What’s this? New innovative steps from Research In Motion? Just a few weeks ago, consumers around the world pretty much gave up hope that RIM would ever recover. Now, the company has come out with the BlackBerry Management Center, which is actually something that all businesses will want to take a look at.

Research In Motion’s target market isn’t the bubblegum chewing kind. Instead, RIM has always aimed for and attracted the business crowd. So it makes sense that (in times of trouble) RIM would develop something that catered directly to businesses. The BlackBerry Management Center does just that, and it does it with total professionalism.

What Is the BlackBerry Management Center?

The BlackBerry Messenger Center is a web-based, free, service that makes it simple for companies to “manage and protect” their BlackBerry devices. This service is available for companies that use BlackBerry smartphones (the Management Center site page explains that this service is available for companies from 3 to 100 employees).

Here’s how the BlackBerry Management Center works: as the owner of a company, you assign a BlackBerry administrator. This administrator then invites all employees who have BlackBerry devices to be part of the Management Center. From that point on, the administrator can fix all kinds of BlackBerry issues from the Management Center website.

What kinds of problems can be fixed? If a phone is lost or stolen, and administrator can lock the phone, change the password to unlock the phone, and add a “lost” message to the phone’s lock screen. It is also possible for an administrator to reassign a phone to a new employee (this includes the ability to wipe a phone clean of data) for a set period of time. Lastly, the Management Center allows administrators to help employees with BlackBerry email problems.

Cost-Effectiveness

Most large companies already have technical support centers, but these aren’t the companies that RIM is aiming for. Smaller companies don’t usually have support centers, and these are the companies that RIM wants to target. Without hiring a whole support team, it is possible for a company to hire one BlackBerry administrator.

Using RIM’s free web-based Management Center, this administrator can fix all problems and control all issues with any company BlackBerry phone. This new invention by RIM is ingenious, and it’s bound to be a hit with many small companies that rely on BlackBerry smartphones. As for the phones themselves, RIM still has a lot to work on. But, the new RIM Management Center promises to be useful, helpful, and user-friendly.

A Future for RIM

Just as writers across the world were gearing up to write “RIP RIM,” Research In Motion has begun reeling consumers back in once again. While BlackBerry may never be as popular as the iPhone, that’s alright with RIM. This company is aiming for a smaller niche crowd, not the larger app-addicted population.
With this in mind, RIM’s new Management Center is a giant leap in the right direction. There is, in fact, going to be a strong future for RIM – at least in small business circles.