Posted by Dan Tisone, VP of Global IT, BioDot

Editor's note: Today we hear from Dan Tisone, VP of Global IT at BioDot, a low volume dispensing manufacturer specializing in biotech applications. Learn how BioDot’s 60 employees use Android and Chrome devices to work closely together and build better products.


I’ve led IT at BioDot since my father, a former research and development engineer at Nokia Bell Labs, founded the company in 1994. Since then, I’ve seen workplace technology evolve from clunky desktops and servers to the fast, cloud-based devices we use today.

Our transition to Google started with Gmail in 2009. Through Gmail we discovered Google Apps like Drive, Hangouts and Docs. Google Apps are affordable and easy to use, so when we needed to purchase computers and smartphones for our employees the following year, we chose Google Chrome and Android products. Today, we have 42 Android smartphones, as well as a few dozen Chromebooks and Chromeboxes.

As an international business headquartered in Southern California with satellite offices in Asia and Europe, our sales team travels a great deal, and tends to use their smartphones more than laptops, whether they’re at the airport, in between meetings or in a taxi. They use Google Docs to review contracts and Google Slides to create new business presentations from their Android phones while traveling. They can even update Pipedrive, our CRM platform, through the mobile app.

I install work apps on each device using Google Mobile Device Management so employees can access required work apps and install any other pre-approved apps from the Play for Work Store. I can securely manage all devices with this central console, too. If an employee accidentally installs an app or downloads malware, I receive an alert and can fix the problem immediately.

Setting up Chromebooks is simple, too. It used to take me hours to deploy our old laptops. Each Chromebook takes minutes to set up — no time-consuming installations required. As BioDot’s sole IT staff member, it can be difficult to quickly deploy new devices while ensuring the security of every company device around the world. Chrome makes this easier.

Cloud-based Android devices also foster a collaborative work environment. For example, when the manufacturing team is assembling a new medical dispenser in the factory, they mark up the schematic diagram in red pen to show which parts don’t work. They used to snail-mail this marked up diagram to our engineers, who are hundreds or thousands of miles away in an office. Now, the manufacturing team snaps a picture of the schematic with their Android phone and uploads it to Google Drive, so engineers can see their revisions immediately. This saves our teams a few days’ delay, so they can iterate faster, and ultimately build better products in a shorter timeframe.

Google Apps also allows us to be more productive and efficient. Instead of taking a one-day trip to meet with a prospect for the first time, sales executives are starting to use Google Hangouts. This saves our company around $1,000 for each trip. When you think about the hundreds of trips salespeople take throughout the year, these savings go a long way — especially for a small company.

Switching to Google Apps, and subsequently Chrome and Android devices helps BioDot run faster and more smoothly. Employees, from tech-savvy millennials to employees who were new to smartphones, now rely on Android and Chrome devices to work together and complete tasks, whether they’re in the office, on the road or at one of our manufacturing facilities.

Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Director, Android Security

Editor's note: Highlights and a few remaining questions from a previous security discussion. Find the recording of the "Android Security to the N-th Degree" discussion, which incorporated questions and comments from this post, here.


In April we shared our Android Security 2015 Year in Review report and took a deeper dive into Android security with a live Hangout on Air to discuss the trends and hard data; you can still view the recorded session.

Some interesting highlights from the report include data showing that Android runs more than 400 million automatic security scans per day on devices and this helped limit the number of potentially harmful apps (PHAs) installed to less than 0.15% of devices that only get apps from Google Play. Note that devices that install apps from outside of Google Play are around 10 times more likely to have a PHA. As a follow up, we’re taking some time today to answer a few of the remaining questions from our live Hangout in April.

Will you have a plan to release a security patch via an app, such as WebView, in Play Store instead of a security patch by the manufacturer?

We do think it's possible for more of the framework to be updated by Google directly — there’s some architectural work that we're doing to make this possible in a future release.

Are all Android versions encrypted?

Android has provided full disk encryption since Android 3.0. Users can enable it by going into settings and turning it on. For newer devices, encryption may be turned on by default. And starting with Android M, all new devices that meet a performance requirement (being capable of encrypting over 50MB/S using AES, or the Advanced Encryption Standard) must be encrypted by default. These requirements are described in more detail in the Android Compatibility Definition Documentation (CDD).

Android N is introducing a new feature "Direct Boot" and a file based encryption mechanism that improves usability while maintaining encryption of user data.

Given that Android is making advancements towards the phones being used in enterprise [Android for Work], what are the security improvements that have been made specifically to make the phones more secure for enterprise? What are the security improvements that the team is working on that we will likely see in the near future?

Most of the security improvements that we make in Android have the dual purpose of protecting both enterprise and consumers, but there are some features that are more specific to enterprises. "Profiles," for example, were introduced to make it easy to separate work data from personal data. We've also added APIs so that application developers (including Mobile Device Management vendors or MDMs) can remotely query the state of the device — some more recent examples include the security patch level and adding an API in Google Play Services called SafetyNet.attest that allows an enterprise to confirm that a device is a compatible device.

Verify Apps. As far as I recall it was provided 4 years ago and improved in 2013 with background scanning. What's new now?

We're constantly making improvements to how we identify and protect users from potentially harmful apps. The 2015 year in review describes a number of changes, including the introduction of a technology we call the Anomaly Correlation Engine, advancements in Machine Learning, improvements to our System Integrity Checker, more effective user interface on security warnings and much more.

During next month’s Hangout on Air, we’ll answer your Android security questions and share information on what’s new for work in Android N.

To help kickstart some question ideas, here are just a few of the many new and improved work Android N security features that we’ll discuss:

• Always on VPN for secure data transmission
• Passcode enforcement options on individual work apps
• More granular policies and app permission management
• QR code provisioning to save time and money on device deployments

So, if like many, you’re wondering if Android could be the right mobile solution for your business, register for our Android N Hangout on Air taking place on August 16 at 9:30am PT.

Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Lead Engineer for Android Security

The Android ecosystem has grown to 1.4 billion devices worldwide and more than one million Play Store apps, with many of those titles focused on consumer usage. At the same time, mobile productivity has grown in importance and businesses are spending more on applications for their work devices. Gartner says businesses spent $143B in 2015 on application software on all platforms.

That presents developers with a large opportunity for work apps that advance collaboration, workflow, data analysis or taking measurements in the field. Android developer tools help developers answer this call for innovation while meeting the important business need of protecting work data.

Here are a few tips and techniques for developers striving to build safe, secure Android apps for work environments.

Integrate with Android for Work

• Make sure you test app intents between both work and personal profiles for devices that take advantage of managed Android profiles, which separate work data and applications from personal information.
• Prepare for workplaces that enforce application restrictions and configurations by having your app listen for managed configuration changes, which are centrally handled by IT departments.

Encrypt your data

• Use HTTPS in lieu of HTTP whenever possible for encrypted, in-app web communications; don’t expect your app users to rely solely on VPN or other encrypted connections.
• If you encrypt any data in your app, don’t put the key within the app. Use a KeyStore so the keys are bound to the device hardware and not directly accessible from your app.

Use Android’s built-in and expanded protections

• Rather than using the MODE_WORLD_WRITEABLE or MODE_WORLD_READABLE modes (which don’t limit data access to specific applications) consider using content providers, which implement data read / write permissions to other apps.
• Call Google Play service APIs to improve app security and check device compatibility. Specifically, the ProviderInstaller class has methods to verify if device’s security provider is current and SafetyNetAPI.attest can let you know if the device’s security model is intact; if not your app can throw an exception or work around the issue.
• Check security warnings provided by the Google Play Store when uploading your app; this is part of the Android Security Improvement program and can highlight potential security risks in your app before you publish it.
• Consider implementing single sign-on (SSO), which makes it more convenient for end users to safely access business apps and data. This also enables a consistent session expiration to harden app security. See this section of our recorded session from Google I/O on this topic a demonstration of SSO.

Following these tips is easy and makes your Android apps more secure and more attractive to businesses so you can take advantage of the growing support for Android devices in enterprises and small businesses alike.

For more information or other ways to build secure Android apps, see our growing list of security tips and take advantage of the tools Android offers you.

Posted by Rajen Sheth, Senior Director, Android and Chrome for Work Product Management


Chromebooks already offer businesses of all sizes a secure platform to get work done. Companies are choosing Chromebooks because they’re easy to maintain, can be centrally managed by IT and have multiple layers of security to protect sensitive data.

Today we’re announcing support for Android apps on Chromebooks — with little to no extra effort on the part of developers — making Chromebooks an even better choice for work.

That means your employees can have access to the broad ecosystem of Android apps in Google Play for Work on their Chromebooks, managed centrally with access controls. So in addition to the speed, simplicity and security of getting work done quickly in web apps, your workforce can run previously unavailable mobile apps on Chrome devices with complete file integration, notifications, offline support and touch input on supported hardware.

More productivity possibilities
Early first-runs with many Android workplace apps including Concur, TripIt and DocuSign, as well as many other productivity apps, look very encouraging. While the 2 million businesses already using Google Apps for Work can view and edit Microsoft Word documents, some may prefer to use Microsoft’s Office software. That’s possible on a Chromebook by installing the Android version of Microsoft Word, for example. And those who supplement Google Hangout meetings with Skype can do so on a Chromebook by using Skype for Android.

Also, this gives users full access to apps that were built for the mobile world. For example, while the web version of Slack already works in the Chrome browser, the Android version of Slack is designed from the ground up for mobile use with support for push notifications, do not disturb rules and quick switching between teams.

If your workforce prefers an Android app to the web version of that software or wants to use an app with offline support, they now have the choice on a Chromebook.

We’re encouraging Android developers of all kinds to see how the application experience adds value for Chromebook users and brings them new opportunities: Now building one app extends from Android phones and tablets up to Chromebooks.

You’re still in control
One of the key benefits of deploying Chrome devices in your workplace is that you can centrally manage them with ease through more than 200 administrative policies. Administrators can manage these Android apps now from that same Chrome admin console.

We’ve added new policies to allow or restrict Android application installations, and you can even allow particular Android apps for certain users and not others.

We’re making the feature available in early June on specific Chrome devices — the Asus Chromebook Flip, Acer Chromebook R11 and Chromebook Pixel (2015 edition) — for developers to try out. Later this year, we’ll add support for many more Chrome devices, detailed here. And if you’re developing in-house Android apps for your business, you can learn more about how to optimize your Android app for Chrome devices here.

Posted by Diane Greene, SVP, Google

Applications have long been the lifeblood of the enterprise. This has never been more true than in today’s market. And Google has never been more committed to the enterprise. We’re excited to expose our APIs to enterprise developers who can now incorporate advanced technologies such as image recognition, speech recognition, location and maps, email and calendaring into their applications.

Google I/O is a great opportunity to share what excites us about the massive digital transformation happening at companies around the globe. We’re thrilled about the speed of innovation with all of our enterprise products, particularly Google Cloud Platform, Google Apps, Maps, Android and Chromebooks. We’re laser focused on creating what developers need to build successfully in the cloud.

At Google, we continue to push new innovations that enable developers to turn great ideas into world class applications. We can also help you get your apps in the hands of your customers through marketplaces like Google Play, Chrome Web Store, Google Apps Marketplace and Cloud Launcher, which serve billions of Android and Chrome users and millions of businesses.

Today’s announcements at I/O further build out our developer toolkit, with new features to help developers build what’s next for the enterprise.

• New APIs for Sheets & Slides: With the new Sheets API, we're giving developers a new level of access to some of the most popular features in Sheets. Create new spreadsheets, populate them with data and formulas, insert charts and pivot tables, and pull results right into your apps. Developers can use Sheets in a powerful workflow to push data from their app into Sheets, allowing users to collaborate on that data, before the updated data is pulled back into the original app. The Slides API enables developers to push data from other applications into Slides in order to create custom, polished presentations quickly.
• API Partner Ecosystem: A number of partners, including Salesforce, SAP Anywhere, Conga, Prosperworks, Anaplan, Sage, Trello, and Asana are already connecting their services through these new APIs, and we look forward to seeing even more developers follow suit.
• Enhancements to the Classroom API: We’re giving developers programmatic access to our most powerful features within Google Classroom. The Classroom API lets school reporting systems sync coursework and grades from Classroom and quickly connect teachers and students to their learning content.

Whether you’re using Google Cloud Platform, integrating with our Machine Learning APIs or building on top of our Google Apps suite, we’re committed to delivering the tools and technologies that help businesses improve productivity, securely connect information across platforms and power new workflows. Earlier this month we announced a BigQuery integration with Google Drive that allows customers to run queries, gather insights and then share that data with teams in a familiar and easy to understand template, no matter where they are. We also recently added two new security certifications, ISO27017 for cloud security and ISO27018 for privacy. And customers like Land O Lakes are taking advantage of our cloud and APIs to revolutionize their fields — in this case, modern farming.

Ever since I began my career in technology, I’ve been working to advance the way the enterprise runs. I worked on some of the first relational databases for Sybase and Tandem and then, at VMware, helped to create an entirely new industry centered around virtualization. Fast forward to today, and I can say that I’ve never been more excited about the potential for the cloud to transform businesses. There was a period in time where the energy was around consumer applications, but we can now see that people are realizing just how much innovation can be done in the enterprise, and it’s enticing more and more developers. While we’re excited about the innovations that we’re bringing to market, we’re even more excited about how you will take advantage of these new advancements. As the momentum continues in the enterprise, we can’t wait to see what you build next.

Posted by Mario Anima, Product Manager


(Cross-posted on the Google Docs Blog.)

How many times have you found yourself with a great idea, but no easy way to jot it down for later? Or maybe you’ve got lots of notes scattered around, without no central spot to find them. Having a single place to capture what’s on your mind and save your ideas and to-do lists is what Google Keep is all about, and today's updates give you a few new ways to collect and manage the information that's important to you.

Keep is ready when you are

The next time you’re on a website that you want to remember or reference later on, use the new Keep Chrome extension to add it—or any part of it—to a note in Keep. Just click the Keep badge to add a site’s link to a note, or select some text or an image and create a new note from the right-click menu.

Same goes for Android—you can now create a note while you’re browsing or tapping away in other apps—without having to open Keep. Just open the “Share via” window and choose Keep to create a new note.

Organize your thoughts with #Labels
One of your top asks has been for a way to organize and categorize notes, and now it’s as easy as using a #hashtag. This should help you keep track of to-do lists for a #trip or a collect your favorite #recipes, for example.

You’ll also notice that some of the menus have been moved around to group similar options together, as pictured below.

So whether you’re researching a project at work, putting together details for your Science Fair submission, or collecting inspiration for your upcoming home renovation, give these updates a try on the web, or with the Keep app on Android and for iPhone & iPad.

Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Lead Engineer, Android Security

(Cross-posted on the Google Security Blog.)

Editor's note: For more details on our Android security efforts and results and what this level of security offers for the workplace, please sign-up to join our Hangout on Air with Adrian today at 10am PST. The session will be recorded and available to view on-demand afterwards as well.

Today, for the second year in a row, we’re releasing our Android Security Annual report. This detailed summary includes: a look at how Google services protect the Android ecosystem, an overview of new security protections introduced in 2015, and our work with Android partners and the security research community at large. The full report is here, and an overview is below.

One important goal of releasing this report is to drive an informed conversation about Android security. We hope to accomplish this by providing more information about what we are doing, and what we see happening in the ecosystem. We strongly believe that rigorous, data-driven discussion about security will help guide our efforts to make the Android ecosystem safer.

Enhancing Google's services to protect Android users In the last year, we’ve significantly improved our machine learning and event correlation to detect potentially harmful behavior.

• We protected users from malware and other Potentially Harmful Apps (PHAs), checking over 6 billion installed applications per day.
• We protected users from network-based and on-device threats by scanning 400 million devices per day.
• And we protected hundreds of millions of Chrome users on Android from unsafe websites with Safe Browsing.

We continued to make it even more difficult to get PHAs into Google Play. Last year’s enhancements reduced the probability of installing a PHA from Google Play by over 40% compared to 2014. Within Google Play, install attempts of most categories of PHAs declined including:

• Data Collection: decreased over 40% to 0.08% of installs
• Spyware: decreased 60% to 0.02% of installs
• Hostile Downloader: decreased 50% to 0.01% of installs

Overall, PHAs were installed on fewer than 0.15% of devices that only get apps from Google Play. About 0.5% of devices that install apps from both Play and other sources had a PHA installed during 2015, similar to the data in last year’s report.

It’s critical that we also protect users that install apps from sources other than Google Play. Our Verify Apps service protects these users and we improved the effectiveness of the PHA warnings provided by Verify Apps by over 50%. In 2015, we saw an increase in the number of PHA install attempts outside of Google Play, and we disrupted several coordinated efforts to install PHAs onto user devices from outside of Google Play.

New security features in the Android platform Last year, we launched Android 6.0 Marshmallow, introducing a variety of new security protections and controls:

• Full disk encryption is now a requirement for all new Marshmallow devices with adequate hardware capabilities and is also extended to allow encryption of data on SD cards.
• Updated app permissions enable you to manage the data they share with specific apps with more granularity and precision.
• New verified boot ensures your phone is healthy from the bootloader all the way up to the operating system.
• Android security patch level enables you to check and make sure your device has the most recent security updates.
• And much more, including support for fingerprint scanners, and SELinux enhancements.
• Deeper engagement with the Android ecosystem

We’re working to foster Android security research and making investments to strengthen protections across the ecosystem now and in the long run.

In June, Android joined Google’s Vulnerability Rewards Program, which pays security researchers when they find and report bugs to us. We fixed over 100 vulnerabilities reported this way and paid researchers more than $200,000 for their findings.

In August, we launched our monthly public security update program to the Android Open Source Project, as well as a security update lifecycle for Nexus devices. We intend the update lifecycle for Nexus devices to be a model for all Android manufacturers going forward and have been actively working with ecosystem partners to facilitate similar programs. Since then, manufacturers have provided monthly security updates for hundreds of unique Android device models and hundreds of millions of users have installed monthly security updates to their devices. Despite this progress, many Android devices are still not receiving monthly updates—we are increasing our efforts to help partners update more devices in a timely manner.

Greater transparency, well-informed discussions about security, and ongoing innovation will help keep users safe. We'll continue our ongoing efforts to improve Android’s protections, and we look forward to engaging with the ecosystem and security community in 2016 and beyond.

Posted by Adrian Ludwig, Lead Engineer for Android Security

Editor's Update: We've decided to postpone the release of our annual report just a bit. And no, this isn't an April Fool's joke! We're doing some fine-tuning and look forward to sharing this report with you in a Hangout on Air on April 19th 2016.

Since launching Android in 2008, we’ve done quite a bit to strengthen security for all of our users and to make Android a trusted platform at work for companies such as SAP and Guardian Life Insurance. I’m leading the team that takes care of keeping all of these Android users secure, both at home and at work.

We’ll share more details in our Android Security 2015 Year in Review that we’re publishing next week, such as how many devices are protected daily through our Verify Apps scanning service and how fingerprint sensors are positively impacting Android lock screen adoption.

I’ll also be hosting a Hangout on Air on April 5th to share the detailed results of our Android Security 2015 Year in Review. To register for the live Hangout and learn more about our latest Android for Work security efforts, sign up here, and tune in at 10am PST on Tuesday, April 5th 2016.

And to help explain how important Android security is to us and our continued efforts to enhance it, I’ll be publishing a monthly series of Android security-themed blog posts detailing a range of topics and efforts we’re taking to secure Android devices for work:

• Strengthening SELinux to enforce greater control over system processes at the kernel level
• Adding Android’s Verify Boot function, ensuring a device’s state hasn’t changed since last boot
• Expanding full disk encryption support on new Android devices
• Including a new Fingerprint API in Android 6.0 Marshmallow for secure identity confirmation
• Working with partners on monthly security updates
• Separating work and personal data through Android for Work device profiles

Stay tuned in the coming months to learn more about how Google protects your Android devices and data, as well as why Android is a smart, safe choice for businesses of all sizes.

Posted by Rajen Sheth, Director of Product Management, Android, Chrome for Work and Education


It was awesome to see Samsung unboxing the new Galaxy S7 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today. This device combines Samsung’s exceptional handset design with the flexibility of Android Marshmallow — including enterprise features built-in with Android for Work — plus extended Samsung Knox security features to further protect both personal and work data.


Android Marshmallow: designed for today’s mobile workplace

Android Marshmallow has been designed to meet the needs of today’s mobile business users with an enhanced experience for work and personal profiles, improved connectivity, extended storage options, smarter battery management, faster Now on Tap access to what you need most and greater device choice.

New device management APIs and remote capabilities accelerate fleet deployment, streamline management and provide greater visibility of activities like data usage for IT administrators.

Where Lollipop helped organizations to confidently embrace a bring your own device (BYOD) policy for the workforce, Marshmallow enables corporate owned single use (COSU) devices — those that serve a single purpose, such as point of sale, vending machines, reception kiosks and inflight entertainment. Historically these deployments require a highly customized OS, but M turns Android into a powerful platform for custom app developers with control for device administrators to meet all of these needs out of the box.

Developers are able to create richer applications in less time thanks to runtime and performance enhancements, including an optimized compiler, reduced memory overhead, just-in-time debugging and overall faster application performance.

Android’s sandboxes, verified boot and SD card encryption secure against theft, loss and malicious software for devices, applications, user privacy and both workplace and private data.


Extended security with Samsung Knox
Always-on, real-time protection
Business users and organizations are further protected by boot up and runtime security features tied to the integrity of both hardware and software. If an S7 is tampered with or gets rooted, Knox can disable access to the entire device.

Secure Boot and Trusted Boot prevent a compromised device from accessing enterprise data, apps and networks by disabling access upon detection of an attack.

In the event of an advanced attack targeting of the operating system or sensitive system data — even after a successful uncompromised boot — KNOX constantly protects the Android kernel with Real-Time Kernel Protection (RKP).
Growing network of carriers providing updates
Samsung’s new Enterprise Device Program continues to grow, serving customers in over 100 countries and with carriers now sending customers critical updates that include both core Android and specific Samsung patches to maximize device security.
Defense-grade protection for all users
Sensitive Data Protection (SDP) is designed for use in high-security installations, such as military and government applications. Recognising that other users should be able to benefit from the same level of advanced protection, Samsung invites all developers to use the SDP SDK to protect sensitive data.

To learn more about the Samsung GS7 and the security features of Android and Samsung Knox check out Samsung’s website, here.

Posted by Carl Rossey, COO, Raiffeisen Bank

Editor's note: Today’s guest blogger is Carl Rossey, COO of Raiffeisen Bank, one of the top five banks in Romania and a unit of Raiffeisen Bank International. See how Raiffeisen Bank uses Google Apps for Work and Android for Work to work better together across its 527 branches and offer innovative banking services to two million customers.

The way people manage their bank accounts today stands in stark contrast to a decade ago, or even just a few years ago. Where they once walked into branches to deposit or withdraw money and check on their balances, they now use laptops and mobile devices, and they do it from anywhere and at any time of day. As a business, we know we need to change with them, to be as mobile as they are, so we’re on a constant quest to transform both how we work with our customers and how we work ourselves. Moving to Google Apps for Work and using Android for Work are two steps we’ve taken to further that digital transformation. We’re proud to be one of the financial services industry’s earliest adopters of Google to create true mobility for both customers and our team.

Before moving to Google, we were relying on tools that held us back rather than pushed us forward. We were using Lotus Notes, which lacked the necessary collaboration tools and required people to be at their desks to do their work. We had to shuffle presentations and reports back and forth between employees, so new products took months to get to markets.

Our deployment to nearly 5,400 employees took just 90 days, and with the help of our implementation partner Netmail, we’re already on our way towards becoming a completely new bank. During the rollout, for example, we created a Google+ community called “Simply Coll@borate,” and invited employees to share advice and tips on using Google. It quickly became the fastest and most useful channel for seeking guidance on our new tools. And our Project Management Office, the first department to shift all its work to Google, now creates and shares Google Docs and Google Sheets in Google Drive, and builds monthly project reports using Google Slides.

Our Human Resources department used to gather feedback on training and hiring by using paper forms or sending out emails that generated few responses. Now they use Google Forms to make data collection easier and more seamless – like gathering suggestions for improving the quality of HR services. They’re also replacing phone interviews with interviews via Google Hangouts, as meeting candidates over video helps hiring managers get more accurate first impressions. The retail bank sales team also uses Hangouts for sales meetings, saving travel time and costs.

We’ve also completed rolling out smartphones equipped with Android for Work to every employee, and we believe we’ll see our vision for the mobile Raiffeisen Bank team come to life. No longer tied to our desks, we’re free to work in new ways for our customers. We save them time and offer them a higher level of customer service by meeting where they work — or from anywhere using Hangouts on mobile devices. We put the rigid ways of traditional banking behind us and have our sights set on a more flexible, innovative future.

Posted by Andrew Toy, Product Management Director, Android for Work

Editor's Note: Android for Work Live airs today at 11AM PST. Register here.

The Internet, like previous transformational technologies, emerged as a new and distinct tool before becoming business as usual.

Mobile at work is going through a similar transition, with organizations now interweaving the next generation of mobile productivity into the lives of every employee and through every workflow.

Android for Work: a shared vision for business mobility We launched Android for Work earlier this year to help businesses put Android’s choice and flexibility to work for them. More than a “packaged” product, Android for Work is a dynamic, expanding ecosystem of more than 80 partners with a shared vision for transforming business.

Android for Work expands on the platform’s multi-layered security, capabilities and APIs, and provides powerful ways for manufacturers, developers, mobility managers and carriers to create the next generation of solutions for work, beyond basic email and productivity.

Marshmallow: BYOD and single use After enabling “bring your own device” (BYOD) use cases and streamlining application deployment in Lollipop, we’ve taken the next step to improve enterprise mobility in Marshmallow. Workers now enjoy an enhanced BYOD experience with work status notifications and contacts integration. Administrators can simplify certificates, seamlessly set up new accounts, apply more granular permissions and provision new users using NFC.

New work APIs in Marshmallow also enable easy deployment and management of devices in dedicated single-use scenarios, such as defined tasks, kiosks and ATMs.

Going deep on security Android for Work builds upon the expanded security features such as runtime permissions, verified boot, hardware-isolated security, SELinux, application sandboxing and protections within Google Play Services.

By going deep on security, it made sense that most security-conscious companies such as BlackBerry are collaborating with us to support Android for Work. Additionally, following the announcement of its first Android device, PRIV, BlackBerry announced their support for monthly scheduled updates, matching the Android patch schedule. You can find details of their announcement here.

Together along with Nexus, Samsung and Blackphone by Silent Circle, patching is predictable and responsive.

The freedom to choose Businesses are responding to Android’s choice and flexibility, enjoying the range of price points and form factors – from the ultra stylish to the ultra rugged. They’re also deploying an array of business apps and building their own custom solutions on the open framework.

More than 19,000 organizations are already testing, deploying or using Android for Work. During Android for Work Live, we’ll showcase how new customers including Guardian Life Insurance deploys Android for BYOD; Peninsula Hotels provides guests with Android tablets for room controls, information and service; and Safelite repair technicians use Samsung devices for communication, scanning, navigation, payment and training.

Android for Work Pilot Program for select EMM partners For up to 3000 companies, who set up Android for Work with a participating EMM in their production network, between now and December 31, 2015, we’ll be providing a Nexus 5X. Learn more.

Posted by Nick King, Head of Android and Chrome for Work Marketing

Editor's note: We're launching our first Android for Work Live online event to share how Android is transforming the workplace, expanding the business role of mobile devices and helping companies like Guardian Life Insurance Company achieve more with mobility. The event will take place on Wednesday, Nov 4th at 11 am PDT. Register today.

Mobile devices are essential for navigating our personal lives, from buying movie tickets and guiding us to weekend get togethers to helping us take out a home loan. For consumers, it seems that almost anything can be done now using smartphones and tablets. But in business, these devices have only just begun to change the way we work.

When we launched Android for Work earlier this year, we set out to close this gap, by helping companies use Android’s flexibility and choice to make the most of business mobility. Why? Because we see a world where mobility means so much more than mail, calendar and contacts.

This year, more than 10,000 companies are testing or deploying Android for Work, and Frost & Sullivan recently awarded us the 2015 North America Visionary Innovation Award for Mobile Enterprise Productivity. With Android Marshmallow, we’re taking another step in that journey by building out support for deploying Android devices in a host of scenarios – from dedicated employee use to installing customer-facing hardware that makes interactions more dynamic and responsive.

At Android for Work Live, you’ll:

• Hear from Andrew Toy, product management director for Android for Work, who’ll discuss the broad vision of Android in the workplace and how businesses can mobilize every worker and workflow.

• Learn how Android’s vast selection of devices – from affordable phones to locked-down hardware and customized devices – creates choice and agility for BYOD, corporate deployments and single-purpose scenarios.

• Get an in-depth look at how companies can rely on Android’s built-in multi-layered protections to keep business data secure and managed across all devices in an overview from Adrian Ludwig, technical lead for Android security.

• Hear insights from Android customers, including Guardian Life Insurance Company.

Register for Android for Work Live today and join the conversation on social media using #AndroidforWorkLive15.

Posted by Amit Singh, President, Google for Work

What’s in a name? Last September, when we changed our name from Google Enterprise to Google for Work, it wasn’t just about what we call ourselves – it was about what we stand for. We want to build great products that help you with every aspect of your life – including work (where many waking hours are spent).

Enterprise is old business. We believe in a new way of working with collaboration at the core. A world where we work how we choose. Where getting stuff done in the office doesn’t feel like traveling back in time. Where our work tools are just as good or even better than the ones we have in our personal lives.

We bring the best of Google to work. The same cloud computing infrastructure that we use to run our search engine; powerful apps and services to help you get work done – fast; simple, secure platforms to access everything, wherever you are.

While we have much more in store, it’s been a busy year and we’ve hit some great milestones over the last twelve months:

• More than one million paying organizations are actively using Google Drive, including companies like The New York Times, Uber, Fossil, Wedding Wire and BBVA.

• Google Apps for Work is proving to be the next generation tool of choice: according to a Better Cloud study, Millennials (aged 18-34) are 55% more likely to use Google Apps than alternatives. It’s cost effective, too: Forrester Research’s Total Economic Impact calculator shows that companies using Google Apps see a 304 percent return on investment.

• We’ve introduced groundbreaking new services with Google Cloud Platform, such as Nearline and Cloud Bigtable for storage and Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration system. In total, we’ve added over 30 products to our stack, and our online community has nearly doubled.

• Chromebooks are now the best-selling device in the US for K-12 education, according to a report from IDC.

• More than 10,000 companies are testing, trialling and using Android for Work following its launch in February. In July, we added carriers such as AT&T and Verizon to our partner program and introduced a new class of devices for regulated industries, like the Blackphone by Silent Circle and Samsung's KNOX devices.

And the best is yet to come. Cloud computing will continue to get more powerful, and we’re only at the beginning of what machine learning can do to help businesses and people contextualize data.

Imagine an even smarter digital assistant that can surface the information you need at just the right time and help you manage your schedule for stress-free productivity. Virtual reality products, such as Expeditions, are going to help us learn and work in exciting new ways. And finally, more and more of the objects around us will connect to the internet, enabling more efficient information transfer and actionable data for businesses than ever. These advances will affect all aspects of our lives, including work, and the possibilities are great. We’ll keep our focus forward, so that wherever we’re going, we’re always embarking on what’s next.

Posted by Jamie Holyland, Director of communications, Epic CIC, UK

Editor's note: Today we hear from Jamie Holyland, director of communications at London youth support organisation Epic CIC. Epic saved £67,000 last year by switching to Google Apps for Work, with projections to save £140,000 annually. Read how Google Apps re-energised the 155 workers at Epic with forward-looking solutions.

When government budget cuts threatened our organisation's financial health, we didn't expect a technology change to keep us afloat. But that's exactly what happened. We provide a wide range of youth services in inner London, including an assistance program for teenage parents and programs to help young people find employment. In the wake of increasingly severe public funding cuts, Epic joined the private sector after 25 years with the local authority of Kensington and Chelsea. Ending even one of our projects was a step we didn’t want to take, and by transitioning to Google Apps for Work, we didn’t have to. The £140,000 a year that we save with Google gives us room in our budget to maintain all of our services. Now Epic is not only financially sustainable, it’s more efficient, more secure, and primed for a future of cloud computing.

Google Apps pulled our fragmented organisation together. Before we switched over last year, few of our 80 part-time staff had a work email account or online calendar; we relied entirely on phone calls, texts and face-to-face meetings to communicate. Now, almost everyone uses Gmail and calendar to stay organized and in touch. Whether staff are working with young people at one of our six youth centres or at any of our other eight offices, they can use one of 50 Chromeboxes to check their accounts. And for management rushing between meetings and our 20 case workers who operate off-site, we have 40 Android devices for them to stay connected from anywhere.

The impact on our efficiency has been huge. Google Apps for Work has reduced the number of emails we send by 50 percent in two months. The Chromebooks our 25 senior and middle managers use take seven seconds to start up, compared to the 20 minutes we spent starting up some of our old machines, so their time is spent fixing problems for our other 130 staff rather than waiting for technology to warm up.

Cloud computing is the future for our kind of community work, where teams are spread thin and wide. For example, instead of relying on a scattered paper trail to register attendance at our events, we now use Forms to track participation as they happen. Under our old system, the quarter of a million files we had stored on the local authority hard drives were full of confusing duplications. In one case, we found the same document saved in 47 variations by over 50 people, with no clue as to which was the final version. Now, the whole team can work together on a single shared Doc. And because there’s only ever one version, we don’t just save time, we stay aligned and build off of each other’s feedback seamlessly. We found Drive to be more secure, too, because its privacy and file access controls let us control information in more nuanced ways than we could before.

Maintaining our services without public funding was a daunting challenge, but Google Apps helped make it possible. Even better, the tools bring our team together and save us time, so we can spend more of our resources on the people who need them most.

Posted by Stella Schieffer, Product Manager

(Cross-posted on the Gmail Blog.)

Since the new Google Calendar app arrived, you've given us lots of great feedback that has guided our updates. Starting today, you'll see improvements to Google Calendar on iPhone that follow the recent improvements to the Android app.

To start, you can now see more events at a glance with 7-day week view and customize your calendar with week numbers on iPhone.

You can now also add Google Drive files, like Docs and Sheets or pictures and PDFs, directly to events on your iPhone and Google Calendar on the web, just like you can on Android. Drive will even check if everyone has access to the files and if not, ask you if you'd like to share with them.

Sometimes, getting notified of an upcoming event isn’t enough—you might need to contact other attendees, or figure out the best way to get there. With interactive notifications on the iPhone, you can now email guests and view maps with one tap.

We have a lot more improvements based on your feedback, so stay tuned!

P.S. If you're a developer, you can now add Drive files, including Docs, Sheets and Slides, to Google Calendar events created through the Calendar API.

Posted by Amit Singh, President, Google for Work

Google I/O, our annual developer conference, is wrapping up this afternoon. I always love this event because it’s our chance to shine the spotlight on our amazing global developer community – the creative coders who are building what’s next. As we think about developers, along with our own products and tools, we’re focused on the big opportunities of the future: provide the best-in-class mobile platform, help the next billion users by putting the power of the Internet in their hands and solving big problems to make people’s lives better through machine learning and access to great products. There were lots of exciting announcements this year, from Now on Tap to a completely new Photos experience. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch the keynote given by Sundar Pichai, SVP of Products and read the official blog post. For cool scenes and coverage from the floor, check out our Google for Work at I/O Collection on Google+.

I’m particularly excited that many of the announcements we made will impact the world of Google for Work and Google for Education. To highlight a few:

• Android M: Android’s latest release packs hundreds of performance improvements, including better battery life, easier app linking and streamlined permissions. And with our recent launch of Android for Work, the momentum for Android in the workplace is growing.

• Firebase: One of the key themes of this year’s I/O is empowering developers with the tools they need to thrive. To that end, Firebase makes building great mobile and web apps easier than ever. It manages the infrastructure on the backend on behalf of mobile developers so they can focus on the high-value stuff: delivering an awesome user experience on the front end. Firebase addresses key mobile use cases, including native support for offline usage when a network connection is unavailable, and automatic data synchronization in real time to the cloud and across diverse client devices. Nearly 200,000 developers rely on Firebase already, and I’m confident it will help accelerate development of mobile apps, including enterprise apps. Check out the team’s I/O Session to learn more.

• Inbox: Back in October, we introduced a new kind of inbox—one that works for you. In March we announced the Inbox early adopter program, to bring Inbox by Gmail to Google Apps customers. And while we’re still in the early stages, at Google I/O we announced that we’re expanding the early adopter program so any Google Apps for Work customer who wants to use Inbox can. We also announced new ways Inbox can help save you time and stay organized, with Undo Send to take back emails you realize are a mistake, even from your mobile phone, and something many of you requested: custom signatures.

• Places API for iOS: We launched the Places API for Android in April, along with an iOS beta. Now the Places API for iOS is officially available for all developers with all the same features as the Android version. This means you can integrate Google’s database of 100 million places worldwide into your app experience. Check out the announcement post to learn more and read customer experiences.

• Google Expeditions: Expeditions is a new educational tool that lets teachers take their classes on virtual field trips to anywhere using Google Cardboard. It’s a great, inexpensive way for the next generation of creators to experience their world.

We know that technology works best when it gets out of the way and helps people get stuff done from anywhere. These announcements are a step in that direction: new approaches to managing email, powerful tools for developers to build great apps and an updated version of Android. The future of work is bright, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Posted by Thomas Saueressig, Senior Vice President and Global Head of IT Services, Cloud Delivery and Services, SAP SE

Editor's note: Today’s guest post comes from Thomas Saueressig, Senior Vice President and Global Head of IT Services, Cloud Delivery & Services, SAP SE. At SAPPHIRE NOW, which takes place May 5 to 7, SAP executives will discuss how SAP introduced Android for Work to shift its mobile strategy and support a variety of devices while keeping data secure. SAP is a leader in enterprise application software with more than 291,000 customers in 190 countries. 

Work and play no longer live separately — in fact, a recent Gartner survey showed that nearly half of employees surveyed spend more than an hour each day using their personal devices for work. Whether using the same device for everything or using separate smartphones for corporate and personal use, we all want tools that help us do more, in less time.

My team is dedicated to introducing technology that meets our employees’ needs and adheres to strict data security regulations. Last year we had more than 74,500 employees and just as many devices. We supported multiple platforms as we have a device agnostic strategy, but supported just one Android vendor. Now with Android for Work, we support a variety of vendors and device types and give our employees the option to use their preferred device.

I have peace of mind knowing that Android for Work isolates corporate and personal information, so our IT team can easily manage SAP-owned data while personal information stays private. In the past when an employee left the company, we had to wipe his device of all information, business or personal. Now, we can manage SAP data remotely without having any interference with employees’ personal information. Our employees feel at ease knowing that Android for Work stores data from their personal and corporate apps separately, so personal apps have no access to business data — and vice versa.

Android for Work integrates with SAP Mobile Secure, our cloud-based enterprise mobility management solution that saves our IT team time and improves mobile experiences for employees. For instance, we’ve streamlined how we distribute apps to employee devices — no easy task given the 70+ SAP-owned apps our employees use on a regular basis, including SAP Fiori, Cloud for Customer, Concur and SuccessFactors.

With our new mobile strategy, Android for Work complements our mobile strategy and bridges the gap between work and private life while keeping data secure. Our employees are empowered with consumer-focused tools that not only help them work smarter, save time and keep innovating, but also maintain their privacy and peace of mind.

Posted by Clayton Jones, Product Manager, Google for Work

With just the phone in your pocket, you can email your boss in Gmail and then ask your kids when they’ll be home using Hangouts. You can follow up with a new client in Salesforce and pull up your tax documents in Drive. Everything you do, whether it's for work or your personal life can all be done from the device you always have by your side. That’s pretty powerful and can save a lot of time. But with great power comes great responsibility, and keeping that information secure requires some attention — whether it’s keeping your tax documents private to yourself or your email conversations secure within your company.

That’s why last week we made Android ready for work — making it easier for the more than one billion Android users out there to access the apps they need to be productive on their phones and tablets. Today we wanted to highlight the ways Google Apps Mobile Management let’s you take full advantage of Android for Work.

If you use Google Apps you already have a Mobile Management provider Phones get lost. Tablets stolen. People leave the company. Things happen. We believe you should have the tools to keep your work data safe, and that this safety should just be built in to the applications you choose. That’s why mobile device management — across Android and iOS — is included with Google Apps and Google Drive for Work. Apps Mobile Management allows admins to see what devices are connected, require device passwords and remotely wipe data when necessary.

Security that’s easy to manage As the domain administrator, with today’s launch, you can now choose the level of data separation that works for your organization. Whether it’s a personal device or a corp-issued one, with Android for Work, you can have all your employees create a Work Profile that isolates and protects work data from other activity on their phone. Or make it a choice, and let employees continue to switch accounts within Gmail and other Google mobile apps, while using the Work Profile for non-Google work related apps. Either way, all their work information is encrypted and can be remotely wiped.

The Work Profile keeps all work approved apps separate from the rest of the phone.

Easy to use Google Play for Work makes it easy for employees to see what apps are approved by their company and install the apps they want onto their device. Once an admin enables Android for Work, anyone can choose to use the Work Profile, even if not required to. So their own information stays private while the company can enforce Mobile Management policies for work accounts if needed.

Install work apps from Google Play for Work and keep them on your homescreen.

With Google Apps Mobile Management, you can have choice and security at the same time. Your employees can choose the device they’re comfortable with that helps them get work done, and you have peace of mind that company information is secure. Android for Work and Apps Mobile Management is available for all Google Drive for Work and Google Apps for Work, Government and Education organizations. Learn more in the Admin Help Center.

Posted by Rajen Sheth, Director of Product Management, Android and Chrome for Work

(Cross-posted on the Android Blog.)

Over a billion people today carry Android smartphones—devices that are more powerful than the computers we used just a few years ago.

For many, these phones have become essential tools to help us complete important work tasks like checking email, editing documents, reviewing sales pipelines and approving deals. But for the majority of workers, smartphones and tablets are underutilized in the workplace. Their business and innovation potential remain largely untapped.

Today we're announcing the Android for Work program to tap into that potential. With a group of partners, we're helping businesses bring more devices to work by securing, managing and innovating on the Android platform.

Android for Work features four key technology components:

• Work profiles – We’ve built on the default encryption, enhanced SELinux security enforcement and multi-user support in Android 5.0, Lollipop to create a dedicated work profile that isolates and protects work data. IT can deploy approved work apps right alongside their users' personal apps knowing their sensitive data remains secured. People can use their personal apps knowing their employer only manages work data and won’t erase or view their personal content.

• Android for Work app – For devices running Ice Cream Sandwich through Kitkat, or that don’t run work profiles natively, we’ve created the Android for Work app. The app, which delivers secure mail, calendar, contacts, documents, browsing and access to approved work apps, can be completely managed by IT.

• Google Play for Work – Google Play for Work allows businesses to securely deploy and manage apps across all users running Android for Work, simplifying the process of distributing apps to employees and ensuring that IT approves every deployed app.

• Built-in productivity tools – For everyday business tasks, we’ve created a suite of business apps for email, contacts and calendar, which supports both Exchange and Notes and provides document editing capabilities for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

We’re joined by a number of partners as part of the Android for Work program, including many familiar names within the Android ecosystem:

Our partners bring IT:

• Consistent management – Enterprise mobility management (EMM) providers integrate with standardized management APIs to create a simple way to manage all Android devices, new and old, from one dashboard. All Android for Work capabilities are delivered through EMM partners, with more providers available soon.
• Secure business apps – Software vendors and developers can create a single version of any Google Play app that can be securely deployed to any Android device without alterations or wrapping. And they can create standard management configurations that allow IT to apply policies per app.
• Innovative devices – Android smartphone and tablet makers are a key part of the Android for Work program, as they create devices and experiences that add additional value for customers.

Together with a wide range of management, application and device makers, we believe the Android for Work program provides businesses and workers with the choice and flexibility they need to get things done at work.

Learn more by visiting google.com/work/android.