspace, and cloud-native apps.

Enterprise mobility is no longer optional. Almost 80 percent of senior IT leaders and executives say their employees can’t do their jobs effectively without mobile, according to the recent “Maximizing Mobile Value” study authored by Oxford Economics. According to the same report, three-quarters of IT leaders say mobile devices are essential to their business workflow.

At VMworld, some of the most exciting content will focus on achieving the next wave of transformation in today’s mobile-powered workplace, through scaling personalized app experiences, strategy-driven security, and organizational transformation. With insights from VMworld 2018 speaker and Senior Director of Samsung Solutions and Partnerships Ram Motipally, we’ve curated a list of five can’t-miss sessions from the cutting edge of enterprise mobility.

1. Reimagining the Future of Work in a Mobile-First World

To reach digital transformation goals in a mobile-first or mobile-only workplace, an enterprise mobility strategy is a necessity. Motipally will share insights into how Samsung and VMware are empowering the enterprise to achieve secure, manageable mobility with solutions such as Samsung DeX, VMware’s Workspace ONE and Horizon.

Motipally is a founding member of the Samsung Knox team. “I’ll be sharing how Samsung is a hardware manufacturer with defense-grade mobile security solutions for MDM, platform security and application security, and how these capabilities are convening with VMware offerings to solve real customer use cases,” Motipally said.

Monday, Aug. 27 at 2 p.m.

2. Mobile-First Digital Transformation Is All About the Apps

Enterprise app capabilities have expanded well beyond simple access to email and calendaring functions. Research shows the most effective mobile experiences are context-rich and hyper-personalized with AI capabilities. In this breakout session, VMware General Product Line Manager Evan Hurst and BMW GM of Workspace Markus Boenisch will discuss how the enterprise can realize personalized mobile experiences.

To that point, securely deploying customized mobile experiences at scale requires solutions for efficient MDM. Samsung Knox allows IT administrators to deploy, manage and configure hundreds of devices. Knox Configure allows the creation of device profiles by user persona, which can be replicated across hundreds of devices, while Knox Manage supports the creation of persona profiles with policies and containerization.

Tuesday, Aug. 28 at 11:30 a.m.

3. Transforming Security in a Cloud and Mobile World

While enterprise spending on security solutions has reached record highs, mobile threats continue to proliferate. The average organization now has 30 to 50 security products. However, Senior VMware VP Tom Corn believes it’s time for a “step change function.” In this session, he’ll share why bolting on more products isn’t the right idea. Instead, Corn believes organizations must approach security strategically, and as architecture.

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“There are three pillars to successful security,” Motipally said. “First, security is absolutely non-negotiable. Security should make life easy for the IT administrator, and make life easy for the end user. All three of these pillars must coexist in a harmonious way.”

Tuesday, Aug. 28 at 1 p.m.

4. Digital Workspace Transformation Best Practices From the Field

To optimize the potential of these emerging innovations in mobility and hybrid cloud, businesses need to map capabilities to business objectives that achieve strategic digital transformation. This panel discussion will unite five professional services leaders from VMware to share expertise on organizational readiness gleaned from hundreds of customer success stories.

“There was a time when mobility was limited to CEOs, executives and sales. After that, we’ve reached a point where everyone has a smartphone, so there was a mad scramble for EMM enablement and security solutions,” Motipally said. “What’s happening now is that mobility isn’t just an IT capability, but a driver for business transformation.”

Monday, Aug. 27 at 5:30 p.m.

5. Building Your Unique Path to the Digital Workspace

Organizations worldwide are rethinking the idea of end-user computing capabilities. VMware CTO Brian Gammage and Chief Customer Advocate Mark Margevicius will present tactics for creating attainable short-term transformation goals and four common criteria for digital workplace actualization:

  • Access to Apps and Services from Any Device
  • Consolidated Identity-Based Access
  • Self-Service Access to Apps, Services and Devices
  • Rapid Administration with Granular Policy Control

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 11:30 a.m.

In the days ahead, we’ll be providing additional coverage of VMWorld 2018. Stay tuned for insight into the cutting edge of endpoint management, mobile user experience and transformation in the mobile-first workplace.

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Jasmine Henry

Jasmine Henry (formerly Jasmine W. Gordon) is a Seattle-based commentator and freelance journalist specializing in analytics, information security and other emerging tech trends. Henry holds an MS in Informatics & Analytics from Lipscomb University in Nashville, where she also completed a graduate certificate in Health Care Informatics. Her work has appeared in Forbes, Time, Reuters, HR Professionals Magazine, ADP Spark, HP Tektonika, Mimecast and dozens of other publications.

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