Deciphering EMM for Today’s Mobile Enterprise

The lines between personal and professional device-usage have blurred. This is particularly more apparent in today’s enterprise mobile world which deals with tremendous amount of users resulting in a rapidly growing form of an enterprise known as an “extended enterprise”. This “extended enterprise” means reaching out to a company’s network through mobile apps to contact employees, suppliers, partners, and, in many cases, business customers.

These mobile users are generally connected via a variety of mobile apps and mobile-extended versions of traditional enterprise apps (e.g. CRM, ERP, SCM etc.) which requires access to ever increasing amounts of corporate data. Managing or handling of such sensitive corporate data is becoming a huge challenge which organizations can address if they adopt enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions.

Decoding EMM for Your Business

Enterprise mobility management is well-suited for most growing organizations whose employees are constantly in touch with customers, partners, suppliers, freelancers and others, via their mobile devices – smartphones and tablets – and have to make use of a variety of apps to communicate or exchange information. TechTarget.com deciphers the true meaning of EMM for organizations. It explains that EMM is “an all-encompassing approach to securing and enabling employee use of smartphones and tablets. In addition to addressing security concerns, a strong EMM strategy also helps employees be more productive by providing them the tools they need to perform work-related tasks.”

Given the data explosion and security of sensitive corporate data, it is important that CIOs do have an EMM strategy in place. Also, CIOs can choose a comprehensive, flexible and highly scalable EMM solution so that it is easier for them to support diverse devices, operating systems and ownership models. With a comprehensive EMM solution, organizations can manage iOS, Android, Windows, Mac OS and BlackBerry devices from a single solution.

The reason that organizations like yours are employing Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) is to:

• Manage mobile devices, mobile apps, and PCs from one single console
• Protect information through the encryption of important files and data
• Provide users with fast, secure access to data via Single Sign On (SSO) solutions
• Utilize user behavior analytics to automatically identify unusual activity from users or devices

Best Bet for Mobile-Driven Businesses

In this era of rapidly proliferating mobile devices and the desire to create work environments that are quickly embracing “mobile-first”, “mobile-only” or “mobile-also” approach, it is critical that a robust EMM solution becomes part of the IT strategy for such mobile-driven businesses. These businesses are betting big on mobile as they assume that their future growth would rely on tapping the increasing mobile internet usage – either through apps or otherwise. An EMM system gives them the ability to sustain in the mobile-driven world.

A comScore report offers an interesting insight into how smartphones and tablets combined now account for more than 60 percent of all online traffic up from 50 percent a year ago. The mobile apps and content exchange over mobile devices for organizational purposes is, therefore, growing manifold and needs to be monitored and leveraged

Progressive Enhancement

Mobile-first does not simply mean having mobile presence. It means thinking strategically about if and how mobile functionality can enhance your product, service or user experience. It also means how the productivity of your employees can double up. EMM brings value to your mobile-first or mobile-only plans. The best example is taxi-aggregator app Uber whose entire business model is centered on mobile. Its partners and customers interact, transact through the app. Ecommerce companies, banks and insurance firms, etc. have also begun to adopt EMM solutions that can boost the productivity of their employees and partners, and at the same time, offer ease-of-use to their customers.

To take full advantage of EMM systems, organizations are advised to move beyond short-term management solutions and adopt a secure, comprehensive EMM solution designed to meet today’s challenges.

Control and Security

EMM solutions also provide you control over corporate data and security for mobile end points which are increasingly becoming attractive targets for cyber crooks and hackers. Organizations that fail to safeguard their digital assets are bound to face severe consequences, including operational disruptions, financial losses, regulatory fines, lawsuits and irreparable damage to reputation. Some examples of such attacks are Ashley Madison, Sony Pictures

Depending on the needs of the organization, a CIO can have an EMM solution designed specifically for their needs and security requirements. BlackBerry vouches for custom designed EMM solutions and pinpoints: “The need for security increases as mobile end points store more and more apps and critical data. An EMM designed from the scratch with security in mind is the most effective means of providing comprehensive risk management without getting in the way of end users.”

To simply put, as organizations adopt mobile technologies, they must also consider advanced security tools to protect them against threats and vulnerabilities.

Looking at the Future

According to Ovum’s market size and forecast report on enterprise mobility management (EMM) software which was released last year, the global EMM software market will grow nearly fourfold by 2019. This figure itself explains how organizations perceive the role of EMM for their future roadmap. Principal Analyst Richard Absalom, the author of the report, has also been quoted by TheDataDriver.com, saying, “While security concerns around bring your own device (BYOD) have so far driven this still-immature market, the opportunity for mobile enterprise apps to transform business processes is transforming this relatively niche market into a widely adopted, mainstream IT proposition.”

In short, the proliferation of user-owned devices at work and mushrooming of App-scape and business content means companies are fast running out of time to beef up their support infrastructure. These businesses will not be able to sustain if they do not gear up well in time with an EMM strategy targeted towards their employees, customers and other partners.