Mobile Device Management: A Strategy For Your Business

With mobile devices and applications flooding the market, and as more employees bring their own devices into the workplace, mobile device management (MDM) is growing in importance. MDM allows companies the ability to secure, manage, monitor and support mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and portable computers. The primary benefit of mobile device management is having a unified, secure mobile network for your organization. With MDM, companies can lower both business security risks and support costs by optimizing the functionality of mobile devices and controlling and protecting the data and configuration settings for all mobile devices in a network.

MDM functionality can include over-the-air distribution of applications, data and configuration settings for all types of mobile devices; and MDM tools can be leveraged for both company-owned and employee-owned devices across the enterprise.

A solid MDM strategy should include password-protecting devices, wireless distribution of applications and the ability to wipe devices remotely if they are lost or stolen.

So where do you begin with an MDM strategy? Consider these tips:

• Determine the type of devices your employees will use, and whether they’ll be corporate-issued or bring-your-own devices that will be supported by the company.
• Be sure that your devices can handle the security level required by your business.
• Have strong security and usage policies around your devices, and clearly communicate these policies to employees.
• Ensure security of devices with a strong password policy.
• Clarify to employees what applications will be allowed on employee devices.
• Know that your MDM plan will continually change as new devices and technologies emerge.

If your company employees utilize any type of mobile device, your business can benefit from Mobile Device Management.  Whether it’s to set policies around corporate-issued and employee owned devices, increase security, or simply streamline management of the devices on your network, an MDM strategy should be top of mind.