Your employees are always on the go, getting work done from home or from a flight to their next big client meeting. They couldn’t be as amazing as they are without the array of mobile devices most workers rely on. But if you don’t have policies and practices in place for your increasingly mobile employees, you could have some concerns – some as serious as security breaches, others mere inconveniences. That’s where EMM, or Enterprise Mobility Management, comes into play.
So what is EMM?
Enterprise Mobility Management is an approach to equipping employees with the secure mobile devices they need to get their work done. Whether you provide employees with smart phones and tablets or you have a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy in place, it’s important to have a management strategy for making sure workers have what they need to compute safely and in accordance with company rules.
There are multiple components to EMM, from MDM (Mobile Device Management) to MAM (Mobile Application Management). MAM deals specifically with controlling user access to enterprise applications. For example, if employees need to be able to access your customer database on the go, you’ll need to have an MAM strategy in place. MIM (Mobile Information Management) focuses on managing the applications that can access and transmit company data, particularly important in today’s cybersecurity landscape. All three branches of EMM are important and address specific areas of the mobile worker’s experience. To put it in simpler terms, every worker needs a device (MDM), access to the software needed to perform his or her job (MAM), and the ability to transmit company data using approved applications (MIM).
How do I implement EMM?
Many businesses have informal mobile device policies, which is a cause for worry. If that sounds like you, it’s time to brush up on your EMM options. Many MDM software vendors offer suites of EMM tools, so you have your pick of products. But for managers that don’t have the bandwidth to deal with rapidly changing mobile device policies, applications permissions, and security protocols, it could be in your company’s interest to find an IT services provider for your initial setup and even the ongoing management of your EMM strategy.
The worst thing you can do? Not do anything at all. As more and more employees opt to go mobile, it’s critical to have the infrastructure and policies in place to handle this transition. After all, an increasingly mobile workplace is an exciting development! Your team can now connect and collaborate from anywhere in the world, making travel or work-from-home days a non-issue. It’s up to you to make sure your business is ready to reap the benefits of enterprise mobility.
