More than half of businesses around the world allow it, but remote working is considered a greater risk to security by 54% of IT professionals.
Achieving a balance between employees getting remote access to everything they need and keeping devices and data protected can be difficult.
One of the best ways to do it is by implementing a Mobile Device Management system as part of the company’s security strategy.
Here are six benefits of MDM to explain why it’s so successful at keeping businesses secure.
Data encryption
MDM is usually cloud-based and offers a central data hub to keep everything up to date and store it safely.
The MDM system can assign access authority levels to individuals according to their role, and keep data hidden behind passwords.
It can encrypt the data whether it’s being used or is at rest in the system, so it’s always protected against anyone trying to intercept it.
With authentication and access logs, the MDM system can identify exactly who is accessing what and when, and block the access if necessary.
Policy enforcement
Not only do mobile device users need to adhere to the company’s policies, but the company has to enforce complete regulatory compliance.
If businesses don’t protect data according to industry specifications and local government laws, the consequences are disastrous.
An MDM system keeps track of all the devices accessing your company’s data and controls their access levels and security software, making sure that they’re being used properly at all times.
It works hand-in-hand with your mobile device fair usage policy to let people work within the limits that your business and legal regulations set out.
Automatic updates
Not keeping up with software updates is a surefire way to make devices vulnerable to attack without the latest security patches.
MDM takes it out of the hands of individual employees to install updates, pushing them remotely instead.
It enforces automatic updates and can reach all the devices on the network to apply any system changes as soon as they’re needed.
The automated system also makes enrolling new devices and configuring their security levels much more efficient, so staff can start working sooner.
Multi-device support
A Mobile Device Management platform can keep an inventory of every device registered to your network and make sure that they’re all appropriately protected.
Whether your company operates a Bring Your Own Device Policy or issues business phones and laptops, an MDM system can support the full range of devices.
It gives employees more freedom over the devices they use while taking the strain off your company’s IT department, reducing the risk of missing security issues.
The right MDM provider will be able to configure a variety of operating systems and applications regardless of the hardware.
Remote access and control
One of the biggest benefits of MDM is that it can do almost everything remotely, from tracking devices to adjusting their software.
It makes monitoring device usage and network security easier, and if there’s ever an alert then the MDM system can respond right away.
Should a device ever be lost or stolen from an employee, MDM allows you to remotely lock the device to block its access and then completely wipe the data off it.
All you’ll have to worry about then is replacing the lost device with a new one and registering it with the MDM service.
End-of-life management
Old devices running on out-of-date systems that are no longer supported pose a security threat to businesses.
MDM systems usually offer full lifecycle management for devices to take care of this, from procurement to decommissioning.
When devices no longer meet security requirements and can’t be upgraded, the MDM platform can manage the secure deactivation and wiping of each device at the end of its life and support a suitable replacement.
Whether retired devices are then refurbished or recycled, you’ll know you got your money’s worth out of them.