Highly mobile workforces are a dominant characteristic of modern businesses. Employees often work remotely, using several different devices or endpoints. Additionally, employees purchase their own devices in ever growing numbers. Currently, 58 percent of business smartphones are purchased by employees and not employers. According to market analyst Enterprise Management Associates, this number is projected to grow to 85% in 2016.
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Given the increasing number and diversity of devices employees are using as a result of the BYOD revolution, it is increasingly difficult for IT service desks to effectively manage this endpoint sprawl. That’s why unified endpoint management platforms are emerging as a solution of choice to better support, secure, and control disparate users and multiple devices used for day-to-day business. What’s clear is that standalone Mobile Device Management solutions that fail to be integrated into the service and support processes are not providing the necessary value organizations require.
Let’s consider a simple scenario to demonstrate why a unified endpoint management platform approach is gaining traction.
Bob, VP of Sales, has lost his smartphone on the commuter train. His organization’s IT service desk now has to scramble to minimize the exposure of company data stored on his mobile phone and curtail the negative impact of lost productivity.
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With a siloed MDM solution on multiple platforms, you might be able to track and wipe the device, but how long does it take you to know that the device has been lost or stolen in the first place? Using a siloed MDM solution, Bob doesn’t have access to services such as Self Service or Service Catalog that he can use to automatically and immediately report the loss, order a replacement device and initiate a security alert. Ideally, you not only want to secure the lost device, but you also want your end users to be back online and productive as soon as possible.
By utilizing a unified EMM solution, Bob can use Self Service and Service Catalog processes to report his lost device and simultaneously order a replacement. With a unified EMM approach, workflows and approval rules initiate automatically (zero touch) and notify Bob when his new device will arrive. With Enterprise Mobility Management and Zero Touch Deployment, Bob can regain access to his applications and personal settings from his previous device. Zero-touch deployment allows new applications and updates to be automatically pushed out to devices, which are also synched in the change management database (CMDB), providing the Service Desk an up-to-date and unified view of users, their devices, and their support policies.
With a unified EMM approach, IT organizations can reduce time-consuming recovery steps by automating device loss procedures, more efficiently supporting end users, and significantly reducing the amount of exposure and data leakage. In addition, users can get back online fast with controlled roll-out processes that provide them with the approved applications and access through zero-touch deployment.
By Mareike Fondufe, FrontRange Solutions
About FrontRange Solutions
FrontRange’s HEAT Client Management provides a unified EMM solution to efficiently manage physical, virtual and mobile devices across their lifecycle. The solution portfolio supports enterprise mobility requirements and BYOD initiatives and allows any number of mobile devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets) to be centrally and remotely managed.
