Is an MDM platform a fit for your business? And what are the benefits, anyways?
Confused about mobile device management or enterprise mobility management? As a mobile device manager, how can you determine if your business is likely to benefit? And what are the benefits you can expect to obtain? We are MDM experts at CSSI, so we wrote up this brief explainer to discuss these 2 questions.
How to tell if a Mobile Device Management Solution is a fit for your business
MDM software such as SOTI MobiControl or Microsoft Intune supports your management of mobile devices. Because of the cost and setup overhead involved, MDM implementation doesn’t make sense for everyone, particularly businesses with small numbers of devices and simple deployments. But there are 2 factors to consider to evaluate the benefit you are likely to get from MDM:
- Do you have many mobile computing devices in use? As you tally up the number of handhelds, tablets, laptops and phones under management, the more devices you have the more benefits you are likely to receive from MDM software. As a rule of thumb, consider that a business with more than 20 devices is likely a great candidate for MDM. Scenario: You manage 100 mobile devices and just received an important security patch which needs to be deployed immediately. How are you going to get that done?
- Do you manage devices in more than one location? An important additional consideration is the number of locations in which your mobile devices are used. If your business has multiple plants or warehouses, or if you have many remote users, you are more likely to benefit from MDM. Scenario: Your business has locations in several states, and you regularly get support calls from users hundreds of miles away. How can you help them quickly?
As a quick summary, both a business with many devices in one location and a business with few devices spread across multiple locations are both likely candidates for MDM software. For a business with many devices in multiple locations, MDM is a must-have to improve device management and the efficiency of the IT team.
5 benefits that MDM offers to managers of mobile devices
So how can mobile device management software help your business? Here are 5 very real benefits you can receive from MDM:
1. Standardize mobile device configuration
Mobile device management software is a key tool to support standardization of a mobile device configuration. By creating device profiles and enrolling devices under the correct profile, you can ensure that each computer is setup identically and follows corporate policies for device security. This dramatically eases both technical support and user training, since you can be assured that your users are sharing a common experience.
2. Faster new device provisioning
New employee devices on the way? You can get a head start by building out the MDM profiles, enabling you to quickly update and then deploy the devices upon arrival! If you work with an MDM support expert such as CSSI under our Device Lifecycle Management program, we can even ensure that your devices arrive ready-to-deploy right out of the box! This takes a significant burden off of the overworked IT staff.
3. Simplify device software upgrades and security patches
If your organization uses dozens (or hundreds) of devices, the prospect of having to put hands on each device to perform OS upgrades, apply patches and perform mobile application management might cause you to suffer from nightmares! But with an MDM tool, the burden is lifted. If devices share a common profile, you can perform mass updates without having to touch each device. It’s a lifesaver for operations with quantities of mobile computers!
4. Faster, more efficient user support and trouble-shooting
It’s hard enough to keep up with end-user’s requests for device technical support… so what if those users aren’t in the same building or even the same state as the IT support staff? Mobile device management solutions such as SOTI MobiControl allow device remote management and remote control, which enables the IT staff or anyone in a mobile device manager role to virtually look over the shoulder of the end user regardless of where in the world they are. Support tickets can resolve faster and device user satisfaction will increase. Even better from the standpoint of the business, users can get back to productive behavior more quickly!
5. Improve device security & reduce device losses
Concerned about your valuable mobile computers walking out the door with users at the end of a shift? MDM tools such as SOTI help with asset management, providing features such as geofencing, which can lock the device once it leaves your defined usage zones. Also, you can use MDM for device tracking to determine where a missing device was last seen, and hold the responsible end user accountable for a loss.
CSSI can help you implement and manage an MDM platform
Do you have questions about a mobile device management solution, or do you wish to explore its potential benefits in your business? Do you need help managing your device fleets? CSSI is an MDM provider – our MDM experts are available to help, both with MDM implementation, subscription support programs and ad-hoc hourly support. Please contact us to discuss MDM to manage your mobile computers.