Importance of Mobile Device Management (MDM) to Enterprises

In past few years, there has been a massive influx of mobile technology into the workplace. Almost everyone has their own mobile phone these days and all are used to talking, emailing and accessing the Internet from their devices anywhere. This rapid rise in usage of mobile technology has brought into picture various mobile security threats to be dealt with. With the increased compliance requirements from General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and other similar guiding bodies, it has become mandatory for the organizations to have some form of mobile management strategy. The Mobile device management (MDM) services come into the picture as the savior here.

What is Mobile Device Management (MDM)?

Mobile Device Management (MDM) includes deploying, securing, monitoring, integrating and managing mobile devices, smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops and even IoT devices used in the workplace. MDM software allows management as well as a distribution of apps, configuration and security settings, monitoring for malware, patching firmware and apps, containerization of business data and everything which the administrators require to manage, monitor and secure the mobile workforce, all by using a unified cloud-based dashboard.

What can Mobile Device Management Do For Your Business?

MDM products are usually composed of an agent on the mobile device, a server component which IT administers and typically an intermediary server the MDM vendor runs. With the increasing use of mobile devices and the concept of BYOD – Bring Your Own Device being accepted by most companies, it becomes vital to have an MDM with rigorous architecture as per the business model. BYOD is the concept where the users have the ability to sync their work email, access company data and perform operational actions over their personal devices.

MDM Empowers Your Business in Following Ways

• Provides a Flexible Working environment

With the MDM facility, employees can avail the benefits of mobility – in terms of remote work management. This includes tasks like the work hour loggings, work reporting, task updating, expense management and more. This, in turn, encourages more productivity by empowering employees to work anytime and anyplace by delivering emails, calendar event details and contacts to smartphones and tablets which are securely managed by the company reducing the chances of breaches & loss.

• Device Security

MDM protects devices from unauthorized access by enforcing lock screen passcodes, installing mobile malware detection software and also setting up device-level encryption. It also offers built-in messaging platforms where one can send secure messages without risking an over-the-air interception. This is very important in industries like healthcare, security, banking, finance and others dealing with critical & private data.

• Remote Management

This enables the complete control of the mobile device by the organization in case of unforeseen circumstances like when a device containing the company data is lost or stolen, the company can erase the data or lock the device until it is found. The advanced systems also give an option to erase only the company data, rather than removing the complete device data. MDM also generates ongoing reports on blocked apps and also prevent certain types of sensitive data from being emailed outside the company from the device.

• Application Control

Application control lets MDM decide which apps to permit and which to blacklist or disable. In situations where an outside app is affected by malicious code or security threat, it can fetch data from other apps on the device, which endangers the company data. MDM provides the solution approach of containerization which partitions an area of each device for dedicated work-use which restricts untrusted third-party apps access.

• Reporting

MDM’s reporting tools give real-time visibility to organization’s mobile environment which includes device status, user information, log-in attempts and makes sure the compliance with password policies.

• Decreases The Efforts of the IT department

Small monotonous tasks such as software updates can be automated with most MDM solutions reducing the burden of the organization’s assets which in turn cuts the expenses. Having fewer people working on mobility lowers IT overhead costs as well.

In certain scenarios, some MDM solutions help the company to manage telecom costs by tracking voice minutes, long distance charges, roaming and data fees. MDM can also restrict the access to some of the features if an employee goes over an allotted limit.

• Choosing the Right MDM Solution for Your Company

Different companies which are serving different business needs have different security requirements. The data security needs of a Healthcare company, a software development company and a tourism company ought to be different, this brings into picture different MDM solutions meeting different requirements. Few of the popular MDM solutions in the current market are:

Airwatch, MobileIron, Citrix, Good Technology, Fibrelink Communications, SAP, BoxTone, SOTI, Symantec, IBM MaaS360 and more, there are also some MDMs like Apple’s iPhone Configuration Utility which are free and work well for a small scale MDM solution.

CMARIX can help you create custom MDM solutions after reviewing your business strategy, industry, scale and other parameters. We have experience of customizing as well as custom making Enterprise software development business solutions ideal for your business model.