With the massive growth in the use of smartphones, it’s becoming far more challenging to control employees in what they have access to on their personal devices.
Employees aren’t always comfortable carrying two separate devices for business and personal use. Staff have come to expect equal access to work content on their mobile and laptop devices. If this is not correctly enabled, the resulting shadow IT development (the use of devices, software, applications, and services without approval from the IT department) brings far greater risk to your organisation.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
While many companies don’t allow the use of personal devices, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environments are growing at a rapid rate. It’s proven to help employees who need to get work done at home or on the go. With recent innovations in the form of Android Enterprise Work Profiles, this can be overcome without compromising the device’s security or the users’ privacy and experience.
As the past few years have demonstrated, mobility is crucial in our modern workplace going forward. Often at times work doesn’t have to be completed at the office. Applications like Teams and Zoom have enabled flexibility and can often be easier to use on a smartphone than a laptop in many situations.
However, sending an employee home with sensitive business information is always a risk. With the increased cybersecurity threat and significant development of the NCSC Cyber Essentials certification, mobile devices must be included in this program to achieve compliance.
There’s the possibility of the data being leaked, the device being stolen, or even being infected with dangerous malware such as ransomware. So, how do we control the risks and help employees to complete their tasks from anywhere with complete privacy and security?
Many IT organisations do not have the bandwidth or skills to understand the complexity of Android or Apple iOS to the extent of Windows. The risk of deploying the same levels of access to company data increases. This skills gap limits productivity and leads to parallel IT leeching data out of the protected systems.
What is Enterprise Mobility Management?
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) is the solution. EMM is software that allows businesses to allow employees to use their mobile devices securely and productively. This gives your workforce more flexibility, and it allows them to get the job done whether they‘re in the office or not.
EMM solutions address all the security concerns that businesses have when it comes to remote working. With full control over the device, the business is capable of restricting access to specific apps and data.
Rather than restricting employees from using their mobile devices, the company will instead have control over their devices. For example, the business will have the ability to wipe all data off the device in the case that it has been stolen.
There are also systems in place that can track sensitive business data, which will notify the business about data being shared with contacts outside of the company.
In addition, EMM software will also streamline the productivity of your employees. The software is used in conjunction with different profiles according to use, risk, and access within the business.
These profiles will allow the business to grant access to business-orientated and productivity applications on the employees’ smartphones, removing the distractions of other apps such as social media and instant messaging when needed and ensuring the privacy and security of the device remain intact.
How Does EMM Software Work?
The goal of EMM software is to allow staff to work on their own devices, whether that’s a smartphone, laptop, or tablet. The EMM solution makes these personal devices more secure, and it allows staff to be more productive while they’re on the go.
The software is available in different branches, but generally, the software is packaged in an enterprise mobility suite which offers various mobile management services in different degrees – all depending on the type of security and control your organisation needs.
EMM solutions essentially allows you to deliver the configurations and profiles that take this under control and at scale without overloading your team. It then brings a simple deployment of changes and updates to the estate as the target moves over time.
No software will ever be able to guarantee you complete safety from the latest trends in cybercrime. However, EMM solutions will give your business full device management at scale.
Why Do You Need EMM Software?
With the ever-increasing reliance on technology, the threat of cybercrime trails closely behind. In today’s world, there’s a higher risk of a devastating cyber attack taking place and inflicting a massive amount of damage on your businesses. Ransomware is perhaps the worst form of malware your business could encounter, and it’s becoming far more common than you might expect.
Cybercrime can cause damage to your business network, and the last thing you want is a series of setbacks that will affect your entire team’s efficiency and productivity. Often human error is the biggest risk to any organisation, whether it’s intentionally sharing information or falling victim to phishing scams.
EMM will help your business to prevent that from happening, with the ability to contain sensitive data and protect it from external threats. Having control over personal devices will give your company peace of mind while allowing your staff to have mobility and increased flexibility with the flourishing BYOD initiative.
What Are The Functions of EMM Solutions?
There are several different branches to the enterprise mobility network. Understanding what each one is and what it does is important to get the most out of your enterprise mobility suite. You can employ just one of these functions, or all of them, depending on the security needs that your business has.
Mobile Device Management (MDM)
MDM relies on an agent app (installed on an endpoint device), and server software (running in the organisation’s data centre or the cloud). The business can set different parameters, and policies, and configure different settings through the application installed on the endpoint device. The app on the endpoint device will then enforce these settings by integrating with the device’s operating system.
Mobile Application Management (MAM)
MAM works on a smaller scale than MDM. Rather than configuring settings and policies for the entire device, the administrator can set policies for specific apps, or a subset of apps. This will allow the organisation to control specific elements of the device.
Mobile Content Management (MCM)
MCM allows the business to control which applications are allowed to access and transfer company data. For example, you can prevent employees from sending sensitive business information over instant messaging apps and social media.
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
IAM allows your employees’ devices to remain user-friendly even with parameters in place. This function lets you set policies based on how, when, and where company and app data can be accessed or transferred.
What is The Evolution of EMM?
EMM solutions have been evolving as devices become smarter and gain more functionalities. With the introduction of smartphones and tablets, more control and security is needed than just the average laptop.
Unified endpoint management has been designed to allow EMM software to manage all types of endpoints. That means that any device can be managed whether it’s running iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS, or Chrome OS, and all of that is done through one single console.
The introduction of UEM means that there’s no need to invest in new software for each type of device that enters your business network, which creates an easier and more affordable solution for everyone.
What is The Difference Between MDM and EMM?
MDM, Mobile Device Management, is the foundation of EMM solutions. MDM allows the administrator (the business) to configure different profiles and settings on the endpoint device – which manages all features on the device. This can only be done if an application is installed on the endpoint device.
With the profile (application) installed on the endpoint device, the administrator can encrypt various areas of the device remotely. This will also allow them to erase all data and information from a smartphone or tablet if it has been stolen or lost, for example.
With MDM installed, the administrator can also gain insight into the device’s details such as storage, OS, configuration, settings and more. This would allow the IT department to remotely troubleshoot any issues with the device.
EMM software on the other hand manages the entire device and provides policy compliance, data and document security, as well as app customisation.
How Does Enterprise Mobility Management Software Support Remote Working?
Enterprise mobility management solutions allow you to properly manage and monitor workflow and communications within your organisation. Through the use of EMM software, you have the potential to boost internal productivity, collaboration, and high-quality communication.
Summary
Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) will help your business to keep up with the growing trend of using mobile devices such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets in your workforce.
This software will help give you peace of mind and control of these devices by ensuring that sensitive business data and information cannot fall into the wrong hands.
EMM is a comprehensive approach that includes all aspects of managing enterprise mobility including MAM, MDM, MCM, and IAM. UEM applies a coherent mechanism to integrate the management of all endpoints along with mobile devices into a single platform for ease of access and more affordable costs.
Enterprise Mobility Management Solutions with CWSI
If you’re interested in getting started with an EMM software, look no further than CWSI. We offer an extensive range of Device Management Software and Services, including Microsoft Intune, Connect & Go, and Microsoft Intune Health Check. For any further support, contact a member of our team today.
Resources
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Principles of Zero Trust Security.
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Password Based Attacks (Identity Attacks)
An identity-based attack is a cyberattack that targets and compromises the digital identity of individuals, organisations, or entities.
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