Business Smartphones/Mobile Applications Technology

Are You Getting the ROI from Your MDM Solution?

Whether your company has a COPE, BYOD or a hybrid mobile device policy, management of mobile devices will always be a critical, complex, and budget-intensive task. The cost of hardware purchase, maintenance, repair, and security is added on top of the mobile device management solution to manage an army of mobile devices and address inherent risks that these devices bring to the work environment.

Though many enterprises are increasingly appreciating MDM benefits, some are wary of investing in mobile device management services for its cost. While the cost of managed mobile services may represent a short-time increase, nevertheless MDM benefits outweigh the initial investment, provided your trusted MDM solution caters to your requirements and lowers IT costs in the long run.

Let’s see what factors you should assess if you are seeking a ROI from your MDM solution.

Cost of Unmanaged Mobility

The use cases of mobility management differ across organizations. Implementing MDM is a given for organizations where employees use mobile devices to store or access sensitive enterprise information and apps and they have a well-qualified and well-staffed IT team to manage the enterprise mobility.

Some small businesses can bristle at the upfront cost of an MDM solution. Such businesses must evaluate the cost of mitigating risks without MDM. This includes:

  • Implementing control over varied devices and platforms. Most SMBs don’t buy devices for their employees, so can they really control or limit the kind of devices or OS versions that operate within the corporate boundary?
  • How would the organization ensure that there is no sensitive information on old employee devices, which are sold or discarded or given away to kids?

Cost of Security Breach and Data Loss

Data loss or theft or a security breach is and will always remain a top concern for every organization, big or small. You need to evaluate the following:

  • The risk associated with the exposure of your (or your client’s intellectual property).
  • Employees access to sensitive data through their devices. 
  • Any leakage of client’s confidential or personal information may incur huge legal penalties and obvious loss of trust and business. 
  • Estimate risks associated with malware on employee devices, which may result in the loss (or unavailability) of corporate data.
  • Also, restricting device types or platforms may curb employee freedom. And letting employees figure out how to maintain their devices can become complex and unwieldy.
  • Other problems include device overage costs, device downtime, service support and other management issues like cost of deployment and updates of corporate apps (software), which may inhibit productivity and efficiency.

MDM solutions are generally not security solutions at the core. They are rather management tools, which can give you deployment, security updates, remote wipes and precise device features.

Companies need to have some level of control to handle corporate and client assets responsibly and they need to weigh the risk exposure (mentioned above) with the cost of an MDM solution to decide if it is worth the investment.

When You Decide a MDM Solution is a Must for Your Business

If you have established that unmanaged mobility can be more expensive for your business, you must look for a MDM solution that is best suited for your needs. Some organizations may need functionalities with basic control and management options without any additional features, while large enterprises may need full-blown solutions with valuable add-ons.

Evaluating ROI for a MDM Solution for Your Business

Payment Model

MDM solutions are typically licensed as a monthly or annual subscription on a per device (or per user) basis. Pricing may vary according to organization needs, but larger organizations may see customized plans (and or priority support) based on volumes – the simpler the pricing, the better.

A good idea is to take trials to explore the options of your MDM solution and choose the features you need for significant savings based on your business requirements.

Expected Efficiency, Productivity, and Cost Benefits

A well-managed enterprise mobile device environment may reduce the overall costs per device. According to an Oxford Economics study published by Samsung, organizations are spending between $3.25 – $9 per device per month. Divide your total mobility costs by the number of devices in your organization (COPE or BYOD) to see where your average costs lie and how it fits your budget.

Other factors that need to be considered:

  • Cost of IT overhead (if any)
  • Savings on in-house mobility support
  • Comparison of current and projected (reduced) management costs

MDM Benefits that Impact ROI

Not all MDM will have the same feature set and you may not need all the capabilities offered by an MDM solution. But before investing in an MDM solution you can look for the following features:

  • Support for multiple platforms or OSes.
  • Centralized console to manage devices.
  • Separate work profiles.
  • Support for whitelisting or blacklisting apps or URLs.
  • Remote wipe or lock devices.
  • Location Tracking.
  • Secure Containerization.
  • Bulk Enrollment.
  • Reporting and Analytics.

Enterprise operating in regulated environments may need a broader set of features. Some MDM solutions like Scalefusion may also provide advanced capabilities like application and content management, kiosk lockdown support, remote cast and control, enterprise communication suite and much more. Apart from the above MDM benefits you should also look for maintenance and support the vendor offers.

Enterprise mobility is a massive and complex asset that needs proper management and investing in a strong MDM solution becomes a significant decision that can bear long-term positive results. An organization must evaluate its needs, assess the cost of management and potential security risks to determine if a solution is worth an investment.

About the author

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Sonali Datta

Sonali Datta is a lead content writer with over 9 years of writing and editing experience. As a tech-enthusiast she loves to explore varied spaces of MDM, EMM, UEM and Enterprise Mobility. She writes for Scalefusion – A full-blown Mobile Device Management solution that allows organizations to secure and manage endpoints including smartphones, tablets, laptops, rugged devices, mPOS, and digital signages, along with apps and content. It supports the management of Android, iOS and Windows 10 devices and ensures streamlined device management operations with Scalefusion InterOps. Read more of her posts at: https://blog.scalefusion.com/.