Best Mobile Device Management (MDM) Software

Enterprise mobility is the catchphrase we all have been hearing for the past few years. The growing corporate dependence on mobile phones has led to the emergence of mobile device management (MDM) solutions to facilitate modern business trends.

However, allowing employees to work flexibly from anywhere using their personal mobile devices requires a certain level of strategizing and implementing the right tools and technologies. Therefore, MDM solutions play a vital role in streamlining remote operations for businesses.

What is Mobile Device Management?

Mobile device management service is the process of remotely provisioning, securing, and monitoring mobile devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones using a centralized console.

This centralized management platform is called the MDM solution or the MDM software. Powerful MDM solutions support the management of commercial, custom-built, and rugged mobile devices.

An MDM solution offers centralized management of diverse devices, irrespective of their OS or device ownership type. It is a comprehensive solution with multi-OS support to manage company-owned and BYO devices.

MDM solutions address the gaps in enterprise mobility management and allow businesses to remotely gain granular control of their devices.

Who Uses Mobile Device Management Solutions?

MDM solutions are designed for IT admins to manage countless enterprise devices remotely. System administrators or IT admins are a vital part of every business.

Even SMBs who cannot always afford an in-house IT team leverage third-party managed IT services to streamline their operations.

Mobile Device Management software simplifies the cognitive IT load. Here’s what Modern-day MDM solutions help IT admins achieve.

• Reduced on-site visits

• Wider visibility of remote devices

• Simplified inventory management

• Over-the-air device provisioning

• Enhanced data security measures

• Confidence in managing BYO devices

• Automation of redundant IT tasks

• Improved monitoring with reports, analytics, and alerts

Industry Use-Cases of Mobile Device Management

MDM solutions are designed to ease IT efforts and have widespread applications in diverse industries. Here’s how various business sectors implement MDM  solutions:

Mobile device management solutions help the hospitality sector implement tailored and secured digital kiosks to enable instant bookings and faster checkouts. Moreover, it helps improve brand awareness with creative advertisements and logos.

1. Logistics & Transportation

   Modern-day logistics and transportation businesses use diverse mobile devices to stay in touch with their fleet drivers and track their shipments in real-time.

   Mobile device management solutions help logistics businesses provide company-issued smartphones and tablets tailored for work-specific use to their drivers.

   The logistics industry is increasingly using Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) to track their shipments, record driving time, hours of service, and prevent drivers from speeding. MDM solutions help logistics businesses manage their ELDs efficiently.

2. Education

   Digital education relies on various technologies. It is common for students to use mobile devices like laptops and tablets in the classroom and at home.

   Schools and universities can ensure that their students use mobile devices and the internet safely with the help of MDM software. In addition, teachers can share assignments and learning material over the air.

   School IT admins can restrict the use of specific learning apps and websites to prevent distraction and exposure to inappropriate content. In addition, thousands of student devices can be provisioned with parental control settings within just a few hours, saving massive IT time and effort.

3. BFSI

   Security is the prime factor for the banking and finance industry. With the BFSI sector going digital, mobile security needs to be strengthened to create a secure corporate network.

   MDM solutions help the BFSI industry use extensive security configurations to secure their devices against data theft and make the business ready with public and private apps.

4. Healthcare

   Telemedicine and m-health have revolutionized the healthcare industry. Mobile devices have enabled healthcare professionals worldwide to connect with their patients remotely, saving time and improving healthcare accessibility.

   Several hospitals deploy mobile and custom devices to instantly gather patient feedback, book appointments, and download healthcare reports.

   MDM solutions help hospitals to turn commercial devices into dedicated healthcare devices by locking them in a single-app mode. This helps them keep track of all the managed devices.

   The modern world is cautious about data privacy. This is why there are several data protection laws around the world, such as HIPAA.

   MDM software helps the healthcare industry keep patient health information private and prevent data leakage.

5. Hospitality

   Hospitality involves a variety of businesses, including hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and travel. These businesses revolve around creating memorable customer experiences.

6. Retail

   Besides hospitality, another major industry that runs on excellent customer service is retail. Modern consumers expect great product quality and fast in-store service.

   MDM solutions help retail businesses to implement public-facing kiosks for efficient order placement and display of product catalog, POS, and mPOS systems for faster payment and reduced queues.

What are the Common Features of MDM Software?

With the growing use of mobile devices in the corporate world, MDM software has become indispensable. Most MDM providers offer similar core capabilities to help IT admins simplify mobile device management and keep their corporate data secure.

1. Remote Device Management

   Managing countless company and employee-owned devices belonging to diverse OS types remotely is as cumbersome as it sounds. Remote device management software like MDM helps IT admins leverage a single centralized console to manage, secure, and monitor their devices remotely.

   Onboard existing and new devices to the MDM software with zero-touch enrollment, configure corporate policies, and push them on all your devices remotely. This reduces the time and effort spent manually configuring every device individually, thus enhancing IT efficiency.

2. Application Management

   Businesses implement many public and in-house mobile apps to simplify remote work and improve employee productivity. Mobile device management helps IT admins provision countless devices with the right set of apps with minimal end-user intervention.

   Application management involves several tiny processes that eventually consume a lot of IT time.

   With MDM solutions, IT admins can restrict employees’ devices to pre-selected apps to minimize distractions, track app updates, create app configs and track app data usage remotely, and better manage mobile devices.

3. Content Management

   As the walls between physical office spaces and remote working are blurring, most businesses rely on digital documents and cloud-based storage rather than bulky paper-based documents. Mobile device management software helps businesses securely exchange files and documents of diverse formats over the air.

   With this, remotely working employees can obtain the latest updates and information from anywhere in the world. This also helps IT manage content like images, videos, and presentations on unattended devices like digital signages and kiosks.

4. Data Security

   Security threats are growing at an alarming rate. With modern-day business trends like remote working and BYOD mobile device management, corporate data has become more vulnerable to hackers.

   Securing employees’ devices with extensive data protection policies is crucial before handing them in for use. MDM solutions help IT admins configure comprehensive security policies such as VPN mandates, passcode policies, conditional email access, and data encryption to protect sensitive business data.

   In extreme cases, such as losing or stealing employees’ devices, IT admins can easily track the devices with real-time location monitoring and remotely lock and wipe them. This ensures that no unauthorized persons gain access to the confidential data stored on lost or stolen devices.

5. Compliance Monitoring

   Tracking countless devices of a distributed workforce is complicated. Mobile device management empowers IT admins with improved visibility of their inventory with the help of comprehensive reports and analytics. IT admins can configure compliance-based alerts and schedule detailed reports for predictive analysis and identifying errors at an early stage.

6. Remote Support

   Despite careful planning and extensive security configurations, technical errors cannot be ruled out. When remote employees encounter device errors, they tend to spend hours waiting for support to arrive. IT admins can overcome this challenge by offering instant remote troubleshooting via the MDM platform.

   Modern-day MDM solutions offer powerful features like remote cast and control and ITSM ticketing for faster issue resolution and minimal downtime. This can help in managing mobile devices more efficiently.

What to Look Out for in an MDM Provider

MDM providers are third-party service providers that empower businesses with a comprehensive platform to manage their enterprise mobility. Businesses can leverage an MDM solution on a subscription-based pricing model to streamline their remote device and create unified endpoint management.

There are several MDM providers in the marketplace. However, it is important for businesses to analyze their business requirements first and select an MDM solution provider that offers a feature set that aligns with their needs.

Always pick an MDM provider after thorough research. Your MDM provider must offer a clear pricing plan with no hidden setup, training, or support charges. Prefer MDM providers that offer you a free trial period with access to enterprise-grade features to try the software hands-on before investing in it.

Upcoming Trends in MDM

Enterprise mobility is experiencing a high adoption rate globally. As a result, businesses are exploring workplace flexibility to tap into newer markets.

As mobility progresses, businesses are going to need technology that caters to their dynamic needs. This is why mobile device management is evolving rapidly, with newer trends surfacing every day.

The near future of MDM involves massive adoption of the zero-trust approach, which seems promising regarding data security and preventing unauthorized access.

The zero-trust approach demands authentication from every single person, whether they belong to the organization or not. This minimizes the attack surface and reinforces corporate security.

Another MDM trend that is set to redefine the mobility space involves AI and machine learning. The use of AI to understand employees’ device usage pattern help in identifying insider threats. 

Similarly, sentiment analysis and automated reasoning enabled by AI algorithms can go a long way in optimizing public-facing devices and strengthening customer service.

AI also shows a promising role in anomaly detection and generating alerts ahead of time for enhanced quick fixes and seamless enterprise operations.

Closing Thoughts

Mobile device management is set to revolutionize how businesses work. Hence, modern IT teams consider mobile device management a crucial aspect of their IT practices.

If you have little knowledge about MDM, now would be a good time to understand it and determine which MDM solution best fits your organization that can help you manage devices securely.