Cloud-based mobile technologies have paved new ways for organizations to leverage new-age dynamic innovations and other technological advancements in the field of enterprise mobility. In fact, according to Gartner, ‘28% of spending within key enterprise IT markets will shift to the cloud by 2022, up from 19 percent in 2018.’ Based on a report by Nasscom in association with Deloitte, ‘the enterprise mobility market is expected to become a total of $140 billion by 2020 and the existing spend by enterprises on mobility is also expected to grow to 10-12 % of the total IT spending by 2020.’
But, as mobile technologies are leading an innovation-revolution, the industry also faces various challenges and one of them is how to manage a number of heterogeneous mobile devices within an enterprise in a controlled and secured environment.
To mitigate various risks and overcome challenges, one of the options is to deploy a comprehensive Mobile Device Management Solution, which can do more than just offering remote device monitoring and management features to the organization.
Learn More: 5 Things To Consider When Switching MDM Providers
For an organization, it is crucial to select the perfectly relevant MDM solution meeting all business and IT requirements. So, the question is how do you know which MDM solution is the right one?
Here are a few things that you can keep in mind while choosing an MDM solution that will meet all your and purposes.
What are your Organizational Needs?
Your MDM selection process has to be a part of your mobility strategy. The critical factors involved are scope, size, data access and scale have to be addressed. In evaluating and weighing different options, there are different important factors like budget and security which play key roles in selecting any MDM solution. Again, which strategy your organization is looking forward to implementing, is also an important factor in decision making. Whether BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) or Company-owned – that will definitely add concerns because business data and the organization’s work apps will be running on an employee’s personal device. Therefore, a reasonable awareness of enterprise mobile device management has to be well thought through.
Is it aligned with your strategy?
A BYOD or corporate-owned strategy begins with requirement analysis and a list of business requirements. It may begin with questions like ‘Are you looking for an on-premises or cloud-based solution?’ or ‘How high device level control you require?’ Once you figure out exactly which types of devices your workforce uses in case of BYOD or alternatively which devices you would like to provide in corporate-owned strategy, you need to be clear on what you want from an MDM solution or How and with what it can help you to achieve.
Is the Trial Period offered?
The MDM product which you will select for your organization will prove as an investment, only if it serves your purpose, meets your requirements and overcome your challenges, so look for solutions, which give you a trial period which can be used as a pilot test, ideally 30-day trial. This will give you time to test the end-to-end solution, especially for the technical aspects and administrator interface.
Is the Dashboard User-Friendly with Real-Time Management?
To remotely manage and control the fleet of devices, you need an interactive and intuitive dashboard which can provide real-time insight and visibility into all the assets registered with the solution. Hence, look out for an interface which is user-friendly as well as comprehensive.
How Secure it is?
The 2012 survey from Symantec, says that the average annual cost to enterprises of mobile incidents is $429,000. Hence, if your business is planning to embrace the mobile revolution, you need to go for an MDM platform which provides robust security features.
At the same time, in case you have selected a BYOD strategy, have a plan B as well, as that may fail because users may not feel comfortable for allowing their personal devices to be monitored by the IT department, hence, it is essential to develop that ecosystem. Look for products that can separate corporate and personal data.
Is it Scalable?
Technology is rapidly changing, and mobile revolution has just begun. Considering such dynamism, your organization will also have to update the strategy as and when to adapt to the latest trends. As a result, it makes more sense to go for an MDM solution which is scalable and flexible. For e.g., currently, your organization may consider only corporate-owned device strategy but over a period of time, it may reconsider to include BYOD as well. So, the MDM solution which you have deployed to be flexible enough to even scale up to your changing requirements with time. Again, smartphones manufacturers come out regularly with latest versions with new features, or altogether there’s a new manufacturer in the smartphone market, MDM needs to support every OS and different types of mobile devices. Consider a solution efficient enough which empowers you to keep pace with the dynamic trend of technologies.
What do the customers say?
Sometimes, it becomes quite confusing for the organization to select one particular MDM vendor from a wide range of choices. Testimonials and online reviews are given on the review websites by their past and present customers can help u decide which will be the right MDM solution for your requirements.
To conclude, the key thing to keep in mind while selecting the right enterprise mobility solution, with your growth will the solution continue to consistently deliver and help you overcome challenges? An organization should always think why you must not consider about only what you are getting today, but will it suffice to your challenges in aligning with the development heading tomorrow. Thus, the designated mobile device management solution must be pertinent to the current and future as well.
