With mobile devices being such a huge driver of corporate productivity, keeping services up and running is critical. Revenue streams are quickly broken when devices act up or when employees need technical support – more than 30% of revenue is lost without working mobile devices. For mobility and IT teams, understanding the biggest challenges of mobile device management (MDM), also known as unified endpoint management (UEM), is key for avoiding costly downtime, security breaches, and productivity losses.
As a company with over 14M mobile devices under management, Tangoe’s experts agree that the biggest challenges of mobile device management are tied to complexity, security, and user experience. Here’s a closer look at where companies are struggling most across these areas and how mobility leaders can turn things around.
Challenge 1: Managing a Wide Range of Devices and Operating Systems
In what feels like the blink of an eye, companies have gone from using a single computer for work to relying on multiple devices – each serving a specific function. Today’s teams need to support a constantly evolving variety of device hardware and operating systems, from Apple and Android to Windows, Mac, and many others.
There are several steps teams can take to bring order to the chaos.
How to Bring Order to Device Chaos
- Standardize Devices When Possible
Moving from Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to corporate-owned policy can help reel in the variety of systems to manage. Company policies may limit acceptable devices to a smaller number of types, brands and options. This way, IT teams don’t have to maintain technical support expertise for every device type.
- Choose an MDM Service with Broad Compatibility
Your MMD or UEM provider should manage every type of device in your fleet, work with every UEM platform in your tech stack and integrate with your critical corporate systems. This ensures consistent management, security, and compliance across all endpoints regardless of a device’s brand or operating system. This should include support for Android, iOS, iPadOS, MacOS, TvOS, Windows10, Android for Enterprise, Google Play Store, O365, Exchange, Azure, and more – plus support for a wide range of API integrations and associated programming. A provider who can tap into your ServiceNow, Jira or other IT service management systems can deliver streamlined processes and real-time data synchronization.
- Use the Right Tools and Integrate All Systems for a Cohesive MDM Approach
Consider UEM whether you’re using the right UEM platform or platforms. As companies manage an increasing number of endpoints, the need for UEM has become essential (more on this below). According to IDC, most companies use 2-3 UEM systems in their environment – illustrating the complexity of managing multiple device types across different operating systems. Unified management here is crucial to create a single approach for administering and securing all corporate devices. But not all platforms are created equal. Often, it’s about having the right tool or tools for the job.
- Outsource Help Desk Services
Ninety percent of IT teams agree that their organization’s mobile help desk needs improvement, admitting they’re not fully prepared to offer technical support services for every system under the sun. If your team struggles with providing comprehensive mobile support, tap into help desk services from a provider versed in supporting a wider scope of devices and users around the clock and across the globe.
Challenge 2: Ensuring Security Across Diverse Devices
Whether it’s company-issued, personally owned, or part of Device-as-a-Service (DaaS), if a device is connected to your network, it poses a risk. Hackers don’t even have to hack your network or cloud anymore. Sophisticated social engineering can get credentials in seconds and have access to data minutes. Just one employee slip-up can create a serious ripple effect: malware attacks today cost an average of $83,000 per incident and data breaches result in an average global loss of $4.4M – 10% higher than last year.
Here’s how teams can tighten their grip on security across devices, regardless of ownership model:
How to Tighten Security Regardless of Ownership
1. Enforce Strong, Consistently Applied Security Policies
–Strong password and authentication policies: Nearly 80% of data breaches involve stolen or compromised credentials, with poor password practices being the main culprit (password fatigue is a growing problem among workers – many people end up using the same password across their personal and work accounts).
–Encryption policies: For devices themselves as well as their apps and data.
–Remote lock and wipe capabilities: If a device becomes lost, stolen, or otherwise compromised, IT and security teams should be able to lock it up and remove sensitive company data securely (while preserving the user’s personal data, in the case of BYOD policies).
–Multi-factor authentication: Add an extra layer of security by requiring users to provide two or more forms of verification (e.g., a password and a fingerprint or a security code sent to their phone).
–Application Security and Restrictions: Leverage UEM platforms for their ability to install company-approved applications and restrict users from downloading applications that are restricted or present an unreasonable amount of security risk.
2. Leverage AI for Proactive Defense
Almost 80% of the increase in average breach costs in 2024 was due to the cost of post-breach response activities, according to IBM. The takeaway: You need to proactively defend against breaches so they never get the chance to happen. AI is key here, enabling real-time monitoring, rapid threat detection, and automatic patch deployment across all endpoints – all while consistently maintaining regulatory compliance.
3. Make Mobile Security and Device Management One Fluid Motion
It’s not uncommon for mobility leaders to have a managed mobility service and think they’re fully protected from cybersecurity threats – but they’re not. Security leaders, meanwhile, have their Security Operations Center (SOC) but it may not be monitoring mobile threats properly. Each is operating in its own silo, creating opportunity for security gaps, operational headaches, and vulnerabilities to cyber threats.
To help solve for this, mobile endpoint managers and security teams (as well as their tools and systems) need to work in perfect synchronization. For instance, connecting UEM platforms to identity management tools, SIEMs tools, and other systems can enable better visibility into real-time threats and log reporting. Security health checks based on NIST and CIS best practices can also shift mobile security programs from a reactive to a proactive state.
Challenge 3: Balancing Usability with Compliance
Compliance across your fleet must be protected, but not at the expense of employee productivity or business continuity. Overly strict acceptable use policies or security policies can have the opposite effect, pushing people to use unauthorized apps or devices that hinder productivity and create “shadow IT” risks.
Design policies that are clear and minimally intrusive to foster compliance without sacrificing usability:
How to Foster Compliance without Sacrificing Usability
- Implement and Educate Formal Policies Defining Devices and Usage
Whether it’s an employee’s personal device they plan to use for work or a corporate-owned device they plan to order through the company, make it clear what employees can and can’t use but also what they can and can’t do with that device. Education and training are critical, so employees understand the ground rules of their acceptable use policies.
- Consider a Mobile Store to Balance Employee Convenience with Security Governance
A mobile purchasing ecommerce platform (like Tangoe’s Mobile Store) streamlines mobile procurement and order governance while keeping devices in line with all security and compliance requirements. It gives employees the opportunity to feel like they have a say in what devices they use while creating a stress-free experience for those responsible with ensuring device compliance.
- Streamline Compliance with Automated Workflows and Built-in Risk Mitigation Protocols
From procurement to lockdowns and wiping, automated workflows can be applied at every phase of a device’s life to always keep devices in compliance – often without employees noticing a thing.
For example, there’s an increasing need for tighter processes with more proof of compliance and recordkeeping. Proof of data wiping is crucial, especially in industries like financial services and healthcare with higher stakes concerning sensitive data. But you can’t just wipe a device – you need to follow specific protocols, which can be much more rigorous due to regulatory demands. Automated workflows can be applied even in the most complex cases, reducing risk while keeping employees out of the fray.
Building a Better Mobile Strategy for 2025?
If you’re in the process of rethinking corporate mobility, Tangoe can help. From reducing the cybersecurity risk of smartphones, tablets and personal computers to protecting business continuity and optimizing mobile budgets, Tangoe has a team of professionals ready to help. Contact us today.