Can you imagine life without your favorite mobile devices?
Most of us have a love-hate relationship with our smartphones, tablets, and laptops. While we enjoy their conveniences, we also resent the dopamine-inducing habits they promote.
But the benefits of staying connected far outweigh any disadvantages for most of us, excluding the Ron Swanson鈥檚 of the world. This sentiment is especially true for getting work done in the cloud.
Mobile devices are essential for responding to customer demands, troubleshooting departmental issues, and improving organizational processes in real time. As Gidion Peters, partner at Organize Agile, mentions regarding companies revisiting processes post-pandemic:
鈥淎gility is now more than ever. The current time of crisis is demonstrating how important it is to be able to adapt quickly.鈥�
The ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances, evolving information, and incoming data is crucial to maintaining profitability in today鈥檚 unpredictable world. The most essential tool to meet today鈥檚 time-sensitive demands? Mobile devices that allow team members to collaborate anytime and anywhere, of course.
The Importance of Mobile Device Management for Heterogeneous Environments
Unfortunately, there are significant security challenges in mobile devices when they’re left unmanaged. That鈥檚 where mobile device management (MDM) software and MDM best practices come into play.
But with so many personal operating systems in use 鈥� macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, Microsoft Windows, etc. 鈥� IT managers are now facing the challenge of customizing mobile device management solutions for heterogeneous environments.
This article will look at where we鈥檝e been, where we are now, and where we鈥檙e heading in the landscape of mobile device management in the workplace.
Traditional Premise-Based Mobile Device Management
In 1999 a new technology company launched a device with a revolutionary premise: emails on the go. didn鈥檛 take long to soar in popularity with white-collared professionals.
Software engineers released the first MDM solutions for Microsoft Windows operating systems in response shortly after. MDM refers to platforms that allow IT managers to control end-user devices to meet organizational guidelines for security configurations, specifications, and updates.
The focus on Microsoft made sense because most organizational systems, applications, files, and networks revolved around Windows OS at the time. Microsoft Windows Active Directory quickly became the de facto, premise-based platform for managing group policies, controlling user accounts, and providing centralized data management.
The Rise of Heterogeneous Environments
Unfortunately, just when IT admins started to get comfortable, a little invention called 鈥渢he smartphone鈥� turned MDM on its head. After the 2007 launch of the iPhone, consumers increasingly began to spend time on personal mobile devices.
Much to the chagrin of time-strapped IT admins, both macOS and Linux-based devices began to gain traction in the workplace. This was problematic for two reasons:
- Windows Active Directory neither supported macOS or Linux device management; and,
- Linux鈥檚 open source operating system proved exceedingly difficult to code MDM point solutions for its devices.
While configuration management tools advanced to meet these needs, they still necessitated jumping between several MDMs to fully cover heterogeneous environments. This dilemma resulted in admins abandoning macOS and Linux device management more often than not.
The Era of Remote Work
For many professionals, the silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic (if you could say there was one at all) has been the standardization of remote work. Employees from multiple industries now enjoy the freedom of working from home offices, coffee shops, and coworking spaces.
In addition, a whopping expect their workers to access business apps via personal devices. A include Windows, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS tablets and laptops 鈥� constantly switching between public and home networks.
As expected, bring your own device (BYOD) policies have created significant security headaches for unprepared organizations of all sizes.
Left to their own accord, many workers have begun using applications with known vulnerabilities, storing sensitive information on unlocked devices, and forgoing data encryption. Yikes! As you might imagine, such actions pose huge security threats to organizational data.
However, without cross-platform MDM for heterogeneous environments in place, admins remain in a tough position. For many organizations, automating crucial patches, conducting routine backups, and enforcing identity management protocols remains a pipe dream.
The Solution: Cloud-Based MDM
The key to marrying the advantages of remote work with mobile device security is cloud-based MDM. Cloud architecture streamlines the automation process by allowing IT admins to make fleet-wide configurations from a single console 鈥� without needing to physically connect.
After installing an agent to connect a device to the cloud MDM, admins maintain a high degree of remote authority. For example, say an employee loses their laptop. Upon notification from the employee, admins can lock and wipe clean the device within seconds remotely.
Cloud-based MDM also comes in handy when onboarding new users. Admins can now use the Apple Device Enrollment Program (DEP), and Apple Business Manage