There are several studies out there about the state of today’s IT teams, many of which point to this singular fact: they’re burned out.
It’s been a common complaint for the last few years, and even more pronounced since the pandemic. Not only are their typical workloads overwhelming IT teams (in fact, it’s the #2 reason for burnout according to Blind’s 2018 study), but as markets become more competitive, they’re being tasked with strategic initiatives and future growth projects, too. To make matters worse, they’re being asked to “do more with less,” since budgets aren’t always scaled to meet this growing demand on resources.
One obvious solution is to take some of the work off their plates and delegate it to those more ideally suited to it. For the growing number of organizations that leverage mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, and/or laptops) to track assets, that work is mobile device management (or MDM).
MDM, a set of tools and processes used to manage mobility programs, is ongoing throughout device lifecycles, from initial setup through end-of-life and all points in between. As an example of the breadth of activities that are part of MDM, here are just a few of the things Barcoding does for its customers:
- hardware inspections
- software loading
- device activations
- QA inspections
- staging/kitting
- configuration
- system and unit testing
- network installations
- user training
- service desk support/case management
- spare pool management
- next-day replacement
- failed device repair/replacement
- ...and several others
It’s all necessary work, and managing it all takes time—time IT departments could be spending on more urgent and higher-level priority work. Using the right mobile device management software for your needs, an MDM partner will monitor, manage, and ensure the security of mobile devices, and optimize the performance and value of the system as a whole.
Here are just a few things your IT will love most about partnering with an MDM provider:
- Peace of mind. A mobility program and the infrastructure that’s part of it requires constant monitoring: every day, every hour, every minute. And the more devices you put in the hands of your team, the more time-consuming it can be. If your IT department were to be charged with overseeing it all, they’d be required to be on call 24/7, 365...but with an MDM partner at your side, your team has access from anywhere, at any time, to expert resolution. No more “break/fix” approach, where devices aren’t addressed until there’s something (and potentially something costly) to fix.
- Reduced downtime. Real-time monitoring ensures optimum performance of the system, and it also boosts uptime. Monitoring is essentially an act of preventive maintenance, if you will, because it’s a proactive, ongoing assessment of the health of the devices and system, and can trigger intervention before a small issue becomes a bigger (and costly) one. Automating management of your mobility program, especially when you have multiple devices (and multiple devices across different locations), eliminates human error and the time it takes to resolve those mistakes, and significantly reduces the need (and time) for them to be involved in ensuring optimum mobile program performance.
- Improved security. Your IT team is charged with ensuring the security of your organization’s entire network and its data, so this MDM benefit is huge to them. Unmanaged (or improperly managed) mobile devices pose a number of very serious cybersecurity risks, some of which could cause your customers’ data to be breached, too. MDM mitigates these risks with:
- Security patches. These critical updates, which are done automatically through the MDM software, are required in order to minimize the chances of a data breach and are deployed as soon as the patches become available
- Real-time monitoring and data. You’ll always know which devices are in use (and by whom), how they’re being used, and if at any time they’re vulnerable to risks so that steps can be taken to further protect them
- Locking and remote wiping. When an employee leaves the company, devices can immediately be locked and all business-related information removed from the device to protect data from misuse, all remotely
As you can see, the best place for your MDM is with those who can devote the time, resources, and expertise to it, at every step in the process. Entrusting your mobility management to an experienced partner is the best way to alleviate the strain on IT resources, but it goes beyond just the stress. It also gives you a higher level of confidence that your program is always at peak performance and secured from threats that could compromise your business.
If you’d like to learn more about outsourcing your mobile device management and how it compares to doing it all in-house by downloading our infographic, MDM: DIY or Outsource now!
