An iOS MDM solution can reduce the security risks associated with using portable devices for work. By using an Apple mobile device management solution, IT admins can remotely enroll and deploy devices in bulk. With an MDM, IT can remotely manage all devices and enforce security configurations. An iOS device management solution can also aid IT admins to distribute content and push applications on corporate and personally-owned Apple devices.
Scalefusion iOS MDM provides support for unsupervised, supervised Apple devices, the level of control on an unsupervised device being less as compared to a supervised one.
When it comes to iOS devices, the feature set largely depends on whether the device is being supervised or not. Supervision is a process that gives IT complete control over the devices and is ideal for corporate-owned devices. For employee-owned devices, these features are more inclined towards selectively managing corporate data.
Benefits of iOS management using Scalefusion MDM
1. Profile creation
Device Profiles are a quick and easy way to group a common set of policies before applying them to multiple devices. Any changes or edits admins make on the Device Profile are applied to all the devices in that profile automatically.
Scalefusion mandatorily requires at least one Device Profile to manage iOS devices. Without a Device Profile, it is not possible to apply any policies to the device. The IT admin can create as many Device Profiles as they want based on the organization’s structure. These policies include the extensive configuration for usage and security of the said iOS devices.
Learn More: Step-by-step iOS MDM Profile creation on Scalefusion
2. Whitelisting websites
Scalefusion’s iOS MDM allows IT admins to whitelist websites. This helps to allow only certain websites that can be accessed on a device and blocks the rest.
When admins whitelist websites, permission is granted to access only the selected/ limited websites meant for business purposes only. For example, social media websites are a typical example of how employees get distracted due to unlimited access to the internet. IT teams can, therefore, not whitelist such websites, but instead, block access to them.
Learn More: What is Website Whitelisting: Why and How to Do It?
3. Single-app Kiosk mode
For Supervised iOS devices that are especially deployed for kiosk usage, IT admins can set one application that will continuously run on the device. Scalefusion offers IT a special mechanism, referred to as Single App Mode, to simply set one application that always runs on the device.
To run one or more applications alternating in single app mode, IT admins can set the iOS devices into Autonomous single app mode.
Learn More: How to lockdown iOS devices to single app kiosk mode?
4. iOS security management
In order to securely manage iOS devices, it becomes important for IT admins to:
- Control the application installation sources
- Enable Firewall
- Control the privacy settings
- Enforce passwords
- Push digital certificates for user and Wi-Fi authentication
- Prevent copy between work and personal apps for BYO devices
Scalefusion allows IT Admins to configure the security & privacy settings for all the managed iOS devices to secure them against any external attacks.
Learn More: iOS enterprise security vulnerabilities
5. Location tracking and Geofencing
For certain companies, it is important to collect the location of the devices while they are on the field. This feature gives you the ability to collect the locations and view them on the dashboard.
For remote and frontline employees, Scalefusion device location tracking helps improve management, streamline troubleshooting and enhance security.
IT teams can:
- Track date, time, latitude & longitude
- Track location accurately
- Get entire route history
- Choose the frequency of collecting location and details
- Enforce ‘GPS always ON’ on select devices
- Simultaneously monitor multiple devices
- Obtain detailed location reports
It can also create geofences for enhanced device tracking and resource optimization. They have the following options:
- Set small radii geofence setting
- Receive updates about the breach in geofence
- Automate alerts when a device leaves the geofenced area
- Automate policy switch based on geofence
Learn More: Geofencing and Location Tracking: Why Companies Must Pay Attention
6. Blacklisting applications
For corporate-owned devices, IT admins can take full control of the application sets that the users have access to on the iOS devices. IT can prevent access to unauthorized apps on enterprise devices using Scalefusion mobile device management.
Application whitelisting or blacklisting ensures employees remain productive and don’t waste time on non-work applications. Furthermore, accessing untrusted applications can result in malware installation on devices, causing a serious threat to critical corporate data.
With Scalefusion MDM, IT administrators can create comprehensive device policies that define which apps can be accessed and which ones should be blocked. While defining the policies for enterprise devices, IT admins can whitelist apps on iOS devices easily. Scalefusion helps to achieve extensive remote management with added kiosk management capabilities.
Learn More: How to blacklist apps on iOS devices?
7. Workflows
IT teams have the job to individually perform periodic tasks on the devices that are managed via Scalefusion. Administrators often have to conduct intermittent compliance checks for device performance and security incidents and.
Scalefusion’s Workflows allows IT Admins to schedule repeated tasks and additionally add actions when these tasks are performed. Workflows are designed to be granular, thereby providing control to define a task for a particular platform. Workflows also offer detailed reports of the task that was scheduled and offer options to execute them like a script.
IT administrators can schedule workflows for devices/device groups, irrespective of the profile configuration.
Learn More: How to Implement IT Automation for Device Management
8. Remote cast
With Scalefusion’s Remote Cast, IT admins can remotely troubleshoot iOS devices on-field or help educational institutions by providing guided sessions on how to navigate through the devices. IT can access a host of added additional features such as:
- Take screenshots
- Record screencast sessions
- Raise a service desk request on all the managed devices
Admins can remotely view and control the device’s screen in real-time. With remote access to registered devices, admins can troubleshoot any issues with the devices that are used by field agents or are set up as standalone kiosks.
Learn More: Remote Cast for iOS Devices
9. Content management
Scalefusion Content Management allows IT admins to bypass iCloud and push files and content material directly to the devices. They are stored in an encrypted format on the disk; most file types can be viewed without leaving Scalefusion MDM.
Content Management allows IT to streamline access to business documents for the remote workforce and frontline employees. IT can push content files, videos, and presentations and enforce security policies to keep devices and data safe and secure.
Learn More: Mobile Content Management (MCM) Software: What Companies Need to Know
10. Managing iOS updates
OS updates typically change a few basic features along with imposing critical bug fixes. However, they may also cause some compatibility issues with applications, causing them to crash or malfunction.
Such compatibility issues have also been witnessed with iOS updates. Therefore, most IT admins prefer controlling the rollout of OS updates after they have performed in-house testing on all their enterprise applications.
Scalefusion iOS MDM offers a standardized way to delay OS updates up to a maximum of 90 days.
Also read: Industry Use Cases of iOS Device Management
11. Enrollment
Scalefusion provides easy methods to enroll iOS devices that help you quickly manage the iOS devices. Admins can manage both corporate and personal iOS devices using the Scalefusion dashboard.
However, these sets of devices fall under different scenarios. Scalefusion handles the following easy deployment/enrollment scenarios for iOS devices:
- Supervised
MDM can provide complete control and management options, driven by Apple DEP.
- Non-Supervised iOS Devices
The management options are limited, but mostly focus on the security of corporate data
- User/Employee Device Management
Employees enroll their devices to access corporate data. IT simply needs to add user email IDs to Scalefusion Dashboard and invite them to enroll. and the employee or the user completes the rest of the steps.
Learn More: iOS Supervised vs Unsupervised: Benefits of Supervising iOS Devices
Conclusion
Scalefusion provides organizations with a robust and scalable solution to manage all their iOS devices. It allows them to run their internal operations smoothly and more efficiently.
