Importance of Mobile Device Management in Businesses

We sure do love our mobile devices. In 2018, a whopping 84% of Americans owned a smartphone and spent a daily average of 5 hours using them.

While this may sound ridiculous, it is for a good reason. Mobile devices give us unprecedented freedom and flexibility to conduct business in the office, at home, and on the go.

Modern businesses continue to rely more and more on personal devices to get the job done. To keep up with the trend, many are making mobile device management a part of their IT strategy. Read on to learn about MDM and how it can benefit your business.

What Is Mobile Device Management?

Allowing employees to use personal devices for work purposes presents a number of concerns. These concerns include security, privacy, data management, and network connectivity, among others.

Mobile device management software addresses these challenges and makes it safe to take care of business on your iPhone or laptop. Today’s MDM tools provide a variety of location-independent services to mobile end-users. These include software distribution, data protection, help desk support, and asset inventory.

How MDM Software Works

MDM software has two main parts: the agent (or client component) and the server. An MDM server can be located in either a cloud-based or on-premise data center. This server is where an IT team will configure and store their data and security protocols.

The server then sends those security protocols to the MDM agent installed on each mobile device. The agent applies them using the device’s default API. IT admins can then maintain security across an entire workforce of mobile devices—without having to do any manual upgrades.

The end result of mobile device management is an extra level of security between your business network and your team’s mobile devices. MDM allows you to manage device permissions on smartphones, tablets, computers, and IoT devices alike. MDM solutions do not rely on a specific operating system, so you can deploy them across Windows, iOS, and Android devices with ease.

Why MDM Is Important

BYOD (bring your own device) policies are gaining popularity in workplaces worldwide. They let employees access business networks and secured content on a familiar device.

A BYOD policy can lower costs, increase efficiency and morale, and reduce the need for an in-house IT team. It also increases schedule flexibility and allows for remote work.

Unfortunately, many mobile devices lack pre-installed malware and virus software. Without downloading third-party software, they are much less secure than an office PC. Without MDM, an attack on one employee’s smartphone can make your business’s data vulnerable to hackers.

Mobile device loss and theft are real and present dangers. One Kensington report estimates that there are over 70 million cell phones stolen each year and a laptop theft every 53 seconds. To make matters worse, almost 41% of data breaches from 2005-2015 occurred due to a lost mobile device.

Mobile devices can provide a huge boost in productivity and flexibility. If you want to keep your business’s network and data safe from harm, then you need to invest in MDM tools.

MDM Solutions for Your Business

Adding mobile device management to your IT strategy is a great investment in your business’s security. Sagacent’s MDM solutions use a streamlined central interface that let administrators manage and protect data across every device on your network.

To learn more about mobile device management or any of the other IT services that Sagacent provides, contact us today.

Sagacent Technologies offers technology management and support, including proactive/preventative maintenance, onsite and offsite data back-ups, network and security audits, mobility solutions, disaster planning and emergency business resumption services. The company serves clients of 10 to 150 employees within the Silicon Valley region.