In your business and personal lives, your mobile devices have become just as important as your computers and servers. These convenient handheld computers offer a way to stay connected to the world in ways never believed possible. While most understand the importance of computer/server administrative management, most don’t realize that Mobile Device Management (MDM) is just as important. When you use your mobile devices just as much as you use your stationary computers, it only makes sense that management procedures should be stressed just as much. As mobile devices become more prevalent, so do the issues involved with them.
With Mobile Device Management, your devices will be safe from mobile device security threats. Without it, you are susceptible to IT infrastructure attacks, security breaches, loss of company data, and much more.
On top of increased security, MDM is a great way to ensure employees stay productive and avoid breaching company policies. Some common functions of MDM is data segregation, securing emails, securing documents, enforcing policy, and integrating and management devices themselves.
Luckily, there are multiple ways to implement MDM including on-premises or cloud-based management. By controlling and protecting the data and configuration settings of all mobile devices in the network, MDM can reduce business support costs and security/data loss risks.
Usually, solutions for Mobile Device Management include a server which send out management commands to mobile devices, and an agent which runs on the device itself which allows the device to get to management solutions in the first place. You can think of an agent as the enabler for the information that the server sends out to the device.
In many enterprise environments, BYOD (bring your own device) is becoming more prevalent. This means that employees may use their own personal mobile devices in the corporate network, as long as the management software is installed and working on the devices. While personal devices can be a safety risk to the enterprise network infrastructure, the risk is not there if the devices are managed correctly.
Here are some of the features that MDM can provide:
- Policy Enforcing: There are multiple types of policies which can be enforced on MDM users.
- Personal Policy: According to corporate environment, highly customizable
- Device Platform Specific: policies for advanced management of Android, IOS, Windows and Blackberry devices.
- Compliance Policies/Rules
- VPN configuration
- Application Catalogue
- Pre-defined Wi-Fi and Hotspot settings
- Jailbreak/Root detection
- Remote Wipe of corporate data
- Remote Wipe of entire device
- Device remote locking
- Remote messaging/buzz
- Disabling native apps on device
The need for MDM is increasing quickly, and companies who choose not to implement it are at risk. If your employees are using their personal mobile devices while in the workplace, there is an immense possibility that a security breach will occur and take out your entire IT infrastructure. When MDM can provide virus protection, backups, and even remote wipe capabilities, it doesn’t make sense not the implement it in your business.
