The use of mobile devices has increased dramatically in recent years and will continue to do so with the rapid growth of EMM (enterprise mobility management). Managing these devices is crucial to safeguarding data and the devices that handle critical business information and functions. For dedicated device management, MDM is the best solution for managing and securing dedicated devices.
What is a Dedicated Device?
A dedicated device is a company-owned device that can be employee-facing or customer-facing. It includes self-check-in systems, point-of-sale (POS) systems, digital signage, retail store billing, checkout systems, and airport ticket printing desks, to name a few. The devices fulfill a single use case by running in kiosk mode that can be single-app or multi-app. Dedicated devices perform essential business functions and hence need to run without any interruptions.
Some common examples of customer-facing dedicated devices are ATMs for cash transactions, digital signage in hotels for advertisements, baggage check-in at airports, POS terminals, handheld devices used as barcode scanners as well as for navigation, and dedicated tablets used for educational purposes. Some employee-facing dedicated devices are devices used for inventory management in logistics, handheld devices used by healthcare professionals, and vehicle-mounted devices used by drivers in transportation.
However, these devices can’t run independently and are required to be managed remotely. Usually, the devices are unattended and run in dedicated kiosk mode. Communicating with these devices in the field and ensuring timely updates on these devices can be best done using a dedicated device management solution like mobile device management (MDM) software.
Corporate-owned dedicated devices don’t store content and information, and it’s crucial to push updated content regularly to these devices as they perform mission-critical functions. Mobile device management (MDM) enables you to update, troubleshoot, interact, and pass commands to devices remotely. MDM also simplifies configuring devices and provisioning them, enforcing policies, and ensuring device and data security.
How Does Dedicated Device Management Work?
A dedicated device is locked to a single application or a set of applications to fulfill a single use case. The devices are locked down to single-app kiosk mode or multi-app kiosk mode based on the application.
1. Single app kiosk – IT admins can have wide control when they lock a device to a single app. They can also configure the peripheral settings of the devices. When the device runs in such a kiosk mode, the application launches and doesn’t exit the screen. The app relaunches even when the device reboots or restarts after shutting down. Thus, the device fulfills the dedicated purpose.
2. Multi-app kiosk – When devices are locked down to more than one application, it’s called a multi-app kiosk. Using the kiosk launcher, administrators can choose the app they want to run, switch between apps, and perform multiple functions.
Learn More: What is Kiosk Mode?
Why Use Dedicated Android Devices?
To have dedicated devices with Android OS working on fulfilling a single purpose, it’s crucial to have a versatile and customizable operating system that allows you to administer granular control. When devices are managed and controlled at a granular level, the end user experience improves to a significant level.
Android OS being open source, provides the flexibility and ability to adapt to any requirement and use case. An MDM solution allows management of dedicated Android devices that run on kiosk mode. With the high degree of customization that Android provides, Android devices also have high accessibility for users, making Android Enterprise dedicated devices the most suitable for various use cases.
Android Enterprise setup with an MDM solution simplifies device configuration and provisioning. Android Enterprise dedicated devices are corporate-owned devices that let organizations be in total control of these devices. With Android Enterprise, admins can push apps from Managed Google Play and also ensure they’re always updated. It also authorizes robust device and data encryption which is extremely crucial as most dedicated devices run as unattended devices.
An MDM software helps organizations configure, build, deploy, and manage dedicated Android devices. Device capabilities are customized using the MDM dashboard and several device policies are configured as per the use cases.
Why is it Important to Have Dedicated Device Management?
Dedicated devices are corporate-owned devices that are fully managed by organizations. Having an MDM solution helps admins have the required configuration and device settings while ensuring device and data security. The many benefits of managing dedicated devices using an MDM are as follows:
1. Manage Content and Applications
The content and applications on dedicated devices can keep changing from time to time, depending on the switch in the purpose. To ensure that the content and apps are always updated, an MDM software helps silently install or uninstall apps on devices. This removes the dependency on the end user to run the updates, reducing device downtime. An MDM dashboard enables admins to push apps from Play Store or enterprise apps from Enterprise store.
2. Ensure Endpoint Security
MDM provides vital data encryption to secure critical corporate data within the device. Kiosk mode dedicated devices allow admins to have measurable control over peripheral settings of devices, which restricts any end user interference. Wi-Fi and other network settings can be configured using an MDM to ensure devices are connected to a corporate-approved network. MDM helps auto-update the OS to the latest version to keep malware and viruses at bay.
3. Protect Lost or Stolen Devices
Factory reset protection on Android devices helps secure these devices when lost or stolen. MDM software also locks devices remotely and the data is wiped off the device to avoid misuse of critical corporate information. Location tracking also helps keep track of devices and their credentials. Location history can also be tracked from the MDM dashboard by pushing a location-tracking policy to the device remotely.
4. Remote Troubleshooting of Devices
The remote cast and control feature helps troubleshoot devices on an immediate basis and reduces device downtime drastically. The admin can cast the screen of the devices on the MDM dashboard and sync files to resolve any technical glitches that are leading to device downtime. This is a very important feature for dedicated devices as most run unattended. Thus, it’s difficult to reach the physical location of these devices immediately when there’s a device issue.
The Final Words
Though dedicated devices help in executing different strategies for various businesses, the security of these devices is extremely important. Scalefusion MDM is one of the most versatile solutions to effectively manage a fleet of dedicated devices through a single console and ensure robust device data security.
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