How Can IT Keep up with Rising Enterprise Mobility Trends?

Embracing mobility strategies and providing your workers with mobile devices helps drive better efficiency and productivity. However, mobility can also place extreme pressure on your IT team. Devices need to be deployed faster. End-to-end security needs to be standard. And since you’re investing dollars now, you need to know your mobility strategy and devices will not become obsolete. Future-proofing devices is a must.

So how can IT handle these growing pressures?

There are several ways. First, using the right Mobile Device Management system (MDM) can help a lot. If you select operating systems that have excellent security features, that can also reduce the pressure on IT. You must think about buying devices that are “future-proofed” so they remain flexible and useful for years to come. The shift to the Android operating system is ideal because Android includes a host of features that will allow businesses to use them for years to come.

Mobile Device Management

A good Mobile Device Management (MDM) system has a lot of features that help IT manage even the most complex mobility strategies with hundreds or even thousands of devices. Many vendors, like our partner Zebra Technologies, also call them Enterprise Mobility Management systems (EMM). MDMs allow you to easily deploy devices, make software updates, reduce your service calls, and provide support for remote repairs.

The benefits to your organization are tremendous. With the right MDM, you can reduce your costs. You’ll eliminate the cost of having to update consoles, services, or other devices for every new feature. MDMs also reduce the level of complexity involved in managing devices. Plus, MDMs also simplify the management process. All newer Androids now integrate with MDMs, and Zebra’s devices do too.

Security

Another feature offered by Zebra that will help IT teams is the Mobility Extensions (Mx) for Android devices. Your IT is always dealing with security issues that occur daily in today’s connected world. Mx extensions harden the Android OS, making it much more secure than a consumer Android device.

The Mx extension allows IT to manage all devices from one place, so you can lock devices, wipe them clean if they are lost or stolen, and remotely stage, update, troubleshoot, and monitor statuses from afar. This enterprise-class management is done through your MDM.

While it makes security easy to manage, Mx has equal or greater features to keep devices safe. Features include government-grade encryption, device and application lockdowns, and security updates.

The Mx security lockdown feature can prevent a hacker from installing malware on a device, for example. You can’t get that same type of protection on apps purchased from the Google store. IT teams running “Corporate-Liable Devices” rely on Mx as a best practice to provide application lockdown.

Mx extensions come pre-installed and pre-packaged as an app on Zebra’s comprehensive Mobility DNA suite. Mobility DNA is a suite of enterprise applications for Android.

Future-Proofing

When you invest in a mobility strategy, you want it to pay off for years to come so you can realize a high ROI. Future-proofing your devices is a crucial component to making this happen.

While no one can predict the future with 100 percent accuracy, Strategic Systems can help protect you from making a bad investment.  We enable you to protect your investment by offering the Zebra LifeGuard for Android. This software security solution extends the life cycle of Zebra Android devices. If you purchase an Android with a consumer-grade operating system, the security support lasts for 36 months. However, with the LifeGuard for Android protection, Zebra adds years of OS security support to match the duration of how long you’ll actually be using the device. Most enterprise devices are expected to be in use for more than five years.

The LifeGuard for Android gives a lower total cost of ownership, extended security support, and security updates. It can also simplify your transitions from another OS.

Next Steps

Mobility is creating new pressures on your IT department. However, it doesn’t have to be a struggle. One easy way to lessen the burden and get optimal performance for your devices is to tap into our extensive knowledge of mobility solutions at Strategic Systems. We are a leading provider of mobility barcoding and RFID solutions.

We want to help you reduce the cost and complexity of your investments. Give us a call at 1-877-389-7255 to see how you can maximize the benefits of all technology, including learning how you can get the most from your mobility strategy so you can enhance your productivity.