In early 2013, BlackBerry Ltd. debuted the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10) unified device management and security platform. Organizations that want to use new BlackBerry mobile phones— the Z10 and Q10—must upgrade from the BlackBerry 7 operating system to BES 10. At the same time, BlackBerry has announced that soon it will stop selling older handsets, thereby virtually requiring organizations to upgrade as phones age and need to be replaced.
With BlackBerry mobile devices in wide use today, some organizations will certainly choose to upgrade. Those that do will reap a number of benefits. With BES 10, BlackBerry is offering an improved end user experience and improvement of its already well-regarded security features. The new platform can manage not just BlackBerry devices but also Apple iOS, Google Android and Windows mobile phones and tablets. Soon, BlackBerry plans to offer a cloud service, further easing the onboarding and management of mobile devices. Phone choice is another advantage. BlackBerry now offers both full touchscreen and touchscreen/keyboard combinations to meet user demand.