Ten years ago, most of us would have been ecstatic just to get a signal on our mobile phones at work. Five years ago, smartphone use at work was mostly limited to phone calls, corporate email and calendars. Today, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) programs have made our smartphones and tablets essential business tools.

Yes, times have changed.

As BYOD has taken corporate America by storm, IT managers have been scrambling to manage and monitor employee-owned devices while maintaining network security and performance. In most cases, this has placed a massive burden on the already strained shoulders of IT departments.

Enter mobile device management (MDM), defined by Gartner as “a range of products and services that enables organizations to deploy and support corporate applications to mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, possibly for personal use – enforcing policies and maintaining the desired level of IT control across multiple platforms.”

Simply put, MDM software enables organizations to manage mobile devices and deliver effective mobile solutions to employees – simply, efficiently and securely.

Hosted in the cloud or on premises, MDM tools simplify the onboarding of both company-owned and employee-owned mobile devices. Profiles can be created to provide administrators with a depth of information about each device, such as a list of installed applications, application usage data, certificates and storage capacity. Device policies are then configured so administrators can manage applications and control access to corporate data.

MDM makes it possible for organizations to monitor applications on each mobile device, as well as the data that passes through them, from a single console. This information can be remotely monitored, logged, reported, updated and reconfigured by administrators at any time. Applications can be automatically updated and patches automatically delivered to noncompliant devices.

Another critical function of MDM is the prevention of data leakage. MDM software has the ability to separate personal data from corporate data. Sensitive corporate data can then be secured in a variety of ways, including data encryption, remote data wiping, remote password updating, and the remote locking of lost or stolen devices.

Through simplified, central management and monitoring of applications and data, MDM provides end-to-end security for the organization and optimal performance for employees. Organizations can take full advantage of BYOD by empowering employees with the tools they need to be more productive without compromising network security.

Contact us and let IPC Technologies help you choose the right MDM solution for your organization.