This article will give you the details about Mobile device management and the costs of avoiding it.
Every company nowadays is using some form of a mobile device. Even if the company doesn’t own the devices, it is highly likely (if not certain) that staff is working on their own mobile phones or tablets some of the time. The flexibility of these devices allows companies to be more flexible and increase productivity.
However, by allowing devices to be used that are not set to meet company policies and security standards, the risk of experiencing data breach issues is high. Mobile phones get lost all of the time, people get viruses on their devices or unknowingly install malicious apps. All of this can cause issues.
One of the solutions to this is for companies to use MDM (mobile device management). However, as this kind of service costs money, some try to avoid the expense and continue to use a mostly unmanaged BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) approach. So, let’s look at what MDM does and if it is worth avoiding for a while longer:
What Does Mobile Device Management Do?
MDM software is available to those that want to manage everything themselves. However, the majority of companies don’t want to be too involved in setting up and managing tablets and phones across their workforce. For this reason, MDM as a service is a popular option. Here are some of the things that are included in a good plan:
- Assessment of company requirements
- MDM profile development
- Assistance with rolling out devices
- Training of tech team
- Ongoing support
These are of course only the basics, the service itself helps to create a custom plan for the company. MDM profiles and policies help to enforce high levels of security across the workforce devices as standard. These devices are fully configured, meaning that they are not only setup securely with remote management, but contain all of the applications to allow staff to do their jobs effectively.
What are the Potential Costs of Avoiding MDM?
Devices that are under an MDM plan are secured, encrypted, monitored and can be managed remotely. App installation and file transfers can also be controlled. Remote management and monitoring help to prevent leaked passwords, shared files, or the installation of malware by accident.
Lost devices are also less of a concern under MDM, as they can be remotely secured, tracked, and even wiped. This means that the data is safe, even when employees leave the workplace. As employees will be made aware that devices are monitored, knowing their actions are recorded tends to inspire more productivity and the avoidance of negative actions.
The potential costs to a company without this kind of protection vary with each company. However, if any customers are located in the EU, UK or other countries with strong data protection laws, penalties can be extremely high. For the EU, the “maximum fine under the GDPR is up to 4% of annual global turnover or €20 million – whichever is greater”. This means the penalty would start at 20 million Euros, should a company break those laws and the EU decide that a penalty is warranted. This doesn’t even consider the additional costs of disruption to operations, lawsuits, reputational damage, and losses in profits.
So, what do you think, is it worth the risks and possible expenses to not use MDM? If you like this article, please share it and follow WhatVwant on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for more Technical tips.