Samsung’s Galaxy S21 range fully ready for business: Danny Mandrides

Friday, 15 January 2021 15:19

Samsung’s Galaxy S21 range fully ready for business: Danny Mandrides Featured

Danny Mandrides, Head of Samsung Australia’s Enterprise & Government Mobile Business

Sharing some B2B insights on Samsung’s just launched and most advanced S-series flagships yet, the S21, S21+ and S21 Ultra is Danny Mandrides, Head of Samsung Australia’s Enterprise & Government Mobile Business.

Samsung has long touted its business-friendly features, coupled with its enterprise-ready security Samsung Knox security platform, and naturally, Samsung is keen to ensure that businesses in Australia and globally are fully aware that Samsung has enhanced the S21’s business smarts, too - whether it is the S21, the S21+ or the ultra-premium-on-steroids S21 Ultra.

After all, today’s smartphones are a complete office in your pocket more than ever before, and with Samsung’s DeX platform, which lets you turn your S21 into an Android-powered desktop experience computer when connected wirelessly or via cable to a computer screen and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (or even using the S21’s screen as a mousing surface), you really do have a 21st-century portable office to do business anywhere - whether in smartphone or DeX mode.

Danny Mandrides, Head of Samsung Australia’s Enterprise & Government Mobile Business, issued some comments which explain this further, with two Samsung business videos embedded at this end of this article, along with a link to my article on the S21 Galaxy Unpacked 2021 launch, with that launch video embedded below too. 

Mandrides states: “The way we work and serve businesses has changed more in the past year than the past five years combined, such has been the rate of unprecedented change and the reason why we continue to innovate in mobility and solutions for business.”

He then comments on the reality of working from home and working remotely, quality connectivity, business resiliency and the reality of using your mobile device for entertainment when he states: “Many people have transitioned to working remotely, across hybrid work stream models and from multiple locations, and all while using their mobile device for far more content and entertainment services than ever before.

“We are far more reliant on mobile and network connectivity than ever before. It is the heartbeat of much of our economy. We understand this and are working to ensure that devices like the Galaxy S21 are optimised to support solutions for Australian businesses this year and beyond.

“The past twelve months have challenged business resilience, particularly with regards to the ability to maintain a consistent workplace culture through virtual networks and ways of working,” continued Mandrides.

So, what are some more market insights, and what is Samsung’s approach to the new reality that we are all living in, which has been made so much easier to deal with thanks to the incredibly modern technologies and super fast 5G and Wi-Fi broadband speeds that we all now take for granted?

Here, Mandrides said: “Our customers are seeking solutions to the challenges of change, rather than fixed problems that they may have faced historically. They are seeking mobile products, services and solution that unlock capability.

“The past twelve months also brought forward many decisions that businesses may not have considered before things changed. It sped up the process and forced many customers to make bold decisions.”

And yes, that is of course very true. A month or two after the 2020 lockdowns started around the world, I remember a now well-quoted Tweet, which asked people a multiple-choice question over what had been the most responsible for digital transformation, cloud adoption and remote working thus far in 2020.

There were three answers starting with C, and I’m sure you can already guess what they were. The first was the CEO, the second was the CTO, and the third was COVID-19, and of course, as we all know, COVID-19 put the pedal to the metal on this ultra rapid change, largely from the sheer necessity of it all for remote working, remote learning and a reliance on online ordering and online entertainment.

Mandrides of course acknowledges this, and notes that Samsung is one of the companies that creates and offers platforms to do all of these things, and states: “Much of this change has been centred around the acceleration of digital adoption. Our job has and always will be to ensure that our solutions provide a platform that helps our customers and businesses adapt, and the S21 series does just that.”

What about enterprise security with Samsung Knox?

Here, Mandrides says: “The S21 range is backed by the Samsung Knox security platform with hardware-backed protection to help keep businesses’ data secure. Knox Vault is a whole new layer of enhanced protection supporting the Knox Security platform. The separate chipset of Knox Vault called Secure Memory is incorporated into S21 for the first time and is designed to securely store your most important data.

“Knox Suite (sold separately) brings industry-leading management features to configure and tailor S21 devices to meet businesses’ specific needs right out of the box. Businesses can easily manage and deploy updates to make sure devices have the latest OS versions and security patches.”

And what of the promise of “enhanced productivity and flexibility”?

Mandrides notes that “with Office 365 and Your Phone app on the S21, employees can edit documents on their phone, stay connected with co-workers while on-the-go via Teams, and access mobile apps, contacts and messages from their Windows 10 PC.”

Of course, you’ll need an Office 365 subscription to take advantage of this, but with Office the standard for most businesses large and small who use Windows, this is only to be expected.

He also says that “Wireless DeX for PC on S21 brings your smartphone experience onto your compatible PC screen, without the need for a dongle or cord. Now you can work seamlessly across your phone and PC to access and edits documents wherever they are stored”, and notes the utility of the S Pen with the S21 Ultra, stating: “The S Pen experience is available for the first time on the S Series with Galaxy S21 Ultra (S Pen sold separately), providing employees a new tool for creativity and collaboration, whether it’s signing contracts or sketching designs.”

Now, while every competing Android maker would also want to claim their devices are suitable for business, Samsung does have the advantage of its DeX platform and, since 2013, Samsung Knox, which has obviously been improved year on year.

And while Apple clearly has plenty of fans in both the business and consumer worlds too, Samsung also has its ruggedised smartphones and tablets for warehouses, logistics and in the field usage scenarios. 

So, the battle for business hearts, minds and wallets continues apace, and there’s no doubt that Samsung is staking its claim as the best choice, not only for consumers, but for business, organisations, governments and enterprises of all sizes too.

Which direction and which technologies you choose to go with is up to you, but there has never been a greater range of the most advanced products and services from a range of vendors that we’ve ever seen, so if you or your business decides it’s time to upgrade, hardware and software technologies have never been more ready to make a material difference to your personal and business life.

Here are two videos from Samsung, one on Samsung Mobile for Business, and the other about Samsung Knox, with more information - as well as a link to my article on the S21 range launch, and the embedded video of the Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event:

My article on the new S21 range announcement is here, and you can watch the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2021 event in full below:

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