Mobile Device Management (MDM): What Are the Benefits?

You know that tracking your assets is important — so you’ve probably invested in mobile data collection devices to help you keep track of them. But if you don’t have a management system for these devices, you’re missing out on critical device information and updates necessary to gain complete visibility into the way your business operates.

In fact, information for handheld devices used to track company assets is usually tracked manually in a spreadsheet rather than through an automated central source that tracks in real time.

To gain true visibility and provide complete support for your mobile devices, you need a mobile device management (MDM) solution.

What is MDM Software?

Mobile device management is a suite of modules designed to monitor, secure, manage, and support mobile devices deployed across your enterprise — from the manufacturing floor to the warehouse to your transportation division and beyond.

You can use MDM on all types of mobile devices. Whether you want to track the location of commercial products such as mobile phones and tablets, or remotely manage industrial-grade devices like mobile computers, barcode printers, and barcode scanners — MDM delivers the solution you need.

Why Use MDM?

One of the core uses of mobile device management solutions is to measure device activity. MDM can provide you with automated key performance indicators (KPIs) to improve user productivity. To help you gain visibility and insight into the way your devices are used, MDM offers a wide variety of features, including remote device support, consistent tracking, geofencing, and the ability to deploy packages remotely.

It also promotes security and allows for device optimization based on data that reveals bottlenecks in your company. By controlling and protecting the data and configuration settings for all mobile devices in the network, MDM can reduce support costs and business risks.

Using an MDM solution will also help you secure your mobile devices from unauthorized users. Device authentication, data encryption, and certificate management are some of the features available with MDM to help you keep critical data safe. In addition, you can use the containerization feature to ensure regulatory compliance and prevent the misuse of valuable company assets.

MDM intends to optimize the functionality and security of a mobile communications network while minimizing cost and downtime so that you can improve the utilization of work resources.

An effective MDM solution should provide the following services to deliver maximum visibility:

• Remote Support: a remote help desk capability that supports a growing mobile workforce
• Location & Geofencing: ability to track company-owned devices and locate them on a map
• Monitoring & Alerts: delivers real-time alerts about usage and other device data
• Dashboard & KPIs: ability to monitor data from an online dashboard customized to your business needs
• Real-time Asset Visibility: track the status and location of all devices in real time
• Application Management: ability to download approved enterprise applications and maintain their inventory

The nature of the supply chain requires as much visibility as possible to ensure the highest levels of efficiency and output. Industrial enterprises will find that MDM delivers quick ROI by streamlining operations and improving productivity.

In mission-critical applications, every inefficiency must be removed — and the ability to track, secure, monitor, and manage your mobile assets from a centralized location is a simple and effective way to do that.

Maximizing the Value of Enterprise Mobility with Mobile Device Management

When organizations are growing their mobile workforce, device management is a cornerstone of operational effectiveness. Mobile computers, rugged tablets, barcode scanners, industrial printers, and handheld RFID readers are no longer stand-alone tools; instead, all of these are now connected assets that make inventory management, manufacturing, and logistics possible on a very large scale. These mobile devices provide high levels of connectivity, but if not properly managed, they can also become insecure and unreliable in terms of productive use at work; this is where a good Mobile Device Management (MDM) strategy comes into play to ensure that these devices will remain secure and effective for as long as possible.

This allows IT teams to forego wasting hours troubleshooting each specific device and instead leverage centralized management for visibility into performance, security policy enforcement, and uniform configuration across one hundred or potentially thousands of endpoints. Such a simplified approach minimizes the background work that is involved — enabling employees to stay productive, irrespective of their working location.

Simplify Device Deployment and Configuration

Deploying large numbers of mobile devices manually can be time-consuming and inconsistent. MDM simplifies this process by allowing administrators to configure devices remotely before they are issued to employees.

Organizations can standardize settings such as:

• Wi-Fi and network configurations.
• User permissions.
• Enterprise applications.
• Security policies.
• Device restrictions.
• Software versions.

Consistent device configurations reduce setup time while ensuring every employee begins with the same secure and optimized environment.

Improve Operational Efficiency Through Centralized Management

Centralized management gives administrators complete visibility into their mobile device fleet from a single interface. Instead of monitoring individual devices separately, IT teams can evaluate the overall health of the deployment and respond quickly when issues arise.

Some of the operational advantages include:

These capabilities reduce support costs while improving the overall reliability of enterprise mobility programs.

Strengthen Security Across Mobile Operations

Mobile devices frequently access sensitive operational information, making security a top priority. MDM helps organizations protect business data by enforcing consistent security standards across every managed device.

Common security measures include:

• Password and authentication policies.
• Data encryption.
• Remote device lock and wipe.
• Application access controls.
• Compliance monitoring.
• Certificate management.

These protections reduce the risk of unauthorized access while helping organizations meet internal security requirements and industry regulations.

Support Connected Business Processes

Often, mobile devices are the bridge between frontline workers and enterprise systems. Inventory is recorded by warehouse staff, field technicians fill out service reports, and manufacturing teams record production data via mobile devices.

MDM, coupled with technologies like barcode scanning, RFID, GPS, Bluetooth, and IoT sensors, provides a reliable protocol for devices to communicate with each other and enterprise business applications. Platforms like Sonaria come through on operational data, bringing visibility into assets and inventory, flows of work, and machines across the enterprise.

Such integration enhances collaboration, while providing real-time data-driven decision-making.

Selectively Extend Device Lifecycles and Minimize Expending

Lifecycle management is needed as enterprise mobility is a relevant capital. MDM allows organizations to proactively monitor device health, detect aging hardware, and schedule maintenance ahead of time to avoid disruptions in operations.

Organizations can do it by analyzing the trends in device performance and usage:

• Improve hardware refresh cycles.
• Reduce unexpected equipment failures.
• Improve warranty management.
• Lower repair costs.
• Increase device availability.

Lifecycle Management Optimized to Reduce Operational Disruption and Maximize Technology Return on Investment

Preparing for Future Growth

With simple expansion of operations and adoption of a larger number of mobile technologies, the connected devices multiply in size. One of the vendors listed – Enterworks has a scalable MDM solution that provides not only the necessary flexibility required to enable new users, geographies, and business applications but also helps increase management complexity.

Mobile Device Management establishes a secure and centralized platform to support enterprise mobility, by helping operators of warehouses, manufacturing facilities, transportation networks & healthcare environments – even field service personnel. By integrating remote management, security, operational visibility, and a lifecycle support service that can maximize productivity while minimizing downtime, organizations can ensure their mobile technology remains aligned with evolving operational requirements and provides dependable business value.