Technology is evolving each day, intending to make things easier for viability, technology is filling the room with its rapid advancements. It is transforming into a smart model just like how the heavy box phones have been replaced with the lightweight smartphone with advanced technology and amalgamation of CPU, Monitor, Mouse, and Keyboard into a single carry-able device- a laptop. These smart devices are now playing a vital role in the modern industry not only in the operational ability of enterprises but impacting consumer lifestyle too.
With smart devices contributing a major role in the organization in either the COPE or BYOD model, it becomes the responsibility of the IT administrators to ensure that the corporate assets are well secured, administered and managed as per the organizational standards in Android devices end-points. There arises a need for a reliable MDM software solution to manage organizational devices securely and virtually.
It is evident that Android smartphones are manufactured with a great amount of storage capacity and the processor ability to transfer the data files of either corporate or personal assets very easily and without any additional hardware attachments. It can become a nightmare for the company to find out their corporate data has been compromised either in the way of hacking, leakage, or unauthorized administered data transfer.
Here, the role of an MDM software solution comes into place which can allow the IT admins and the entrepreneurs to secure their managed devices endpoints with foremost security. With the authority of administration, the IT admins can perform a remote wipe as and when the organization feels are necessary as per the use cases. With additional benefits such as GPS tracking, monitoring, and managing mobile devices, MDM becomes a dependable choice for organizations for their deployed Android mobile phones.
In this article, we shall be exploring the concepts of Android Device Manager and why MDM is much more than that. Before we proceed, let’s understand what exactly is Android Device Manager first.
What is Android Device Manager?
Android Device Manager is a pre-built security application feature that helps the end-users to manage and track the Android devices in either case of lost or stolen. This security feature also enables the remote-wiping functionality in case the Android device is stolen and the fear of having the data leaked or compromised is at stake. To enable the security layer, the syncing and log-in of the google account is mandatory and the user can leverage the functionalities of Google Android Device Manager.
What is Mobile Device Management?
MDM or Mobile Device Management is the amalgamation of tools, technology, and processes that enhances the security of corporate assets, allowing to monitor, administer and secure technological devices such as laptops, phones, tablets, and other end-points used in the corporate domain. With the solution of MDM, the IT admins in the enterprise gain access to control the corporate-owned devices wherein they can deploy, authorize and administer the security policies to add a layer to their corporate critical data and derive optimum output from the employees by diverting them to business-critical operational efficiency.
Android Device Manager vs. MDM solution over and above:
With the Android Device Manager, any end-user can utilize the in-built app to locate their lost or stolen Android Device only. Alternatively, the app limits wiping the personal assets to factory data reset but with no recovery option in the future date. To elevate the security solutions further, MDM software solutions fall into additional security and authorization.
We have pointed down a few benefits one can derive from an MDM solution over and above the Android Device Manager:
Over the Air Enrollment:
With the accessibility of a reliable MDM solution such as Scalefusion, the enrollment of corporate-owned Android devices can be simplified for the IT admins even in the case of bulk enrollment and deployment. The MDM solution offers varied improved and streamlined methods to enroll the Android devices ranging from QR code scans, Email based enrollment, Zero-touch enrollment functionality and Samsung Knox enrollment as well. The configured enrollment process enables the IT admin to manage the fleet of Android devices over the air and set them at predetermined business-standard functionalities and requirements before deploying it to the employees further.
Multiple Devices, one Dashboard:
With reliable MDM software such as Scalefusion, the IT admins can manage and monitor their fleet of corporate-owned deployed Android devices through holistic visibility under a single dashboard. With the enhanced vital performance visibility, data usage, storage occupied, compliances, and certificates, they can DeepDive into the monitored and engaging interface for managing the end-points virtually.
Application Management:
To continue business operations, the desk, as well as deskless workers, are deployed with managed Android devices to engage and scoop their inputs of productivity to derive output for operations. To administer and monitor those devices with an MDM solution, it becomes a prime responsibility of the IT admins to deploy all the business-critical apps on those devices in a secured manner. With Scalefusion as an MDM solution acting as an Android Device Manager allows the admin to push, blacklist/whitelist, install/uninstall or update the mission-critical apps through the Application Manager. The IT admin can also push their in-house native app through the Enterprise Store.
Content Management:
With the Scalefusion MDM solution, the IT admins can leverage the Content Management tool to remotely push business-critical documents and media files to the ground-workers either in a selected device profile or a customized device group. The IT admin can upload, edit, publish, or delete the business content asset in the managed Android fleet devices. Also, the IT admins can further containerize the device profiles as per the departments and push media files, business resources, and other business-critical documents on selected Android devices over the air through a single console.
Customized Management of Device settings:
With the authorized access control of the managed devices through the MDM solution, the IT admins can leverage prime benefits as an Android Device Manager on their managed deployed Android device. The IT admins can prepare several device policies as per the departments in the organization and push configurations and settings customized as per the use case of each department’s need. These customized settings can range from Wi-Fi configuration, VPN accessibility, branding, and other such different settings with a single click.
Enforcing Peripheral Settings and Compliances:
There could be instances when the Android devices deployed to the remote or on-field employees with pre-determined settings set by the IT admins have been accidentally tampered with and the critical functionality of the device to continue its operational efficiency has come to a halt. These instances can relate to the installation of unauthorized malware through an app, changes in software or hardware settings which were set as per the use case scenario, etc., by the employees, contemplate the IT admins to regulate, maintain and implement a fleet of compliances and restrictions to the managed Android devices. With the MDM solution of Scalefusion, the IT admins can mitigate the occurrence of such circumstances by controlling the settings and restricting them to be unchanged through the dashboard. This ensures the security of critical corporate data as well as provides monitoring on all the managed Android devices by preventing the occurrence of misuse.
Remote Troubleshooting:
It is evident that the Android devices deployed to a huge workforce must be remotely configured by the IT admins with an MDM software solution to ensure that the devices are running as per their operational standards. If the standard IT examination of devices takes place, then the cost and time of analyzing and monitoring those managed Android devices can overage the return on investment to a huge extent. Timely monitoring and analyzing the devices ensure that the productivity expected is retained by the front-line employees. With the Scalefusion dashboard, the IT admins can monitor the Android device remotely in real-time and analyze the issue through the Scalefusion dashboard. They can then resolve and capture the recordings and screenshots to make an informed resolution for the end-users and seamlessly make the Android device functional, saving a huge chunk of IT cost.
Closing lines…
With transparent administration, enhanced security, and fleet management of bulk devices, MDM solutions have paved their way within several industries across diversified platforms. Without any second thought, it can be accepted that the MDM solutions carry more weight than the Android Device Manager for centralized inventory management of managed Android devices in an organization. With the additional leverage of increasing employee productivity and yielding optimum output, the MDM solutions have offered a decrease in IT overages by saving data costs and deploying the Android devices with predetermined standard settings as per the industry use cases for enterprises.
