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Current Trends in Mobile Device Management
Mobile Device management is a lot more than appears. It is about people, data and devices, and finally the technology. There is a new dimension to Enterprise Management– Mobile Device Management which has grown into a more comprehensive counterpart – Enterprise Mobility Management.
For the past two decades, Enterprise Management has covered lot of devices –Networking, Security, Server, Storage and Databases, through what was called ‘Configuration Management Databases’, linked with various attributes. This Enterprise Management extended with a deluge of new devices – both in terms of variety and volume – the mobile devices.
Mobile device management (MDM) is an industry term for the administration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, laptops and desktop computers. World wide revenues for the MDM market will total $1.35 billion by year-end 2014. This figure is expected to grow to over $5.7 billion by year-end 2018. This represents Mobile Device management market with an average annual growth rate of 43% over the next four years. A study by Gartner shows that more than 65% of the Enterprise will adapt MDM solutions by 2018 and the Enterprise MDM market will reach $712.4 million by the same year.
MDM is usually implemented with the use of a third party product that has management features for particular vendors of mobile devices. The software can be integrated with enterprise management software like BMC Patrol, IBM Tivoli or HP Openview.
Santosh Satam, CEO of Securbay, an Information Security Services Company based in Mumbai, says that MDM is not only about the mobile device, but will encompass more aspects of security. It would be more appropriate to call it – Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) according to some experts. Now, why is MDM itself moving away from the device? According to a study, most Enterprise managers agree that it is the data, and the integrity and security of data that is to be managed and protected. Each security lapse would cost between $10000 and $250000, as per the study. And this is due to the impact of loss of data, rather than the device itself.
Different companies do analyse the cost of Mobile Device Management in different ways, and therefore the solution-scope is different. This has evolved various service delivery models for MDM. Factors like in-house or outsourced delivery models create this variety. It is in this context, we will analyse the trends in our forthcoming series of MDM – and how it is about the management and protection of data and not the device.
Rajesh Ganesan, Product Director, Adventnet – an Enterprise management firm based in Chennai, says that mobile device management is not about managing the device, but the data in particular. However, there is a lot about the devices that influences data. Now that wearable technology is in vogue – in 2012, Google launched its Google Glasses and Samsung rolled out a smart watch, while other big tech players including Apple have launched Apple Watch recently. On the horizon are other wearables like contacts and shirts, that can adapt based on user’s needs and can help perform various tasks that a smart card or a smart phone can do. While smart phones or cards are easily identifiable, wearables through challenges on physical and IT security challenges for the enterprise.
Put in context – while BYOD and consumerization of IT is a way to increase productivity, it also brings in a new paradigm for mobile device security. A recent study by Fortinet has already found that one-eighth of the employees seeing wearables as a possibility, with more than one-third predicting that they will be affordable. So the challenge is upfront – IT security managers will have to factor wearables in their mobile security plan.
Rajesh points out that the first and obvious plan is to introduce multi-level defence. Creating ‘corporate containers’ within a general device, with both enterprise as well as application level passwords will help one level of protection. A secure container allows IT to isolate applications, disable certain functions of apps within the container and wipe information within the container without affecting user data, as well as remotely wipe devices in case of loss or theft. Most mobile devices come with native security. This security, as the statistics say, are neither uniform nor adequate. So containerization is based on a third party application. Container applications are available on Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone operating systems, with vendors like BlackBerry offering an application called Secure Work Space for both iOS and Android and BlackBerry Balance for its own BlackBerry devices. In the same vein, Samsung offers Knox, AT&T offers Toggle, and VMware offers containerization for Android from the Horizon Mobile technology in Horizon Suite.
One of the biggest benefits from an Enterprise IT point of view is that containerization allows security managers to take a singular approach and apply policies or actions heterogeneous devices like tablets, smartphones and wearables. Containerization provides the opportunity to balance security and productivity, so it is important to make the whole experience simplified and user friendly for employees.
Another factor that will eventually affect MDM solutions is big data. Most of the largely unstructured data is typically available outside the enterprise. Santosh adds, “We are looking at mostly customer and other external data sources – but linking them for enterprise becomes key. Integrating social networking identities with enterprise identities will be key for the future. The evolution of Mobile Device Management will include this – as social identities are tied with mobile identities to a large extent.”
Expenses and usage of mobile – using voice and data will have a key impact on the bottom line, if it is on a shoestring budget. Expense tracking can be done by setting limits at the device or employee role level. This calls for a large eco system management including mobile device sellers and telecom service providers with the enterprise.
Another factor – says Rajesh, “is that with Internet of things coming into the horizon for many enterprises, managing other devices and mobile devices currently have to be done as two silos. But some enterprises are in talks with technology vendors to create a single platform – integrated Enterprise mobility with other IOT management devices. Mobile devices themselves need to be monitored and they also help manage other devices.
A recent survey has indicated that 44 percent of companies opted for enterprise deployments rather than third party. No Mobile device management solution is therefore fully acceptable as a public cloud solution – less than one-eighth prefer MDM handle by a third party. Self-managed Mobile device management solutions will grow rapidly, as much as double in the next one year. The growth is less than 10% for third party deployments.
In short, it is important for most enterprise to understand that mobile device management throw different challenges to the enterprises, but the smart thing to do is to create a holistic management plan factoring MDM rather than treating them as a silo.
