Making the right device updates with Samsung
A strategic software rollout plan is essential for ensuring device security and productivity across your fleet. With Android Enterprise and Samsung Knox, you can utilize a suite of tools designed to manage your Samsung Galaxy devices efficiently and effectively.
Why control your software updates?
Controlling software updates is crucial for several reasons, including enhancing protection, improving performance, and ensuring compliance with protocols.
By following the right steps, IT teams can standardize firmware versions and capabilities across all devices, while also testing compatibility with in-house servers, applications, and configurations.
This approach allows for resolving known issues before major updates and enables field tests on a small group of devices before full deployment.
Which tools and features can businesses utilize for software updates?
Android Enterprise: Manage system updates on your terms
Keeping your work phones updated is essential, and Android makes it easier for businesses. With Android Enterprise’s Managed System Updates, you get the tools you need to manage firmware updates efficiently.
Android Management APIs (AMAPIs) enable you to enforce software updates while offering flexibility in scheduling minor delays. You can defer OS upgrades and maintenance releases for up to 60 days, ensuring that downloads occur exclusively over Wi-Fi. This strategy helps you maintain control and security of your devices without interrupting productivity.
Samsung Knox: Get enhanced control on Galaxy devices with Knox
Adding to Android Enterprise controls, the Knox security platform offers additional firmware management features for Galaxy devices through various EMM partners. These tools help you test and deploy updates consistently and securely.
With Knox, you can:
- Disable automatic firmware updates to prevent users from altering settings.
- Disable all over-the-air (OTA) updates to control all software updates, including security patches and bug fixes.
- Prevent connected updates to stop manual firmware installations.
Knox Platform for Enterprise features are free for Galaxy device users, as part of the Knox Suite - Base Plan.
Knox E-FOTA: Optimize your update management with Knox
Maximizing the efficiency of your update management process is crucial for maintaining device security and performance. While Knox platform features are accessible through major EMMs, Samsung Knox E-FOTA is specifically designed for precise and detailed software updates.
Why choose Knox E-FOTA?
Samsung’s Enterprise Firmware Over-the-Air (E-FOTA) solution helps enterprises manage their mobile infrastructure with ease. Key features include:
- Targeted firmware updates: Managers can select the specific firmware version for devices or test updates on select devices before a broad rollout.
- Scheduled updates: Schedule updates during non-peak times to minimize disruption to productivity.
- Mass deployment: Deploy updates across all devices to prevent version fragmentation and simplify support.
Knox E-FOTA is included in Knox Suite - Enterprise Plan.
How and why should businesses manage update cadence?
Choosing the right update cadence is essential for aligning with your cybersecurity strategy. A well-enforced update schedule helps you stay ahead of security issues by:
- Prioritizing prompt patching to minimize security risks.
- Maintaining control and test groups for non-security updates.
- Ensuring device stability with a feedback loop after updates.
Security updates should be implemented quickly, while maintenance releases and OS upgrades need careful testing to avoid disruptions.
Managing your update cadence
Samsung Knox Asset Intelligence, our data and security analytics solution provides IT admins with detailed insights into device usage and performance. It helps monitor battery health, app usage, and connectivity issues, enabling proactive management of potential issues.
This can help ensure devices remain productive and efficient, ultimately improving overall operational performance.
Knox Asset Intelligence is included in Knox Suite - Enterprise Plan.
How can businesses deploy Samsung software updates?
Deploying software updates with Knox Asset Intelligence and Knox E-FOTA can be done through six steps:
- Prepare Your Device Groups: Before updates roll out, create two groups in Knox Asset Intelligence and Knox E-FOTA: ‘Test Group’ and ‘Working Group.’
- Set up the Test Group, consisting of a fraction of your total devices from different use cases, to always receive updates immediately in Knox E-FOTA.
- The Working Group should receive updates seven days later in Knox E-FOTA. This group should include the remaining devices. This group can be one or multiple depending on business needs.
- Initial update: Unless it is a security maintenance release, when a software update becomes available, the Test Group will receive it immediately.
- Monitor performance: Use Knox Asset Intelligence to monitor the Test Group for any issues, leveraging data points such as network performance, app usage, battery health, and system stability.
- Issue management: If any issues are detected, delay updates for the Working Group in Knox E-FOTA to prevent workflow disruptions while your IT team addresses them.
- Resolve and test: Use the analytics from Knox Asset Intelligence to diagnose issues and develop fixes, then push these fixes to the Test Group.
- Final rollout: Repeat the monitoring and fixing process until the update is stable. Once confirmed, roll out the update seamlessly to all devices in the Working Group.
By leveraging the tools and features provided by Samsung Knox and Android Enterprise, you can manage your firmware updates in a strategic, low-risk manner by understanding and deploying software updates around these three key steps, ensuring devices remain secure and operational.
Stay ahead with Samsung Knox—your partner in enterprise mobility management.
For more information, contact a Samsung Sales Representative or sign up for a free 90-day trial on Knox Suite Enterprise Plan.
Additional Resources
For OS upgrades and One UI updates, enroll in our One UI Beta program. Here, you can test updates and make necessary changes to your applications and configurations ahead of large-scale deployments.
