What is an MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution?

Does your company own smartphones, mobile devices, computers or even multiple screens that need to be managed? You need an MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution to administer, manage and secure your hardware!

What is MDM?

Mobile Device Management (MDM) is the process of strengthening corporate data security by monitoring, managing and securing mobile devices in a remote and centralized way from a single interface.

The principle of Mobile Device Management emerged in the 2000s when Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) became mainstream for meeting the professional needs of some teams. It accompanied the emergence of this type of device, followed by the mass arrival of cell phones, and now all IT equipment can be managed remotely. A Mobile Device Management solution is used for device administration and to provide centralized security via a web console.

After the enrollment of each device, the administration console can easily deploy grouped applications or system updates, while also showing a quick overview of devices (inventory, status, use, etc.).

Why implement an MDM solution in your company?

An MDM solution is essential to help your company respond to challenges associated with mobility, of course. But, above all, it simplifies everyday hardware management. Implementing a Mobile Device Management solution centralizes some IT tasks while also providing security. You can configure and personalize your devices in line with your organization’s policies and standards.

An MDM solution will definitely save time (and therefore money!) for your IT department and much more. Your employees will no longer need to visit IT in person if they have a problem, not to mention the lack of productivity caused by a slow response to these problems.

An overview of your devices

Your MDM dashboard gives you an overview of your device inventory. At any time, this shows you a breakdown with the number of devices enrolled, performance, battery status and location.

Limit the use of devices to necessary functions

By configuring devices using an MDM solution, you can limit the use of each device to the applications required for professional tasks. You will just need to configure a “kiosk” to be deployed on each designated device. You can then limit access to network or system settings and configure authorized Wi-Fi networks by default or enter a VPN, etc.

Remote management

All these functions can be deployed remotely. This is one of the key advantages of an MDM solution. It means that you can update, control and monitor your devices wherever they are.

MDM also facilitates troubleshooting with a remote assistance function if required.

Security

Although mobile devices offer many advantages, they also present an increased risk in terms of company information security. MDM solutions monitor and restrict employee access to company data as required.

For example, you can define a geographical sector outside which a device should not be taken and receive an alert in the event of abnormal movement, meaning that you can take action by blocking or even resetting the device remotely.

How to implement an MDM solution

After choosing your MDM solution (in advance, on the basis of your needs analysis and your devices), the first step will be to enroll your devices (you will need to register the IMEI for them to be recognized by the system). They will then appear on the administration console and can be managed.

Devices can be managed together or by “profiles” to configure them in line with corporate use and security policies, and authorize access to internal resources solely for mobile devices whose users need to use them.