Mobile Device Management is a type of security management software that is utilized by IT to monitor, manage, and secure employees’ mobile devices. With the proliferation in the use of mobile devices, there’s an ever increasing need for securing and managing organizations’ mobile workforce. This is in relation to the mushrooming malware threats and compliance regulations such as the GDPR.
IT organizations, today like never before, have seen the need for visibility into and control over mobile devices, entering the enterprise network for both employee-owned and corporate devices. Many of these organizations have now turned to Mobile Device Management Platforms to remotely manage BYOD and corporate owned devices. These companies have realized the need to secure their mobile devices, data on them and the corporate network within which they are operated.
IBM has aptly innovated in Mobile Device Management through their IBM Maas360 platform — a highly adept tool offering multi-device support including Android, iOS, MacOS and Windows devices. Device enrollment takes place Over-The-Air (OTA) with push notifications from users initiated from a centralized location.
It easily integrates with the existing infrastructure through a plug and play approach, building on existing Active Directory, LDAP and Certification Authority (CA), allowing remote configurations and deployment of device policies. It also streamlines device configuration process using SMS, email or URL, besides offering user self service through OTA. The IT personnel are automatically notified of any devices over the network and can either quarantine or approve them.
IBM Maas360 app integration capabilities for business grade apps enables productivity without compromising the integrity of mobile devices, data or networks they operate in. This enables the business to achieve both functionality and security objectives through their applications.
IBM Maas360 also leverages two operational approaches, containerized and non-containerized. The containerized approach keeps all data and access to corporate resources contained within an app in a mobile device. This approach offers the best protection for sensitive data and is mostly used by large companies such as financial institutions and government agencies. The non-containerized approach is liked because it offers a more seamless and fluid user experience on mobile devices by relying on pushing policies to the native OS for controlling mobile devices. The approach by IBM Maas360 to use both containerized and non-containerized capabilities offers greater flexibility for clients in terms deployment.
Policy management is also an important facet for IBM Maas360 enabling organizations to make granular changes to mobile devices whenever they need to limit certain features. It provides the ability to push policy features on mobile devices such as wiping devices remotely when the need occurs, for instance when a device is lost or stolen.
Mobile device security and compliance is achieved through proactively safeguarding devices with robust security and compliance controls, and continuous monitoring to alert for compromised and vulnerable devices. This includes enabling pass code policies, protecting the most sensitive data through encryption, selectively wiping devices and enforcing geolocation based policies by notifying when a device is out of a geofenced location.
Moreover, it also offers a unified management console for all mobile devices with centralized policy and control across multiple platforms. One can easily see all devices in the enterprise network, and can view vulnerability and configuration details as well as update configuration settings.
Maas360 multiplatform compatibility, simple OTA enrollment, mobile device security, compliance and unified management make Maas360, popular for companies across a broad spectrum.
In conclusion, Mobile Device Management helps organizations to safeguard their networks from threats that result from use of these mobile devices. As a result, the border-less network topology of mobile phones and the Bring Your Own Device menace will not result in as much risk to the enterprise in the foreseeable future. Organizations should embrace mobile device management platforms such as IBM Maas360 for assured security both on-premise and in the cloud.
Works Cited
Comtact. (n.d.). google-device-policy-vs-ibm-maas360-mobile-device-management-worlds-apart. Retrieved from comtact.co.uk/blog: https://www.comtact.co.uk/blog/google-device-policy-vs-ibm-maas360-mobile-device-management-worlds-apart
Mathew Pascucci. (n.d.). Comparing-the-best-mobile-device-management-products. Retrieved from searchsecurity.techtarget.com: https://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/feature/Comparing-the-best-mobile-device-management-products
Mobile-device-management/Maas360-mobile-device-management. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.itforce.ie/: https://www.itforce.ie/it-solutions/enterprise-it-mobility/mobile-device-management/maas360-mobile-device-management