With the emergence of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, IT managers face a new set of challenges, such as maintaining top security while meeting the demands of a workforce that wants to use any device, from anywhere and at anytime.

With BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and BlackBerry 10 devices, we’re committed to meeting the device management and development needs for IT administrators, while also ensuring that end-users get the experience they want across apps, devices and work flow.

This SlideShare deck provides a deeper overview of how BlackBerry is meeting the mobility needs of governments.

We are confident that the re-invented BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10) meets BYOD challenges. BES 10 can manage all BlackBerry, iOS and Android platforms in one single dashboard, meaning greater choice of device for users. Yet, it’s still very secure. We’re proud that BlackBerry continues to receive top security certifications from governments and third party organizations around the world.

The BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 offer exceptional smartphone capabilities, including features and apps like BlackBerry Hub and BlackBerry Keyboard, that work together seamlessly to deliver the ultimate user experience. The BBM Video with Screen Share is particularly helpful to government employees who need to share documents or hold meetings outside of the office. They can easily video chat with their colleagues, sharing and editing documents together while on the chat.

We have a proven track record with public sectors across the world and with BlackBerry 10 we look forward to the continuation of meeting government mobility needs.

Are you a BlackBerry fan and work in the public sector? Let us know below how you think BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and BlackBerry 10 devices can help government.

First year engineering students at Dalhousie University received something extra when they started last year – a BlackBerry PlayBook. Professors took advantage of the new teaching opportunities created when every student is connected.

“Given its ultra portability and power, the PlayBook has given the students the ability to interact with professors at an unprecedented level,” explains Dalhousie Professor George Jarjoura.

Having every student using a PlayBook opened up new ways to teach. Students could follow along with course presentations on their PlayBooks, annotating slides with their own notes. Equally as important, given the size of first-year lectures, was the ability to ask questions and take quizzes electronically, in real time.

“For some first year students, participation during the question period is very intimidating, especially in large classes with hundreds of students,” says Professor Jarjoura. “With the PlayBooks, students could ask questions, submit answers and interact with me in real time, as I lecture.”

The initial pilot year was considered a success and Dalhousie is planning to continue experimenting with instruction using PlayBooks.

“Students told me that they quite liked having e-books and notes together – and that they could attend and participate in my lectures from wherever they were,” says Professor Jarjoura. “The success and popularity of the program means we’re eager to continue.”

For further information, see the article on page 10 of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Engineering Winter 2013 newsletter.

Mobile Computing Corp. Inc. (MCC) has been developing, supporting and advising on leading edge mobile field force automation and optimization solutions for more than 25 years. As a participant in BlackBerry’s Early Adopter Program (EAP), MCC was one of the first businesses to deploy the new BlackBerry 10 platform and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. We were thrilled to connect with MCC’s CEO Camille Peters about her company’s experience.

One aspect of BlackBerry 10 that impressed MCC right away was the seamlessness of the upgrade process using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. “Within two hours, the device was on my desk and working almost flawlessly. Typically, we have to do some tweaking when we put our app on a new device, even if it’s just an updated device,” said Peters. “The fact that the transition was seamless was a huge benefit for us. And I absolutely love the screen and clarity on the BlackBerry 10.”

MCC works with a variety of clients to develop customized and pre-packaged mobile applications for a number of mobile devices. Given the diversity of the company’s clientele, MCC was excited to offer customers with “BYOD” capabilities with the improvements to BlackBerry Balance technology on BlackBerry 10.

“Our customers need to keep their business applications secure, preserved and separate from personal content. BlackBerry Balance separates the work and personal space on one device,” said Peters. “BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 takes it to the next level and will allow us to manage any personal or corporate owned BlackBerry smartphone or tablet. It allows us to run our application from a single, secure management platform. More and more, employees want to use their own device and organizations want to provide that flexibility.”

Another positive aspect of MCC’s BlackBerry 10 upgrade process has been their experience with the BlackBerry support team. The company conducts a large amount of beta testing and field trials with hardware partners, which demands responsive tech support from partners. “We need [our partners] to understand our business and to support us when we have issues. From the very beginning, the team [at BlackBerry] has been incredibly supportive and receptive to us,” said Peters. “The level of contact and assistance exceeds any others we’ve ever worked with.”

What are your organization’s priorities when transitioning or upgrading to a new mobile platform? Share in the comments section below.

In recent weeks, we’ve highlighted several organizations that are working to incorporate the BlackBerry 10 platform into their mobile strategy, such as Air Canada and Ricoh. We’ve been pleased with the positive feedback from these organizations, along with the strong early customer reviews for both BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

Today, we’d like to share how McCain Foods Ltd. is building on their long-term partnership with BlackBerry with BlackBerry 10. Headquartered in Toronto, McCain Foods sells food products in more than 160 countries around the globe. The company has incorporated BlackBerry devices in all of its markets.

We chatted recently with Mark Kirby, the Vice President of Global Technology Services at McCain Foods Ltd. to get his first impressions of the BlackBerry 10 platform. He discussed his ideas for incorporating BlackBerry Balance and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 into McCain’s mobile strategy, as well as how BlackBerry 10 will help address employee demands.

“Employees are…demanding the ability to be unchained from their traditional desktop or laptop environment. BlackBerry 10 is going to enhance that experience.”

-Mark Kirby, Vice President of Global Technology Services, McCain Foods

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What kind of mobile experience are your employees asking for? Share with us in the comments section below.

We recently caught up with Beth Thompson, Director of Sales at BigHand, one of the leading providers of voice productivity technology, including their recently launched app for BlackBerry 10. Check out the Q&A below to see what she had to say on the app, how voice dictation can help increase business productivity, and what the future holds.

Biz Blog: Hi Beth, thanks for joining me today. Can you briefly describe the functionality of the BigHand app and the underlying enterprise workflow platform?

Beth Thompson: BigHand’s dictation app enables professionals to dictate directly into their smartphone from anywhere and submit verbal instructions, memos, requests, and documents to office-based support staff. From there, the submitted voice files enter a workflow that is based on the organization’s operations, whether it’s directed to an office assistant or to a centralized working pool.

What cost or time saving benefits does this provide to businesses, or specific industries in particular? Can you include an example of a typical workflow?

We have over 170,000 users worldwide, with a particular focus on the legal marketplace. With law firms facing stiff competition and pressure to reduce costs, they look for technologies like BigHand to help streamline their operations. Our technology helps firms leverage existing support staff while streamlining the document production process. Not to mention, saving lawyers significant time by allowing them to using their voice to get more done, from anywhere in the world. They use our dictation app for recording billable time, memos, and verbal tasks or if they are stuck in traffic for a couple hours, they can submit all of their work verbally. They can also attach photos to recorded dictations if they are out on-site.

A typical workflow would include a lawyer who records a dictation via their BigHand dictation app which sends it through to their assistant. The assistant can choose to have the dictation go through a speech recognition engine, significantly reducing the amount of time they will have to spend on transcribing the dictation or transcribe directly from the dictation. The lawyer can then track the progress of the submitted work, and also receive the completed document back via their smartphone. Most of the time it’s finished by the time they get back to the office.

Voice dictation as a concept has been around for quite some time. How has it shifted as smartphones were introduced?

We all dictate every day, we just call it voicemail. As consumers begin to embrace voice-to-text technologies, they begin to realize that talking is faster than typing. So the benefits are significant in that professionals, such as lawyers, can save time by sending a dictation vs. typing or leaving a voicemail that can’t be tracked.

BigHand is a great example of a native BlackBerry 10 app. Can you share your thoughts on the experience of developing for the BlackBerry 10 platform?

Our longtime relationship with BlackBerry has helped BigHand bring some of the first enterprise mobile dictation apps to the legal marketplace years ago. The new BlackBerry 10 app is a continuation of that relationship and reinforces BigHand’s commitment to providing first-to-market productivity apps for busy professionals as well as continuing to support our large mobile application user base that utilizes BlackBerry devices.

What does the future hold for BigHand? Can you give us any sneak peeks into upcoming features that you’d like to build into the app?

We are hoping to integrate the entire document production process into the app, from dictation to document approval.

Thanks again Beth!

Be sure to head over to BlackBerry World to download the client app for free on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone. For the full advanced features, you’ll need to register for a BigHand account; get the details at www.bighand.com.

How would a voice dictation workflow system improve your productivity at work? Share in the comments below.

In the weeks since the global launch of BlackBerry 10, we’ve had the opportunity to interact with businesses around the world at the BlackBerry Experience Forum events, and to discuss the how the BlackBerry 10 platform has been built for business. We’re excited about partnering with businesses that are truly looking to mobilize their organization.

One such innovative organization is Air Canada. As an airline company with a highly mobile workforce, including pilots and flight attendants constantly on the move, Air Canada wants to offer mobile solutions that are robust and engage users. We recently had the opportunity to chat with Allen Chang, Air Canada’s Manager of IT Innovations, about the organization’s strategy for mobile security, in house applications, and the benefits of BlackBerry 10 features such as BlackBerry Balance:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

We look forward to continuing our partnership with Air Canada and working together to develop new solutions for workplace mobility.

Does your business have a mobile workforce? How does this affect your mobile strategy? Share in the comments below.

Early in December of 2012 we launched the BlackBerry 10 Ready Program to provide businesses around the globe with the tools, offers, and knowledge that they needed to prepare for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

The program includes a free BlackBerry 10 smartphone offer with BES 10 installation and training courses, a license trade up program to help you seamlessly switch to BlackBerry 10 from prior BlackBerry smartphones, a webcast series, and BlackBerry 10 Readiness Services to provide you with a suite of support options for installation and upgrades.

With BlackBerry 10 launching around the world and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 available for download, let’s take a look at some of the progress so far.

• Over 4,400 businesses in North America have registered for the BlackBerry 10 Ready Offer alone, just one component of the BlackBerry 10 Ready program.
• The BlackBerry 10 Ready Webcast series has reached an audience of over 15,000 IT professionals and administrators
• The BlackBerry Experience Forum events are mid-way through their global tour to provide hands-on time with BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, as well as access to BlackBerry staff and experts. Every event has been booked well over capacity. Join the conversation with us at @BlackBerry4Biz and use the hashtag #BEF13.

We’re excited about the significant momentum that we’re seeing here. Both our product portfolio and our company have been re-engineered and re-invented, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Don’t take my word for it, let’s look at what a few of your peers had to say:

Air Canada – “BlackBerry 10 helps meet our needs in that it delivers a new platform that brings the excitement and the energy that our employees are starting to expect from mobile devices.”

McCain Foods Ltd. – “First impressions of BlackBerry 10 is it’s very innovative and packed with lots of brand new features and functions that we’re going to take advantage of immediately.”

Ricoh Canada Inc. – “Data integrity has always been paramount for Ricoh IT, so the ability to achieve that is a tremendous plus for the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 platform.”

We were able to hand deliver BlackBerry Z10 smartphones to the global IT and mobility leadership of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates law firm in New York City during the BlackBerry Technical Preview program. Check out their first look at the next generation mobile computing platform and the feedback that they had below:

And finally, Stephen Perciballi, Practice Lead for Security (and mobility) at Softchoice, was able to visit us here on BlackBerry campus and share his thoughts on BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 as a trusted advisor and provider of mobile technology to hundreds of clients. Read the full interview here on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog.

Has your business upgraded to BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 yet? If you have, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. If you haven’t, let us help you get started!

Ricoh Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Ricoh Americas Corporation, is a document management and services provider with over 2,000 employees. A significant part of Ricoh’s business involves IT services, in which they support 45 locations across Canada providing infrastructure support for mobility, hardware and software, and management of BlackBerry smartphones.

Being involved in IT, having a history of partnering with BlackBerry, and having just developed a field services app, Ricoh spent some time considering BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10. We caught up with Andy Ambrozic, Ricoh Canada’s Director of Infrastructure and Operations, to get his thoughts:

Hi Andy, thanks for joining us. We hear that you’re a big fan of all-touch devices. How you think the BlackBerry 10 touch screen and other features stack up?

Ambrozic: I loved the touch screen on the BlackBerry 10 device. It’s fluid to use and the predictive typing is really good. After a while you feel like it’s adapting to you and thinking for you. The device has a totally different look and feel, with some excellent advances. The size is just right as well. The larger screen is easier to use for viewing different kinds of media.

The BlackBerry Hub experience is also very good. I call it “sneak peeks” because if you’re in one screen and you’re watching a video, you can swipe slowly and get a quick look at new messages or social media updates on the BlackBerry Hub screen. It’s a true multitasking experience.

How do you think BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 supports both user and corporate needs?

The BlackBerry Balance technology that’s a part of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 has the potential to be huge. Full work and personal separation on BlackBerry smartphones will make it easier for our users, but also much easier for IT administrators.

We’re also in the midst of finalizing a BYOD policy. A big issue for our users and our organization is we want to be sure personal data is kept separate from work information. Data integrity has always been paramount for Ricoh IT, so the ability to achieve that is a tremendous plus for the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 platform. BlackBerry Balance enables that separation so seamlessly.

How much has using BlackBerry solutions benefitted Ricoh Canada so far and where are you planning to go with your deployment now that you have BlackBerry 10?

There are a lot of benefits that come to mind as I look back over the past 10+ years of using BlackBerry solutions. There’s peace of mind with the security. The devices have always had a high degree of ruggedness and reliability. But mostly I look at how far we’ve evolved from paging devices to email to app driven devices. In recent times, BlackBerry smartphones have pointed to the need to develop apps that help extend our internal processes out to the field.

We’ve just developed our own Field Service Automation app on existing BlackBerry smartphones. We’ve tried it on BlackBerry 10 devices and it worked really well. We definitely plan to deploy our app on the new devices. The app gives our field technicians the ability to manage the entire service call from their devices – from dispatch information to GPS navigation, inventory, time spent on a job and so on. All the job information is then sent back to our ERP system so we have an up-to-date record of the entire service call.

How inspired are you to develop apps for BlackBerry 10 devices?

BlackBerry 10 opens up all sorts of possibilities. If you look at the design, the speed, web and browser evolution, the engine and the application development language, I think it’s going to be a lot easier to build and port apps with BlackBerry 10. We’re now looking at developing a number of apps for our mobile users. For example, we may add a bar code reader to our Field Service Automation app on BlackBerry 10 devices so our technicians can read part numbers without having to input them by hand.

Does your business have a BlackBerry app that you’re planning to migrate to the BlackBerry 10 platform? Share in the comments below.

Our LinkedIn Group and LinkedIn Products Page have been abuzz with BlackBerry enthusiasts who rely on BlackBerry to provide solid business devices, and have been waiting to get their hands on the new BlackBerry Z10. Kris Ninnim, Owner and Operator at CK-OMS, writes:

Will Robertson, Product and Services Development Specialist at Bell also provided his positive initial impression:

We’ve also seen some great feedback on Twitter from our @BlackBerry4Biz followers:

@BlackBerry4Biz #BEF13 #BBZ10 Keep moving. Very impressive. Great device to balance work and life.—
Nina G. Caspillo (@ninagcaspillo) February 13, 2013

@BlackBerry4Biz just got my z10 and loving it! Smartphone of the year, 2013. It truly is an outstanding device.—
Tech Man (@techmogulevol) February 10, 2013

Never thought I would type on glass until demoing @BlackBerry Z10 @ BEF13. #incredible—
Michael Grimes (@msgrimes1959) February 04, 2013

To learn more about how you can make the most of every business opportunity with the BlackBerry Z10, check out our video below:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Have you had the chance to try the new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone? We’d love to hear your first impressions in the comments below or with a recommendation on our LinkedIn products page.

Today I’d like you to meet Sunny Khalsa, a highly mobile and security-conscious worker who’s shared his story with us. Check out the video below to learn about how Sunny uses BlackBerry technology to stay fully functional and fully connected while on the road:

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

With customers that include government agencies, it’s important to have reliable security built into the devices that you use. But security shouldn’t limit functionality – quite the opposite in fact; it should enable it. With trusted BlackBerry security, a whole world of apps and possibilities open up to allow employees to access corporate data while on the move.

I can particularly relate to Sunny’s hotel room ritual – connect a PlayBook tablet to the hotel room TV using an HDMI cable, pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, pop open an app like Citrix Receiver or even a remote desktop connection, and get right to it.

How do you use your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet on the road? Share your war stories in the comments below.