Nowadays, when the topic of location-independent work is increasingly the focus, Mobile Device Management (MDM) is of central importance.
Massively purchased devices, especially laptops, smartphones and notebooks, have given the IT departments a new range of tasks with Mobile Device Management, which also includes new IT vulnerability analysis offers.
Reasons for Mobile Device Management
Employees sometimes use a wide variety of devices for their work, and sometimes also private devices. Almost every adult has a mobile device and also uses it for work. For example, it is particularly practical to send the boss as an employee a photo of the construction site directly or to show new interested parties an exciting presentation on the tablet.
Data protection and the protection of applications must become an important issue as soon as company data has been stored on a device . Heterogeneous device landscapes or the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) concept can be managed and checked more securely using mobile device management.
Main tasks of mobile device management
The main tasks of the management are the protection of the data on the mobile devices and the secure integration into the company’s own network.
Regardless of the use of the various devices, the differentiation and configuration of business or, in some cases, private data and devices is the essential part of the mobile device management solution.
The main functionalities of MDM are:
Distribution and application of guidelines
Update and patch distribution of the operating systems and software
Provision of company applications (e-mail, data and configurations)
Inventory of hardware and software
Location of the end devices
Distribution of access rights
Remote administration of the devices (commissioning up to blocking or remote deletion)
Automatic backup of company data
Logging of all important or sensitive applications and functions
The challenges of mobile device management are complex. Therefore, the integration of various common operating systems (iOS, Android, Linux, Windows, macOS) and security functions such as encryption of the device, password protection and configuration of endpoint protection should be , basically be standard.
Compliance and regulations in mobile device management
The use and use of mobile devices must be consistently applied throughout the company and compliance rules should therefore be drawn up in advance. This is the only way to anticipate misuse and incorrect handling.
As an example, many companies technically limit the device camera through mobile device management for smartphones. The reason for this are sensitive areas that cannot be photographed in the company.