Staying in control of your I.T. can be hard enough during the dull times. But global pandemics tend to stomp on, set fire to and throw normality out the window, and replace it with all the chaos. You’re now faced with the joys of rapid staff displacement and the I.T. headaches that come with it.
You’re working from home, your team is working from home, your I.T. folks are working from home… and you’re not all roommates. How can you control and manage all the devices used on company business in this unplanned, unprecedented maelstrom of COVID-19?
I.T. just got more wiggly, because the world just got more wiggly
Your logistical problems abound: When nobody is in the office, you can’t hand them their new computer. Recruiting manager Sandeep is hiring people all over the world now, but how are you going to set them up? You’ve fired Rudi and Don (seriously, why did you hire them?), and Naomi in marketing has resigned (again), but how are you gonna get those computers back with the data secured? Your entire customer services team is at home, trying to connect to the corporate VPN with their personal laptops and smartphones, so how are you going to make sure that this gaggle of devices is secure and compliant? And, of course, Neela and her mobile sales team still need all the gizmos that’ll help them do the job, because you need them to sell, and sell fast.
Luckily, there’s a solution: a scalable Mobile Device Management (MDM) system that:
- Corrals together and consistently manages devices of every flavor used for company business, including personal smartphones and home laptops, wherever they are in the world.
- Secures every device to eliminate the risk of data theft, data loss and vengeful ex-employees.
- Gets new hires up and running quickly (and lovin’ their first day at work).
- Ensures personal devices are compliant with company security and compliance standards.
- Configures each device with the right apps and access that enable your people to do their jobs well.
- Gives you centralized real time visibility and control of your entire ragtag fleet from the comfort of your own home office/laundry room.
What’s more, MDM isn’t just for mobile devices. On-premises, heavyweight desktops double-stapled to the floor are just as accessible to the power of MDM as smartphones, tablets and laptops.
Broadly, MDM is deployed through two methods: zero-touch enrollment and conditional access. Zero-touch enrollment is generally used for new or wholly-owned corporate devices that are shipped straight from the distributor, and conditional access is used to enforce MDM on personal devices that your employees use to access work data. However, whichever method you use to deploy MDM, the result is the same..
With a properly configured and deployed MDM platform, you’ll be able to to:
1. Manage all your devices
In the Before Times, you just about had your fleet managed. You had a handle on who had which device. Dave and Rhona in I.T. were kept happily busy with configuring, securing and sending off devices for new hires or replacing broken stuff. Getting the inventory updated was next on your list.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic blew in, remote working took off, and now your network is primarily BYOD — an unholy mixture of less-than-secure devices of all breeds, service providers, operating systems, and security dispositions.
But with MDM, no device is left behind. MDM is designed to manage diverse devices in an inclusive, consistent, centralized way.
MDM allows you to:
- Mass-enroll, manage and control both company- and privately-owned devices.
- Create, customize and deploy security, access and compliance policies in accordance with your company’s standards.
- Ensure that all devices in your fleet conform to security requirements. No user can bypass security controls, even if they try really, really hard.
- Create a real-time, detailed inventory of all the devices in your fleet, including those privately-owned: you’ll have details of the user, activity, status, location, RAM, age of the device, software versions and more.
2. Secure all your devices
When your employees are geographically dispersed and trying to access work data with their personal devices, or those shared with their family, security is more likely to be compromised. Weak password composition, the ever-present risk of phishing and malware attacks, unpatched operating system versions, and uncontrolled use of removable media are only some of security threats to worry about, and that’s before you add the risk of device loss or theft that might befall your on-the-road staff.
Luckily for your sanity, MDM has security covered. It’s easily configured with security policies that protect your entire fleet, such as:
- User verification to ensure that the person accessing your company’s stuff is a real company employee and not someone who found the device in a dumpster.
- Automated drive encryption, so that if the device is lost or stolen, your data won’t be.
- Remote device locking and data wiping — handy when devices go AWOL.
- Automatic recovery key generation so that you’ll always have access to the company data on each device.
- Enforced operating system updates. If your people want to use their personal devices for work, they’re guided (politely) to configure their device with the latest operating system updates and security patches.
- Privileged access for third parties, such as outsourced payroll or consultants, who need access to your data or tools.
- Complex password enforcement, password-protected screen savers, inventory tracking, and other compliance controls that will give your SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or CMMC auditor nothing to complain about.
3. Customize all your devices
Your people have different roles, and to enable them to do their jobs effectively and happily, their I.T. needs to fit them, not the other way round. MDM allows you to customize and individualize the apps, access and resources for each person, so that they have exactly the right set of tools at their fingertips, and aren’t overwhelmed by a barrage of apps that they don’t need, or have access to data that they shouldn’t see.
For instance, your entire workforce might need access to Slack but only your software development and compliance teams need access to your AWS VPC, while only your design people should get a crack at the pricey Adobe suite. MDM’s flexibility allows you to:
- Control and manage access to sensitive company data, such as staff personal information.
- Automatically push applications and security updates in bulk across your fleet, or just to selected users.
Using MDM to pandemic-proof your fleet isn’t as complex or expensive as you might think, considering the business-wide benefits it brings. Put simply, MDM hardwires business ops with the resilience, control and flexibility that’ll stay strong long after the pandemic is over.
If MDM is something that you’d like to consider for your business, talk to us. We’d love to talk you through it, and how it would work for you. No hard sell, no obligations, because we’re not that kind of team. We’re here to help.