Enterprise Mobility

Management

Understanding The Dynamics of

Connectivity

Enterprise Mobility Management 2

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 3

Mobility Management for Business Results ............................................................................... 4

Enterprise Mobility Management ............................................................................................... 5

Feel the difference… ....................................................................................................... 5

Core Components ....................................................................................................................... 6

Mobile Device Management....................................................................................................... 6

Mobile Application Management ............................................................................................... 7

Mobile Support Management .................................................................................................... 7

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 8

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Why You Need To Read On….

Enterprise mobility is fast becoming the epitome of technological, progress that this era has seen. The

corporate sector all across the globe has engaged itself in a multi dimensional usage strategy for enterprise

mobility applications. In the face of such rapid progress, competition as well adversity, companies

constantly engage in solution based mobility applications and strategies. There is a constant pressure and

urgent need to incorporate enterprise mobility management s a core, strategic objective of a company.

Organizations today need a thorough and complete platform for enterprise mobility management (EMM)

so that there is systematic implementation of wide scale, mission focused, enterprise mobility.

“Organizations need a complete platform for enterprise mobility management (EMM) so that

there is systematic implementation of wide scale, mission focused enterprise mobility.”

This paper draws on from the insights that the company has acquired by working on various projects, as

well as through the constant quest for experience and knowledge in the field. It helps readers gain insight

into the various aspects of enterprise mobility management, and understand the nature of technological

considerations that should ideally form an important part of such an initiative.

Introduction

Approximately 6.3 billion people, (78% of the world’s total population)

own and use a mobile phone today. This remarkable statistic serves to

elucidate the fact that the world we live in today is no longer a series of

isolated nations and states. We live and work in a boundary less global

village; where there is an increasing need to stay connected and survive

in a blend of ideas and diversity.

Some time ago, the development and investment in the mobile

technology industry was sled by the belief that it was an individual

focused market that would reshape the way consumers communicated with one another and used mobile

phones for tasks that were beyond just basic communication.

However, with the ever-evolving cycles of technological progress that this industry experienced, the mobile

phone began to hold greater meaning and significance. It became a business-oriented device as well, that

would redefine the many traditional dynamics of the corporate world. With the increasing popularity of the

Enterprise Mobility Management 4

device, technological researchers explored wider avenues where it could be used, and this introduced to

the corporate world a feature that they could use in every aspect of their business processes.

Mobility Management for Business Results

The idea of enterprise mobility supporting business process to achieve better efficiency and productivity

seems highly appealing at a glance, and corporations have generally flocked to technical supporters to

incorporate the ‘in thing’ into their business models. However, irrespective of what the first impression

might be, managing enterprise mobility for corporate success is a complex and detailed process.

To begin with, there are multiple questions that company managers and key technical officers have to find

answers to, before they commence the implementation and management of their enterprise mobility

systems. These key questions include the business goals that a company sets for its enterprise mobility

infrastructure. Management by Objectives (MBO) is a technique used by almost every good company, and

the same applies for building enterprise mobility architecture. Furthermore, other key components that

need to be considered include:

The number, and nature of employees, who use their mobile devices to gain advantage of

enterprise mobility

The nature of empowerment to the devices: corporate owned devices, or personal ones?

Will the Bring Your Own Device culture become a norm in the organization or will this

implementation wait?

What core applications the company will be using for its business model and processes

The development of the applications and their maintenance

The extent to which a company’s traditional methods and mechanisms will be retained,

and carried forward in a parallel running system

Furthermore, through the insight and knowledge that the company

has gained in the market, it can be said that, unfortunately, most

companies simply consider the concept of enterprise mobility as a

mechanism where the maximum number of applications are to be

incorporated into the system. Organizations need to realize that

simply replacing an old, or traditional method for performing a

function, with a basic application, is not the true purpose of

enterprise mobility applications. These applications should be

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considered innovative tools that help a company gain competitive edge in the market, and develop

its own, customized, unique selling points (USPs) in terms of design, workforce dynamics,

integrated systems, etc.

Enterprise Mobility Management

This term simply refers to the infrastructure that a company deploys to manage its wide scale,

objective based enterprise mobility applications and systems. This is a vast array of functions,

including a specifically designed architecture to support security, operations, applications (customized

or basic) and finally, the users of the mobile devices or tablets themselves. EMM is basically used by

companies who focus on enterprise mobility as a core component of their corporate strategy. They do

not just view this as a project which has a beginning and an end, but a long term growth strategy.

Furthermore, EMM lays the foundation for companies when they deploy and manage their mobile

applications in terms of business models. EMM helps maintain the balance and control over IT

infrastructure, and users’ demands, keeping the applications and framework reliable enough.

Feel the difference…

The differentiating factor that sets EMM apart from the rest of the point approaches in the enterprise

mobility industry is the way it integrates the functional components and applications of the system. Initially

enterprise mobility began with different components functioning separately to satisfy and perform

different functions. Even today, many approaches to managing these applications and inter connected

links, actually lack the integration that is needed to customized, unique selling points (USPs) in terms of

design, workforce dynamics, integrated systems, etc

Furthermore, another level of integration is needed when companies need to merge existing systems and

infrastructures with the newer, adapted ones. EMM caters to this very need, by helping companies shift

from limited, project based approaches, to a widely integrated infrastructure.

There are various components that EMM consists of.

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Core Components

There are three basic components of an EMM system that are well integrated with each other. They are:

Mobile Device Management

Mobile Application Management

Mobile Support Management

It is not necessary that every organization adopts every one of the three components completely, at the

same time. However, an organization that wants to maintain a forward-looking, progressive approach,

assures that these five components are taken care of, in its portfolio of enterprise mobility solutions.

Mobile Device Management

The concept of enterprise mobility inherently requires a framework or infrastructure to look after the

multiple devices it houses, and the various policies that it requires. Mobile Device Management (MDM)

ensures the compliance of all these devices to the policies that are pre set in the system

An example could be the set of policies that are auto

enforced on Apple iOS devices.

Furthermore, to better understand what this component of

enterprise mobile management is, one can consider the

requirement of entering a password before using a specific

device, or deleting and adding certain data from the device,

in an enterprise mobility system, as an example.

However, one important aspect that companies need to bear in mind is that the level and extent of

compliance and enforceability is determined by the manufacturer of the particular device, and the

software. The MDM vendor cannot play a role in such functions.

There are a few key points a company must consider before using or adopting MDM. They are as follows:

The offering scale of the MDM and the difficulty level of usage

The integration with current infrastructure

The way this component will grow to help other EMM components as well

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The reason why addressing these issues is important because purchasing MDM solutions in isolation is

harmful to the long term growth of the infrastructure, and other components of the EMM framework.

Mobile Application Management

This addresses policies that are limited to the devices and Is ideal for limited pilot projects or limited

adoption plans in general. In essence, MAM is similar to MDM in that it is also related to policy

enforcement, and managing applications, but this is now limited to applications, and not devices.

MAM is an established phenomenon in the enterprise mobility industry today. However, there still exists

very little integration between MAM and MDM in companies today, although this is a very important

aspect.

Moreover, companies need to focus on the same aspects, as is the case with MDM. The same

considerations apply to MAM as well, owing to the fact that it is equally important that MAM integrates

with the other components of EMM.

Mobile Support Management

MDM and MAM are very basic and fundamental components of the EMM system. A large number of

vendors actually assert saying that these are the only two components of EMM methodology. However,

companies need to understand that these components cannot function on their own without any support

mechanism. These two components can only manage applications and devices. However, they have no

consideration when it comes to continuous maintenance and support. Furthermore, in times when the end

user of the device or the application has an issue or cannot get through to the system, these to

components cannot resolve the problem at all. A complex mechanism like enterprise mobility requires

companies to consider the support structure as well, so that the long term sustenance is possible.

Otherwise, the system would collapse or reach a dead end.

Furthermore, the reliability of the enterprise mobility system is also tied to its support structure. Employees

will learn to become accustomed to the applications and the newer approaches if they can rely on the

system in times of need. When the system is unable to resolve their issues on time because of a lack of

continuous support management, employees will realize that they cannot trust the system for their

solutions and will start showing resistance to change as well.

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Moreover, some of the major cost drivers for companies are maintenance issues. If a company pays

attention to this component of EMM in the very beginning, it will not have to constantly invest in support

expenditures and maintenance costs in the future, let alone the time required to address constantly arising

concerns.

Conclusion

Enterprise mobility management is not a means to an end, but a process. It is not a tool, or a right or wrong

answer to a company’s problems. There is no perfect or ideal enterprise mobility management mechanism

because this is a subjective issues and it differs from company to company. Small scale companies may

have varying enterprise mobility management techniques when compared to larger ones. All in all, the

corporate should realize that managing enterprise mobility solutions is as important an aspect in adopting

newer technology, as the usage of enterprise mobile applications to begin with.