As smartphones continue to be used in business, the challenge companies most often face is how to ensure security policies are implemented on employee mobile devices — and that they work with Microsoft Exchange to deliver your corporate email.  Sure, not every single business out there uses Exchange for their enterprise mail delivery — but most large companies do.  The fact that your email is delivered to your BlackBerry, Windows Mobile device, or iPhone wirelessly via BES or ActiveSync is often taken for granted.  New devices hit the market, and everyone rushes out to get the latest and coolest device for their specific needs.

Then they bring it into work and expect — rightfully so — that it will be able to work on the corporate infrastructure. Such is the current situation.  In my own workplace we are actively supporting a wide variety of devices (and testing others to ensure they meet security policies for encrypting email).  It’s always a difficult situation to explain to executives why the device they ran out and picked up on the first day of it’s release isn’t working or supported.  Let’s take the hugely popular DROID.  Android OS 2.0 has continued to make the platform one that business users want and demand in the workplace.  Recent updates bring even more improvements.

So what’s the problem?  Simply put, DROID users are finding out that the device may not reliably receive email from their company’s Exchange Servers.  It’s not an isolated problem, either.

Verizon’s own customer support forums are filled with reports from users that had mail working fine for days or weeks, and then find their DROID isn’t playing well with their email accounts.  At my own “day job” an entire team has been running down the issue for early-adopters even as we continue to test Android devices for enterprise deployment and support.  Loading the new OS update to 2.0.1 brought a list of improvements, but hasn’t helped with the current Exchange Mail issue.  Business users may find that their email accounts have been deleted, no longer receive new messages even as their contacts and calendar continue to function.  The problem isn’t with Exchange or ActiveSync (no WinMo or iPhone devices have been impacted).

The solution?  Reload your OS and configure to resync your mail account or, as some users are finding, installing the Touchdown application ($19.99 in the Android Market, but it is available for a 5-day trial) seems to be a longterm fix. The Android platform will continue to grow, evolve, and implement new and exciting features.  Let’s just hope for business users that improved Exchange support is one of those features.

[image via Wired]