Everybody relies on their smart devices to do work. The coming of age of mobile devices see them swiftly replace conventional work methods. On the other hand, their very mobile nature and high user dependence makes them a juicy prey to thieves and hackers. ManageEngine brings you a list of things to consider before you choose a mobile device management solution.

1. 10 Things to consider as you
choose your mobile device
management (MDM) solution
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2. 1. Understand your business needs and
security standards
• Every industry is different in its
functioning. Defense, health care, IT,
retail, and others each have their own
security requirements.
• For example, a nation’s defense sector
will have far more protocols and security
clearance requirements when compared
with its logistics industry.
• Therefore, it is essential to be aware of
your industry's standards to ensure that
there is no ambiguity while performing
research on the available features of an
mobile device management (MDM)
solution.

3. 2. Know what’s in store while
embracing mobility
• An enterprise that decides to go mobile should be aware of the associated pros and cons.
• Let's say that your organization supports BYOD (bring your own device), which allows employees
to use their personal mobile devices to perform company-related tasks like accessing work-related
content.
• Employees would want the ability to complete routine tasks from their smartphones during their
downtime, so they can focus on mission-critical work while at their desks.
• This invariably poses a risk in the form of data leakage due to factors such as malware or device
theft.

4. 3. Understand app management and
security
• Managing mobility in organizations involves
combatting security risks concerning devices
and apps.
• Existing security awareness programs are
targeted towards desktop users.
• If an enterprise is looking to adapt to a
mobile environment, these programs have to
be revisited to focus on the usage and risks
involved with mobile devices.
• An enterprise should educate its employees
to use trusted sources and avoid suspicious
third-party sites for app downloads. It should
discourage the habit of tapping “Continue”
during app installations.
• An ideal MDM solution has features that
prevent suspicious apps from being installed.

5. 4. Segment your organization based on
level of trust
• Segments in an enterprise can be either hierarchical
or departmental.
• Regardless, certain employees might have access to
data that won't be available to others such as a taxi
service provider whose drivers require passengers'
pickup and drop-off locations.
• Their mobile devices can be provisioned to show only
this data on an app.
• However, their superiors can access further details
such as passenger email ID and age, which they can
use to make data driven decisions.
• To maintain tiered protection, top-level employees
require stronger encryption and more flexibility.

6. 5. Set policies and restrictions for
devices and apps
• An ideal MDM solution would let you push policies
onto mobile devices.
• By setting up policies, you can restrict certain device
functions.
• Consider the following situation: your company has
come up with a breakthrough product idea in a
market with no other offering that is even remotely
similar to yours.
• Your R&D team is working on materializing this
product.
• To ensure that there is not even the slightest data
leak, you need to disable data distribution by
preventing local printing or data storage.

7. 6. Identify non-compliant devices
• Jail broken and rooted devices always pose
a greater risk, because they're an easy
target for malware and cyber attacks.
• You need a system that can quarantine
devices, so threats cannot spread after
detecting malware, app risks, network
attacks, and other threats.
• Enterprise data is regularly compromised
simply because employees’ devices aren't
compliant with the enterprises' security
policies.
• An ideal MDM solution should detect
whether a device is compliant.
• It should also let you device lock or remote
wipe non-compliant devices and bar them
from your organization’s network.

8. 7. Create awareness among users
• Employees might find an MDM solution to be an invasion of their privacy. While this
isn’t true, you must take steps to ensure that there are no misconceptions regarding
user privacy invasion.
• An enterprise has to educate its employees on the need for securing mobile devices,
while also making them feel comfortable about the MDM setup.
• This can be done either by developing an end-user license agreement (EULA) or a
general acceptance agreement that is shared and signed by the employees.

9. • Reporting and auditing are common approaches for guaranteeing
compliance with regulations and organizational policies.
• In order to prove compliance, you would have to run regular audits.
Along with running regular audits, an ideal MDM solution should be
able to push secure apps and enable patching and updates for both
devices and apps to ensure that the devices are compliant.
8. Audit regularly for compliance

10. 9. Embrace new technology with a bit
of caution
• There are plenty of device manufacturers out
there, each running its own flavor of
operating system—be it Android, iOS,
Windows, Blackberry, Symbian, and others.
• Everyday, enhancements are made to devices
to make them faster, increase their storage
space, and more.
• To make sure that your employees have what
they need to be effective, you would have to
survey and study every new device
enhancement and app technology.
• Ideally, the bugs have been worked out
before spending your money.

11. 10. Deploy a good MDM solution
• In mobile device management, no single solution is one-size-fits-all.
• An MDM solution, such as ManageEngine Mobile Device Manager Plus, is customizable
to match an individual organization’s requirements.
• Many industries such as health care, retail, and IT can use MDM to their advantage
through its ability to cater to their unique needs.
• Ask your vendor to help you adopt and establish effective day‐to‐day MDM practices.

12. Want to cultivate mobility in your organization without compromising
data security?
Check out this new e-book to find out how mobile device
management can help.

13. Want to know more?
Visit: www.mobiledevicemanagerplus.com
Try it for free!
Visit: https://mdm.manageengine.com/free-trial.html