Microsoft and BlackBerry have teamed up to provide enterprises a solution – BlackBerry Enterprise BRIDGE that integrates latter’s mobility and security expertise with Microsoft’s cloud and productivity services.
The new service, accessible on both iOS and Android, will enable the customers of both the companies (large banks, law firms, government agencies, and healthcare firms) to run Microsoft mobile apps from BlackBerry Dynamics apps.
BlackBerry Dynamics, an enterprise-grade toolset for building secure mobile apps, integrated with Office 365 mobile apps will allow users to seamlessly open, edit, and save Excel, PowerPoint, and Word files on any mobile device within BlackBerry Dynamics.
“BlackBerry has always led the market with new and innovative ways to protect corporate data on mobile devices,” said Carl Wiese, president of Global Sales at BlackBerry. “We saw a need for a hyper-secure way for our joint customers to use native Office 365 mobile apps. BlackBerry Enterprise BRIDGE addresses this need and is a great example of how BlackBerry and Microsoft continue to securely enable workforces to be highly productive in today’s connected world.”
With BlackBerry Enterprise BRIDGE, users can work from anywhere at any time, with enterprise-grade data privacy and security.
“In an era when digital technology is driving rapid transformation, customers are looking for a trusted partner,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business at Microsoft. “Our customers choose Microsoft 365 for productivity and collaboration tools that deliver continuous innovation, and do so securely. Together with BlackBerry, we will take this to the next level and provide enterprises with a new standard for secure productivity.”
Additionally, BlackBerry Secure Platform has also been integrated with Microsoft Azure Cloud platform. With this integration, BlackBerry UEM Cloud, BlackBerry Workspaces, BlackBerry Dynamics, and BlackBerry AtHoc will now be available on Azure.
BlackBerry became a renowned brand because of its mobile phones which it used to make at the time of emergence of smartphones. But it failed to add the ‘smart’ part in their phones and thereby, its market share collapsed. Since then, BlackBerry has become provider of enterprise-grade security software.
Also read: Outlook.com to get smarter with new mail, calendar and people experiences
Microsoft also failed to make an impact in smartphone market despite buying Nokia. The partnership might help both the companies to revive their current mobility services.
