Many business owners use Skype for Business to take part in high priority calls, voice and video conferences, collaborating chats, and brainstorming ideas across their teams. However, the largest concern that business users have of Skype’s application is that program might not be the most secure. Rest assured, the Skype for Business team has announced today that mobile apps will now support mobile application management (MAM) and conditional access capabilities.
To put it simply, business owners that use Skype can manage authentication and privacy across multiple user devices. The feature is made capable through integration with Microsoft’s application management solution Intune. Using the core Intune MAM, security across Skype can be limited by a variety of methods. Owners can set policies that control how the Skype for Business app is getting used on the device. Such as restricting the copy/paste features, wiping shared business data from a lost or stolen phone, or enabling sharing between multiple applications that work with Skype for Business like Outlook.
One other interesting feature is to add a PIN to have access to the app without impeding incoming calls or other preferences.
Along with the MAM, conditional access restricts access from compliant iOS and Android devices. Owners can also refuse to allow access to old OS versions or jail-broken devices.
The blog makes a note that these features will be disabled by default and that users should follow these instructions to enable them. It is also confirmed that owners will be able to manage their restrictions directly from Office 365 in a future update. With the power and security of InTune added to Skype for Business, owners can find a peace of mind that their chats, messages, and calls are available to only the eyes that need to see them.
