What’s Next in Mobile Device Management?

The first decade of this century introduced disruptive mobile technology that held new potential in terms of communication, collaboration, and employee availability and mobility. As smartphones made their way into businesses, companies found that mobile device management earned a high priority in their business plans.

Companies launching a fleet of smartphones for employee use are forced to find ways to identify, maintain, and monitor devices on the network. Here are a few of the major concerns:

Corporate-Owned vs. BYOD: Mobile device management, or MDM as it is often called, can be applied to either a fleet owned by the company or to a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program. For many companies, BYOD makes better sense because it allows employees to use the device they prefer and enables the company to save resources by not owning hundreds, or even thousands, of mobile devices.

The challenge with BYOD is in terms of security. Company-owned software and data commingling with applications and data for private use can get a bit sticky. In addition, the company-owned device is subject to mandatory updates, whereas the employee-owned device may lag behind in updates and security patches.

Shadow IT: Employees may more-freely download tools for use in their job that don’t meet the security standards of the company when they use their own phone, but even a company owned mobile device management plan may struggle to keep pace with the demands of line-of-business managers. The rate at which new cloud solutions come available – and the ease with which they can be downloaded and accessed without the involvement of IT or your security team – can make it hard to adequately monitor applications accessing the network.

A Comprehensive Approach: Mobility is just one small piece of the device management puzzle, especially as remote work remains prevalent in a post-pandemic work environment. Mobile device management has transitioned to what is called endpoint management, which includes not just mobile devices, but also applications, browsers, laptops, desktops, and internet of things (IoT) devices.

And companies are relying more heavily on these devices. In addition to increased mobility to support an ongoing remote or hybrid workplace, the use of IoT has become central to many industries, including manufacturing and healthcare. IoT devices allow for quick response times, faster decision-making, and real-time insights.

What’s Next in Mobile Device Management: As mobility and reliance on IoT increase, so will the demand for MDM technology. Zero trust security approaches offer better protection by moving security to the edge of the network, using multifactor authentication, and offering employees access to only the resources they need for their particular role. What is most impactful around mobile technology is that zero trust assumes no device or user is safe until proven otherwise, a pivot from traditional security approaches. MDM technology will be shaped by zero trust policies as the solutions advance.

While the past two decades have ushered a new level of productivity into the workplace with mobile devices, the next decade is likely to offer new ways for those technologies to be expanded and refined. For guidance in choosing a mobile device management solution, contact us at One Connect. We can help you identify your priority needs and then suggest which solutions are best positioned to help you leverage mobile technology for your particular business goals.