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BES12.5 Update: What You Need to Know About New Features in the Management Console, Licensing, and BlackBerry Dynamics

Young casual businessman looking at his smartphoneBES12.5, the latest update to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12, has just been released as a service pack update for BlackBerry UEM (Unified Endpoint Manager). Among the many upgrades in BES12.5 that will improve your ability to manage mobile devices in the enterprise, we’ve added new features for the management console, licensing, and BlackBerry Dynamics. Read on below to learn more about those new updates, then click over to our other blog post to learn what BES12.5 adds for managing iOS, Android, Samsung KNOX, Windows 10, IBM Notes Traveler, Pulse Secure, the self-service console, and the BlackBerry Connectivity Node.

By Colin Fullerton

Management console

View available updates for iOS devices: You can now view updates that are available for iOS devices on the User Details page in the management console.

Manage security audit event logging: Security audit event logging can be enabled and configured from the Settings > Infrastructure > Audit configuration menu. You can export the security event audit log to a .csv file.

Use app categories: You can create categories for the apps that you add to the app list and filter your app list by category. On Android and iOS devices, the apps are organized into these categories in the user’s work apps list.

View the status of BlackBerry Collaboration Service instances on the BlackBerry UEM Instances screen: You can view the status of each BlackBerry Collaboration Service instance in your domain on the Settings > Infrastructure > BlackBerry UEM Instances screen. The status provides information about whether the BlackBerry Collaboration Service is running or stopped and the BlackBerry Collaboration Service version that is installed.

Businessman using cell phone in officeCreate email templates: You can now use an HTML editor to create the templates for device activation emails and compliance notifications, allowing you to format the text and include corporate images. Some new default email templates are provided.

Get expanded device conditions in compliance profiles: You can now specify whether devices that have not been in contact with BlackBerry UEM for a specified length of time are non-compliant. You can also add a list of restricted OS versions and device models to compliance profiles and select the actions that occur if the user does not correct the issue.

Manage attestation for Samsung KNOX devices: You can turn on attestation so that BlackBerry UEM sends challenges to test the authenticity and integrity of Samsung KNOX devices.

Simplify management of Android for Work apps: Android for Work apps no longer need to be added to an app group to be sent to Android for Work devices. If you have connected BlackBerry UEM to a Google domain, you can send apps to Android for Work devices, just like any other Android device.

Customize the console: You can change the color scheme of the BlackBerry UEM management console.

Gain offboarding protection for directory-linked groups: When you configure the settings for directory-linked groups, you can select offboarding protection. Offboarding protection requires two consecutive synchronization cycles before user accounts or device data are deleted from BlackBerry UEM . This feature helps to prevent unexpected deletions that can occur because of latency in directory replication.

Licensing

Take advantage of BlackBerry Enterprise Mobility Suites features: BlackBerry Enterprise Mobility Suites allows your organization to use both BlackBerry UEM EMM and BlackBerry Dynamics features. Some suites also allow you to use BlackBerry UEM value-added services.

Mix device-based and user-based licenses: Device-based licenses allow a user to activate one device with one license. User-based licenses allow a user to activate up to seven devices with one license. You can use device-based licenses, user-based licenses, or both.

Business executive typing busines statistics on his tablet

BlackBerry Dynamics

Generate BlackBerry Dynamics access keys: If you have connected your BlackBerry UEM and BlackBerry Dynamics environments, you do not have to login to BlackBerry Control to generate an access key for devices that are not activated on BlackBerry UEM . You can simply add the user to BlackBerry UEM and generate an access key from there.

Perform BlackBerry Dynamics app commands: After a BlackBerry Dynamics app has been installed on a device, you can perform actions on the apps. For example, you can delete app data if a user has lost a device.

Send user certificates to Good-enabled devices: If you have integrated BlackBerry UEM and BlackBerry Dynamics, you can add a client certificate to a user account that is specifically for Good-enabled devices, or users can add the certificate in BlackBerry UEM Self-Service.

Disable the ability to add users to BlackBerry Control: Users are synchronized between BlackBerry UEM and BlackBerry Control only when users are created in BlackBerry UEM . You can turn off the ability to create users in BlackBerry Control to make sure that users are not created in BlackBerry Control without also being created in BlackBerry UEM .

For more information about these and other BlackBerry UEM features, visit the BlackBerry UEM page on the BlackBerry Help blog. And don’t forget to read our other post about how BES12.5 can turn you into an EMM hero with new features for managing iOS, Android, Samsung KNOX, Windows 10, IBM Notes Traveler, Pulse Secure, the self-service console, and the BlackBerry Connectivity Node.

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