The diversity and mobility of hardware devices and an increasing trend of BYOD in any organization’s IT infrastructure makes it challenging to control devices, manage their software applications, enforce security policies, and keep an accurate inventory. The recent trend toward remote ecosystems and digital workplaces has increased the need for centralized configuration and management of these devices from a central system.
IT asset management (ITAM) solutions, coupled with different Mobile Devices Management (MDM) platforms, play a crucial role in monitoring, maintaining, and tracking of devices within an organization. Since an organization’s IT infrastructure consists of a variety of laptops, PCs, smartphones, and tablets, it is a common practice to make use of multiple MDMs to efficiently track and provision both Apple and Windows devices. Lack of strategic mobile device management solutions can reduce efficiency and productivity, and presents the following challenges:
1. Managing heterogeneous environments
Modern digital workspaces include a mix of iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, and network devices, making it increasingly difficult for IT managers to effectively track the entire landscape. Although there are several Apple MDMs and similar platforms for Windows and Android in the market, most of these are not designed for heterogeneous environments. When choosing an MDM, it’s important to consider which platform can be easily integrated with their ITAM tools and also work with different operating systems. For most small to mid-sized organizations, Kandji MDM is a natural choice to track Apple devices while larger organizations with more complex IT infrastructures might need to also leverage Cisco Meraki to track network components.
The best way to reduce your IT team’s device management workload is to choose an Apple MDM that can be seamlessly integrated with your IT asset management workflows. A robust ITAM solution will support various third-party integrations, helping streamline mobile device management setup and execution.
2. Security breaches
Since over 50% of business computing devices are mobile these days, mobile device security has become a major cybersecurity challenge. In addition, employees often download unsafe applications on their mobile devices, connect their machines to unsecured public Wi-Fi, and are not careful with password security. All these weakened access points put you at risk of exposure to security threats, rendering your sensitive information unsafe.
Although most organizations usually have security and compliance guidelines for employees and their mobile devices, lack of a mobile device management solution makes effective endpoint management a major challenge. Integrating your mobile devices with an IT asset management platform through an Apple-device MDM bridges these gaps and reduces vulnerabilities. These systems allow you to set up compliance-based notifications for common security risks, allowing your IT team to take appropriate actions in time, thereby preserving the security of your organization.
3. BYOD
According to a Cybersecurity Insiders report in 2021, 82% of the organizations use Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and 59% of businesses have a formal BYOD program in place. Although these policies are known to increase productivity and reduce overhead costs, they also make mobile device management more complex. Lack of effective BYOD protocols can create issues with governance, security, and financial aspects of device management.
Employees’ personal devices commonly do not comply with basic security requirements: for example, not being protected by a passcode, lack the most current device OS updates, or jailbroken devices that are vulnerable to malware. BYOD is not recommended in a lot of organizations due to the lack of policies regarding the management of such devices.
4. Network access control
Over the past few years, there has been an exponential increase in hybrid and remote work. As a result, network access control has increased in difficulty because they have to ensure that employees are able to safely access the organization’s network, use company data and access relevant business applications at all times. But as people log in to your network from different locations, access points, and WiFi networks, it becomes difficult to check and verify all devices that are requesting access to your network and databases. Poor mobile device management means that all these devices are not categorized for provisioning and configuration, risking your network and IT infrastructure to security breaches.
5. Migration
For growing organizations that implement multiple Android and Apple MDMs, migration can be a huge challenge. A new Kandji MDM implementation is a great fit for your organization to support a large number of Mac and iOS devices. Importing data to Kandji and then syncing it with your ITAM tool can be risky because you might lose data if the integration isn’t seamless or if the sync sessions are recurring every 24 hours.
In addition, irrespective of whether you are implementing a new MDM or are adding another one to your existing infrastructure, it is advisable to communicate all relevant protocols to your employees before starting the process.
How Kandji MDM makes Apple Device Management better
Effective management of Apple products relies on mobile device management platforms that are specifically designed for Mac and iOS devices. Kandji MDM is one of the most prominent management platforms purpose-built for Apple devices. Deploying Kandji in your organization can help you control overhead costs, improve security, streamline workflows and operations, and enhance productivity. Let’s dig deeper into core MDM functionality and how you can leverage it:
Software application management
One of the central features of an Apple MDM is software application management. As employees often leverage many different software applications across their Mac and iOS devices, from an operational standpoint it is important to centrally control access and usage of all applications. This includes administering what applications can be used, how to keep these applications running properly, when to update them, and how to retrieve usage data from them. Kandji MDM allows you to maintain a comprehensive repository of all of your organization’s Apple-based software applications. In addition, you can customize permissions to ensure that only authorized applications are being downloaded and installed by employees. These measures help you audit your application inventory and maintain compliance with your software vendors.
Accurate location tracking
Lost or stolen company-owned devices can cause serious data breaches for your organization. It represents a risk to your confidential information, as well as your customer data and brand integrity. Maintaining a database of all mobile devices in your Apple MDM helps you keep track of these devices so you can act quickly to remotely wipe data from a lost device. As an additional benefit, if you have integrated Kandji with an IT asset management solution, setting up devices’ servicing and maintenance schedules can be streamlined through use of the MDM’s continual location tracking.
Mobile device inventory database
It is crucial to maintain an accurate inventory database in order to view the ownership information, installed configurations, warranty details, vendor information, and location of mobile devices. Having an accurate catalog of device organization-owned devices gives you insights on which hardware models are preferred, the approximate lifecycle of various device classes, and other relevant details that can help you make strategic procurement decisions in the future.
BYOD
Since Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) has been on the rise over the past few years, it is important that users’ devices are properly configured and closely tracked to ensure the security of your network. Kandji allows you to create BYOD policies so your users can have a clear understanding of what data is being tracked from their personal devices and how it can be used. You can set your MDM policies in a way that ensures the tracking of users’ corporate data while still maintaining the employee’s privacy. Kandji allows the filtering of devices that employees use, to help ensure that only approved devices are allowed access to the organization’s network.
MDM and ITAM — Stronger together
Success of an IT infrastructure greatly depends upon how well its components work together. If you are using Kandji MDM to manage your Apple devices, its value can be exponentially increased when integrated with IT asset management software. Here is how this combined solution can benefit from this integration:
Improved security
With features like location history, security configuration, and access monitoring, you can accurately track and manage your Apple devices. With regular syncs between your Apple MDM and your ITAM software you can ensure that all device information is updated in a timely manner. In addition, alerts in your IT asset management software can keep you informed whenever the custody of a device changes, or an unauthorized location is detected. These measures allow you to act proactively in case of any unexpected loss or theft, helping the overall security of your devices and company data.
Enhanced productivity and cost optimization
Automated device enrollments and configurations eliminate manual data processing and greatly enhance efficiency,. which improves employee productivity, saves time, and reduces overall costs. With this integration, you can significantly improve your device provisioning process, ensuring that all deployed devices are pre-configured in advance so employees can begin work as soon as they receive an assigned device.
Regulatory compliance
Complying to your organization’s hardware and software policies is critical, from a security and auditing standpoint. While you can set up these protocols and policies in your ITAM tool through permissions, they may be implemented through a mobile device management software. Through this centralized, integrated solution, managing compliance from is simplified, allowing your team to take proactive steps to ensure that all employees are using the organization’s IT assets properly and successfully.
Read More: Streamline Your Apple Device Management with AssetSonar’s Kandji Integration
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