Mobile devices are quickly becoming the primary personal communication and computing platform, with broad applications for academic and government organizations. As the capabilities of these devices expand, addressing your integration, management, and security concerns is becoming more urgent. But with MDM still in its infancy, and more than 40 vendors offering a wide-variety of mobility-related solutions, it’s not always clear where to begin.

Data Networks will host a webinar to teach MDM basics to consider when developing your strategy. Below are the six elements to review:

• Security Management: Is your critical data secure as mobile devices enter your environment?
• Software Distribution: Do you have a platform to monitor apps installed on all mobile devices?
• Policy Management: Is the ability to blacklist devices and apps, send SMS and wipe devices a priority to your strategy?
• Inventory Management: Do you have a platform to view all device status, including model, unique identifier, batter status, IP addresses and the like?
• Service Management: Is it important to you to proactively monitor outages, GPS tracking and WiFi speed?
• Classroom Management: Do you want an interactive classroom between the students and teacher?

As you begin to consider these questions, you’ll quickly find that MDM fits differently in varying environments. A few vendors offer general packages to cover the six elements outlined above, but you need to ensure it meets all of your needs. Here are a few tips to help draft your strategy:

• What do you need?
• What is your purpose?
• How do you want to use mobile devices?
• Determine what features you want
  • Make a list of your must-have and like-to-have features
• Think of the big picture first – don’t just jump into a solution set

As you embark on your Mobile Device Management strategy, no one solution may be able to cover all of your requirements. An assessment with you/your team is the best approach. Data Networks is available to help you answer the questions listed above and walk you through the process of implementing your MDM strategy. Contact your local Data Networks account executive at 800-283-6387.