With a higher-than-ever increase of people working remotely, companies are relying more on mobile devices to complete projects and get the job done. Establishing the right mobile device management system is integral. This process helps your company keep data and devices safe from hackers or other risks that could cost money and disrupt business.
So, how do you know the best software and system for you? This article will discuss the importance of mobile device management for businesses, how it works, and how your business might implement it.
In modern business, the use of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices — whether company-owned or employee-owned — is a given, especially with a remote workforce. It’s integral that your company craft a mobile device management system to remotely monitor, govern, and secure your business’s smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Your employees’ mobile devices can leave your company vulnerable to multiple risks — everything from malware, phishing attacks and other hacks, to phones and laptops being physically stolen or lost.
A mobile device management plan can help to mitigate these risks. Typically, this process is implemented using third-party MDM software to keep your sensitive business data and documents safe. Mobile device management software is combined with policies on how these devices can be used, real-time monitoring of data usage, and backend infrastructure.
MDM is connected to other tech-related security practices, including mobile application management, enterprise mobility management, and unified endpoint management.
There’s been a growing shift toward bring-your-own-device (BYOD). Employees use their personal devices to connect with company networks and systems to access your business’s potentially confidential information. While mobile device management focuses more on securing company-owned devices provided to workers, with BYOD, employers turn to mobile application management that manages and controls just specific business applications on workers’ personal devices.
MDM and MAM are both processes that fall under the umbrella of enterprise mobility management, also known as EMM. Meanwhile, UEM focuses more on managing endpoint security, including laptops, mobile phones, personal computers, printers, and even wearables.
In recent years, working remotely has become the norm. In the United States, more than 4.7 million people spend at least half of their time working in a remote setting. This means employees use devices such as cellphones, tablets, or PCs and laptops (both Apple and Windows products) to work from outside the office and stay connected with their employer and coworkers.
With these devices potentially providing access to critical and sensitive business information, there’s a security risk to the company if these devices are stolen, lost, or hacked. One study showed in 20% of organizations surveyed, remote workers have caused some type of security breach.
Having a mobile device management plan allows you to monitor your employees’ portable devices and retain control over confidential data and information. Companies need to establish an MDM policy to uniformly manage security for these devices — while allowing the user some flexibility and minimizing the vulnerabilities to phishing, malware, and other cybersecurity threats.
A strong MDM plan can also save your company money by lowering the cost of IT resources, as well as expenses related to carrier services. It’s estimated that, on average, companies can save $21,220 per every 1,000 devices during the first year they have a mobile device management plan in place. These savings increase another $10,610 during the second year of implementing an MDM policy and another $2,120 after the third year. That’s a 184% return on investment over three years.
MDM software is a critical piece of a company’s mobile device management approach, but there’s more to it than that. Your company’s IT security policies go hand-in-hand with MDM.
Your company’s MDM software can be used to protect the device itself and its applications, data, and content. Additionally, this software can also be used to track inventory, maintain and configure devices remotely, manage applications and data, and monitor device usage.
Policy creation and enforcement are also essential parts of your MDM platform. By creating standardized device management policies, you can stay ahead of any potential security threats and act quickly if your employees’ devices are hacked, lost, or stolen. Having a uniform policy makes it easier for your IT department if you have a large team of employees with devices to secure and monitor.
Through MDM, your company will either provide a work device to employees or give their personal devices access to business applications, your corporate network, corporate data, and company email based on their role.
Your company’s MDM software and an established management console let your IT admins access management features to easily monitor your company’s data for breaches through these enrolled devices — as well as how your employees are using their mobile phones, laptops, and tablets. With the MDM tools your company puts in place, if there’s a breach, you can do anything from wiping a device of all important business data remotely to troubleshooting minor issues.
Once your business has a mobile device management plan in place, you need to implement it. Here are some steps your company should take.
First, you need to establish your MDM server, which is used to send out commands to remote devices, and a client component, which is installed and operates on these devices. The client receives and implements the commands distributed by the server.
While your server and client component might come from the same vendor, this doesn’t have to be the case. You can also purchase these components from multiple vendors.
Next, you’ll implement your central remote management system using the commands your server sends over the air.
An administrator — either at the mobile operator, an enterprise IT data center, or using a handset OEM — should be assigned to monitor data and device usage and ready to update or configure groups of devices should any problems arise.
Monitoring and addressing MDM needs through a central location with a dedicated team helps streamline the process should any data breaches arise.
When it comes to end-user devices connected to your company’s device management system software platforms, you can use plug-and-play data services designed for each specific device. This allows you to detect any device connected to your business’ network automatically, so you can continuously monitor and manage them.
This automated process allows you to track all devices on your network easily. It keeps a history of them and transmits settings to all permitted and subscribed devices at speeds up to 50 over-the-air setting update files each second.
As you create a mobile device management platform for your company, here are some best practices to consider:
Some companies opt for a bring your own device solution where employees use their personal devices for work activities rather than a company-issued mobile phone (both androids and iPhones), tablets, or computers (whether MacOS or other operating systems). Employees often prefer BYOD.
One study shows that 78% of workers think using just one mobile device is useful for balancing their personal and professional lives. 49% of those who responded to another survey said that using their own device when working increases their productivity.
The good news is that you’re also spending less money on hardware and software on top of increasing productivity. The bad news is that BYOD opens your company to even more risk of data loss and leakage as personal devices are more difficult to manage.
While you can regularly monitor a company-owned device and require those devices to use backup software, antivirus software, and specific password policies, it’s harder when you’re talking about a worker’s personal cell phone or other mobile device.
Still, there are guidelines you can put in place and actions your enterprise can take that can help mitigate the risk of BYOD devices. Here are a few best practices for bring your own device solutions:
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Phonecheck serves as an extra security tool for your company as you mitigate risks related to its MDM solutions. Avoid costly hidden problems by purchasing a single history report on Phonecheck.com for about the cost of a cup of coffee.
