Sample Blog: What is Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)?

What is Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)?

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Enterprise Mobility Management Explained – in Plain English

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) solutions have become increasingly popular, particularly due to the rise of remote work, which has been further accelerated by COVID-19. Despite its cost-effectiveness and flexibility, however, BYOD is perceived as being too lax on the data security front, since it allows employees to use their personal smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other personal devices to access your corporate data from anywhere.

This is where Enterprise Mobility Management comes in. What is Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)? EMM refers to a set of technologies and services that secure and safeguard corporate data on employees’ mobile devices. Generally speaking, EMM services ensure data security and protect intellectual property through a variety of technologies.

EMM software can help your organization manage a wide variety of devices, particularly if your workplace operates under a BYOD policy. It can help you locate lost devices, delete data on compromised devices, and ensure security compliance by only allowing access from certain devices.

EMM primarily consists of managing the following components: Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM), Mobile Content Management (MCM), and Mobile Identity Management (MIM).

Let us now look at the risks and benefits of adopting BYOD solutions and how EMM can bolster the security of a BYOD workplace.

What are the Benefits of a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Workplace?

The main benefit of BYOD is spending less money on buying equipment for employees. This naturally means that BYOD solutions are a cost-effective choice for start-ups that expect a high turnover or have a high number of temporary and remote staff. By encouraging staff to bring in their own equipment, you will be able to save the time, money, and energy that you would have otherwise spent on replacing old models with the latest technology.

BYOD can also lead to increased productivity, since your employees will be working on devices that they are comfortable and familiar with. After all, a lot of time and energy can be wasted on learning how to use new software and hardware. Using a familiar device all the time, whether on site or remote, can thus be said to be the holy grail of productivity.

Adopting a BYOD workplace may also benefit businesses that often hold events on site, particularly if such events are open to visitors and visitors can bring their own devices for collaboration purposes.

What are the Risks of a BYOD Workplace?

As previously mentioned, one of BYOD’s biggest cons is the perceived lack of security. Without EMM, your employees’ lost mobiles, tablets, and laptops could easily end up in the wrong hands. Employees’ devices may also get contain malware and spyware that may spread throughout the workplace, putting corporate data at risk. Finally, their devices may get hacked, which may lead to your employees’ data as well as your corporate data getting compromised.

This is precisely why EMM is integral for BYOD workplaces, to protect against security threats, intellectual property infringement, and other unwelcome intrusions. EMM will keep your employees’ personal data as well as your company’s data out of the hands of third parties and organizations by providing the following services:

1. Using mobile device management (MDM) systems to track the location of all devices used for the company, including BYOD devices;

2. Controlling access by wiping integral data on devices (particularly useful when an employee leaves or loses a device) and

3. Ensuring security compliance by only allowing access to your corporate server or data from approved, trusted devices.

EMM Solutions for BYOD Workplaces

Now that we have answered the question, “What is EMM?” and have a clearer understanding of BYOD, it should now be clearer how EMM can help you achieve a secure and efficient BYOD workplace.

You should keep in mind, however, that EMM tools are not always quick to deploy. There are many questions you have to consider before buying the right EMM platform for you and your employees.

As such, you should seek assistance before you decide to approach the right EMM vendor for you. You need to look at whether the EMM platform in question can manage mobile devices in a way that will benefit your workplace.

Accordingly, you should ask yourself the following questions when purchasing EMM tools for your company:

1. What component of EMM (i.e. MAM or MCM) is the most important for my workplace?

2. Which operating systems do the EMM tools work on?

3. Does this tool provide centralized control over all company devices, including BYOD devices? Is this control apparatus easy to use and understand, or more complex than it needs to be?

4. Does my company need geofencing (which will trigger a response when and if a mobile device enters or leaves a particular designated area)?

5. Does this platform give you real-time notifications of suspicious activity?

6. Does this tool give the ability to secure data, wipe devices, and recover device data remotely?

7. Will this EMM accelerate workplace productivity?

All in all, if you have ever wanted to move to a BYOD workplace, adopting the right set of EMM tools is crucial. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about which EMM tools would work best for your workplace.