Epitomised by RIM’s BlackBerry, with its reputation for secure email and text messaging, smartphones remain a powerful data communication tool for companies.

Larry Ketchersid, chairman and CEO of Media Sourcery, believes that role is likely to gain in importance as more enterprises latch on to the benefits of utilising smartphone-based products.

But security and data regulations have to be a major consideration when dealing with highly sensitive information.

His company has developed a secure smartphone application called Mobile Data Messenger (MDM) that allows the sending and receiving of encrypted traffic.

It securely transfers data files through a network without the need to use E-mail or FTP, or having to burning CDs or DVDs and sending them via snail mail or courier.

Intended for use in virtually any size of organisation, it also enables companies to do away with the need for significant numbers of paper forms and provides real-time information that can be integrated directly into a data system.

Ketchersid said the result was secure data transmission – but also increased productivity.

“Security is great, and it’s required, but when it gets down to doing the ROI, the company and CEO are looking for simplified and improved accuracy and efficiency for their mobile workforce,” he said.

Ketchersid said the MDM package was written in Java and was already being used by a major US healthcare company on its BlackBerries.

“Security of patient health information is required in the US by the HIPAA regulations, and our solution solves that and other problems, such as the removal of paper forms, automation of data entry, cleaner data, mobilization of their application and so on, for our customers,” he said.

Ketchersid said MDM wasn’t restricted to the RIM handsets or the BlackBerry encrypted enterprise server

.

The package has been adapted for use on Nokia’s S60 platform at the request of the Finnish phone manufacturer.