Separating Data from Devices facilitates Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and freedom of choice in mobile devices
I have been investigating technology that might enable a company to develop a ‘Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)’ policy or more advanced management of company owned tablets and mobile devices.
The days of one or two corporate standard mobile devices seem to be fading fast, bye-bye Blackberry market share, hello personal choice.
As I see it, the main leap forward recently in this area is to separate the data from the device.
Blackberry made huge gains in the enterprise by integrating with Exchange, allowing push email and allowing administrators to remote wipe in case of loss. The blackberry methodology allowed you to quarantine the device, modern MDM solutions allow you to quarantine the data. For example, in the case of loss I don’t need to wipe the whole device (which might not be owned by the company) I can just wipe the data and apps that belong to the company.
Corporate IT is now free from the shackles of standardized devices and users have much more flexible and personal access to IT resources.
I have included some key features to consider when selecting Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. Bear in mind that this market is moving fast and new developments are occurring all the time. I suspect the list below will become out of date fairly soon but it should provide you with a good starting point as you begin to explore your requirements.
Infrastructure
How is the solution deployed? SaaS, Appliance, Installed on Windows, MAC, Unix, on a virtual machine?
What licensing options are available, MDM solutions are commonly perpetual license or subscription
What support levels are available? e.g. 12 x 5, 24 x 7 etc.
How does the solution scale in large enterprises? multiple locations, location specific administrators, role-based administrators
What fault tolerance can be built into the system? standalone server, ability to fall-over to another server, load balancing.
How do I add new users? via a web portal? a freely available app? API, Bulk upload etc.
How do I authenticate new users on the system? Active Directory, Open Directory, Other LDAP, User Upload
Device Coverage: Android, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, Windows Desktop, Mac Desktops, Linux Desktops
Device Inventory Management: App Memory, Device History, Geolocation, Status
Integration: Apple GSX, Microsoft BPOS, Good
Certificate Features: Enterprise SCEP Integration, Local CA with SCEP, Apply Certs to Exchange, Apply Certs to VPN, Apply Certs to Wifi, Disk Encryption enforcement
LDAP Features: Dynamic Policies by LDAP Group, Dynamic Policies by LDAP OU, Dynamic Policies by LDAP Attribute, Custom Message by LDAP Attribute
The ongoing legal battle between VMware (under Broadcom ownership) and Siemens is yet another example of why ITAM goes far beyond license compliance and SAM. What might, at first glance, appear to be a licensing dispute, ...
During one of the keynotes at the FinOps X conference in San Diego, JR Storment, Executive Director of the FinOps Foundation, interviewed a senior executive from Salesforce. They discussed the idea of combining the roles of ...
I recently reported on the FinOps Foundation’s inclusion of SaaS and Datacenter in its expanded Cloud+ scope. At that time, I highlighted concerns about getting the myriad SaaS companies to supply FOCUS-compliant billing data. A couple ...
Podcast
No time to read? Want to stay up to date on the move? Subscribe to the ITAM Review podcast.
Marks & Spencer (M&S), the iconic UK retailer, recently became the latest high-profile victim of a devastating cyberattack. Fellow retailers The Co-Op and Harrods were also attacked. Recent reports suggest the rapid action at the Co-Op ...
During our Wisdom Unplugged USA event in New York in March 2025, we engaged ITAM professionals with three targeted polling questions to uncover their current thinking on Artificial Intelligence—what concerns them, where they see opportunity, and ...
In the world of ITAM, the regulatory spotlight continues to intensify, especially for financial institutions facing increasing scrutiny from regulatory bodies due to the growing importance of IT in operational resilience, service delivery, and risk management. ...
Executive Summary For ITAM teams, sustainability is a core responsibility and opportunity. Managing hardware, software, and cloud resources now comes with the ability to track, reduce, and report carbon emissions. Understanding emission scopes—from direct operational emissions ...