Enterprise Mobility Management

Enterprise mobility management (EMM) is the set of people, processes and technology focused on managing mobile devices, wireless networks, and other mobile computing services in a business context. As more workers have bought smartphone and tablet computing devices and have sought support for using these devices in the workplace, EMM has become increasingly significant. The goal of EMM is to determine if and how available mobile IT should be integrated with work processes and objectives, and how to support workers when they are using these devices in the workplace. Because mobile devices are easily lost or stolen, data on those devices is vulnerable. Enterprise mobility management is a set of systems intended to prevent unauthorized access to enterprise applications and/or corporate data on mobile devices. These can include password protection, encryption and/or remote wipe technology, which allows an administrator to delete all data from a misplaced device. With many systems, security policies can be centrally managed and enforced. Such device management systems are programmed to support and cooperate with the application programming interfaces (APIs) from various device makers to increase security compliance. EMM grew out of mobile device management (MDM), which focused solely on device-level control and security. After Microsoft's 2015 release of Windows 10, most EMM software providers expanded into unified endpoint management (UEM), which allows IT to manage PCs and mobile devices through a single console. EMM typically involves some combination of MDM, mobile application management (MAM), mobile content management (MCM) and identity and access management. These four technologies started off as individual products, but they are increasingly available through larger EMM software suites.

MDM is the foundation of any enterprise mobility suite. It relies on the combination of an agent app, which is installed on an endpoint device, and server software running in the corporate data center or in the cloud. Administrators use the MDM server's management console to set policies and configure settings, and the agent enforces these policies and configures these settings by integrating with APIs built into mobile operating systems. MAM provides more granular management and security. It allows admins to set policies for a specific app or subset of apps, rather than for the whole device. Some apps have specific MAM APIs built in, while others rely on the device-level MAM APIs in most major mobile operating systems. With MCM, only approved applications may access or transmit corporate data. And identity and access management controls how, when and where workers may use corporate apps and data, while also offering some user-friendly features, such as single sign-on. These technologies all address specific concerns, and the overlap between MDM, MAM and MCM is quite minimal. As more organizations embraced enterprise mobility, vendors started to productize EMM, usually by adding MAM or MCM features to their MDM products. An enterprise app store or other self-service portal for application delivery and deployment is also a common component of EMM software.

Microsoft built MDM APIs into Windows 10, which opened the door for EMM software to manage PCs in the same way it manages smartphones and tablets. Apple also allows its macOS desktops and laptops to be managed in this fashion. All major EMM vendors support this functionality, marking a market shift from EMM to UEM. In 2017, Gartner named four leaders -- VMware, MobileIron, IBM and BlackBerry -- in its Magic Quadrant, which ranks vendors according to their completeness of vision and ability to execute on that vision. IDC, which ranks vendors based on their capabilities and strategies, named VMware, MobileIron, BlackBerry, IBM and Citrix as leaders. Enterprise mobility management (EMM) is a growing force as the modern workforce becomes increasingly dependent on personal and enterprise mobile devices. MEP Digital Systems provides a solid EMM platform, as well as show you how to build a solid business case for EMM. We assess and evaluate the key features a solid EMM platform should possess and how to compare the leading options on the market for you. Lastly, we are certified associates of the leading EMM providers on the market.

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