“The zero-touch enrolment of Nokia 7.2 smartphones into the company’s device management solution, Microsoft Intune, was simple and straightforward.”

Kevin van Doorn, Owner of Benk Groep

Accon avm, a Dutch company of auditors and consultants that tailors its services to the needs of international clients, ran a project to renew its smartphone fleet and merge their fixed and mobile communications. To ensure data security, Accon avm’s IT solution provider recommended Nokia smartphones with Android One.

For Accon avm's more than 1,000 auditors and consultants, a close customer relationship is an essential part of their work – be it at the client's premises or by phone. In order to ensure the best possible telephone accessibility, Accon avm decided to transform its telecommunications infrastructure in early 2020. Two previously separate infrastructures for fixed line and mobile communications were to be merged into one. With an FMI, Accon avm employees can be reached under one single number on their mobile phone - anytime and anywhere. At the same time, they still enjoy all of the features of a classic PBX.

Customer data require a high level of security

HMD Global was chosen as the supplier because security was right at the top of Accon avm's list of requirements followed by its need for cost- effective, high-quality, enterprise-class smartphones. Maurice Krutzer, IT department Accon avm, explained: “As auditors and tax consultants, our employees constantly deal with our customers’ very sensitive business and financial data. This means that we won’t make any compromises when it comes to security. For this reason, our IT partner, Benk Groep, advised us to purchase Nokia 7.2 smartphones based on Android One. This decision means that our employees’ smartphones will get frequent and quick security patches for a long period.”

Security promise for Nokia smartphones with Android One

HMD Global’s security promise to deliver monthly security updates for three years as of the first shipment month of the respective Nokia Android One smartphone – plus two years of software upgrades. Andrej Sonkin, General Manager Enterprise Business at HMD Global,said: “To make the availability of updates transparent, our publicly accessible ‘Nokia Smartphone Security Maintenance Release Summary’¹ shows details about the patches for each Nokia smartphone.”

Quick and seamless provisioning of 1,100 smartphones

In addition, the zero-touch enrolment helps to ensure a high level of enterprise security. It allowed the IT team to deploy Accon avm’s 1,100 Nokia 7.2 smartphones without the need to set up each device manually. As soon as an employee powers-up a new smartphone for the first time, the device automatically installs the company defined EMM agent; after the user authentication all company apps and configu- rations are installed over-the-air. This ensures that the setup of each smartphone is compliant with company app and security policies.

“The deployment of devices was pretty easy. Having enrolled the smartphones into our mobile device management, it is easy to enforce our security policies.”

Maurice Krutzer, Project Manager Accon avm

The Accon avm project was the first Benk Group had dealt with involving Android zero-touch enrolment. The project team was impressed with how seamless the process was. Kevin van Doorn, owner of Benk Groep, summarised, “The zero-touch enrolment of Nokia 7.2 into the company’s device management solution,Microsoft Intune, was simple and straightforward”.

Zero-touch enrolment ensures enforcement of security policies

“Once we figured out the right settings, the deployment of devices was pretty easy,” Maurice Krutzer said. He added: “Having enrolled the smartphones into our mobile device management, it is easy to enforce our security policies. For example, we now have maximum control if a device is lost or stolen; it's just one click to bring it to factory settings and delete all sensitive data remotely.”

Digital workplace with many productivity tools

During zero-touch enrolment, a large variety of apps designed to support employees in their daily work were also installed. The Accon avm mobile workplace includes the complete Microsoft Office 365 suite; the cloud-based ERP suite; an online Afas business software solution for HR administration, billing, procurement and accounting; and the KPN EEN app to combine secure internet, fixed-line calls and mobile telephony.

Positive feedback for the FMI solution and Nokia smartphones

After several weeks of operation, Accon avm remains pleased with the new integrated fixed/mobile solution. “We are very positive about our new communications infrastructure and the Nokia 7.2 devices,” Maurice Kutzer summarized.