Corporate users and Live Accounts

[markfive]

The normal method of deployment in this sort of scenario is to provision the device with a personal account, add the corporate email account afterwards and share corporate data using a Sharepoint server, which can be on- or off-premise.

It is possible to have more than one Skydrive account accessible on a WP device by using the store Skydrive app but that's not ideal as you cannot open new documents from within that app, whereas a Sharepoint server can be accessed from within the Office hub on the device.

WP does not support the concept of more than one account for in-store purchases via the Store and I doubt it ever will (at least for the forseeable future), because the roadmap describes corporate app deployment using Sharepoint, alongside the Store and associated account for personal purchases.

 

[rdubmu]

Again: I would set it up as a personal email, then add the secondary account on top of it..the users can make a shares account folder for SkyDrive. But how often are employees really working on documents on their phones? They should pull out the windows 8 laptop you bought for them.
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[DaveSC]

Markfive: Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. Connecting to a sharepoint resource works well and provide the type of functionality corporate users are looking for. I am still kind of on the fence about using personal accounts for phone/workstations.

 

[markfive]

IMO for the phones its not really an issue as long as you are using EAS to sync the corporate email accounts (so you have remote wipe and PIN policies that can be controlled centrally regardless).
For the workstations its a bit more complex. You can link the domain and MS accounts of course, but in practice I'm not entirely convinced that's the way to go unless seamless access to both personal and corporate data is an overriding priority for you. My inclination would be to stick with domain accounts, and let people use the web for accessing personal stuff. One thing that might help here is the Skydrive app, its very good on desktops. However you also need to factor in the risk of corporate files leaking onto personal storage, whether deliberate or accidental. Sometimes its a mistake to make access to personal stuff as easy as access to the corporate stuff...

 

[DaveSC]

I am liking the SharePoint sync functionality. Where I ended up at is Skydrive (personal), and Skydrive Pro (sharepoint).

On the desktop we setup SharePoint sync and if the user wants to sync their personal skydrive we will make a decision on that individually.

On the phone we setup a live account if they don't want one and don't plan to make purchases. If they do then we add their live account to the phone as the primary account.
Either way we setup links to the sharepoint sync.

 

[msdugn]

I think MarkFive's suggestions are good.

I don't want to speak for my company. But we do exactly what Mark is describing. Users get their Win8 devices either imaged or setup to use their corporate accounts. They additionally link a personal Live account to that account via the Windows 8 linking function. This allows all users access to corporate resources (SkyDrive Pro/SharePoint) via their Windows 8 device - and purchase apps via their personal account. Not only would accounting blow a gasket with it being any other way, but some folks might be embarrassed over their insane amount of purchases they make

When the phone is added into the mix, it is set up with the personal (Live.com) account only. But since the corporate credentials and live credentials are linked, it provides access to both sets of resources. While you still access email separately with all of the appropriate EAS security (Corp credentials for Corp email via Exchange, Personal credentials for Live.com, Outlook.com and any others the user wants to add personally), I can browse, view and edit both my personal and corporate docs on my phone or Win8 device with ease. I'm viewing and editing my @live.com-based personal XLS and DOC files shared with friends via SkyDrive right in the same pane in WP8 Office as my corporate (and very secure) SharePoint-based repositories.

I think your problem might be greater because you've created Live.com credentials (meant to be personal accounts) for corporate use. I think that frustrates the value that comes from linking accounts - which fully integrates the best of both worlds between personal and corporate resources.

I hope that helps.

 

[Torch4x4]

What about the "windows intune"? probably you can apply some policies to the WP

 

[DaveSC]

So the only problem that we have run into is that SharePoint-based repositories suck on PC's with anything prior to Office 2013. This is because you have to use the sharepoint workspace rather than a simple folder like the 2013 version.

 

[markfive]

Yes the 2013 version is a lot better. Some people find it easier to link the libraries to Outlook rather than use the workspace. Really depends on what features you need though.

 

[Funky Cricket]

you bought the phone, you bought the computer, it's for business. If they like and want to play angry birds, they can go buy their own.
Or they can get a prepaid visa and tie that to corporate.