Mobile device management is becoming the standard for IT policy enforcement & control for the ever-more popular endpoints of tablets, smartphones, and other devices. But how does mobile device management (MDM) fit into enterprise mobility management (EMM)? What does it do and why is it helping businesses stay secure? We’ll share it all in this 2-minute read.

What is mobile device management?

Mobile device management is a process to monitor, manage, and secure mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops that are used in enterprises to access sensitive data. This can help protect your business from DDOS, ransomware or other cyber-attacks that prey on unsecured access points. As more workers access your network from home and abroad, it’s becoming critical to maintain a policy on all endpoints.

How does it work?

Mobile device management uses an MDM agent and MDM server (usually in the cloud) to configure and push out policies via the management console. The server then pushes those policies ‘over the air’ to the MDM agent on the device. The agent applies the policies to the device by communicating with application programming interfaces (APIs) built directly into the device operating system. Similarly, IT administrators can deploy applications to managed devices through the MDM server. This technology also works for bring your own device (BYOD) environments. However, you’ll need to strike a balance between security and the privacy and ownership of these guest devices.
What are the benefits of mobile device management?

The benefits of mobile device management (MDM) are significant, including:

• Remote management - By remotely managing your mobile workforce, you can always oversee all the tasks and processes and take control of devices, 24/7. This platform also ensures that your data is always secure, and it is sent to the right person at the right time.
• Remote wiping - If something were to go wrong, you can send a kill code to any device to wipe all sensitive data off it in real-time. The less time a bad actor has access to your data, the less they can do with it.
• Password enforcement - Having a secure password is the first step to protecting your data and with MDM you can make sure that the device passwords comply with your business rules.
• App rollouts and blacklisting - Sometimes cyberattacks just use resources on your devices. White and blacklisting can help prevent these kinds of unsecured apps or resource hogs to be installed on the devices used for work. That includes leisure apps like Netflix or Youtube. Plus, IT teams can quickly deploy apps to everyone at once, making it a faster and easier process.
• Cost savings - In some cases, companies will have several employees sharing one Apple ID or Google Account for app purchases. This is a disaster waiting to happen. If one employee leaves the company, their apps and their licences often leave with them. MDM allows you to assign apps and licences to devices. That way if someone leaves, you still have the assets.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you’d like to talk about what mobile device management can do for you, reach out to our helpful team at Ridgewall.