Blog

Written by: Rick Slawinski, Mobility Solutions Consultant

What is Managed Mobility Really?

As organizations continue to drive productivity, control costs and boost revenues, they know that work happens best when people are free to complete any task, at anytime, anywhere, on any device. Mobility makes this happen. And for mobility to work, it needs to be managed – from a security, capability, cost and control standpoint.

Managed Mobility Services
Enterprises need effective solutions to streamline how they acquire, provision and support the mobile workforce. Companies can try to manage their mobility needs internally but it requires focused resources, processes and expertise. To manage the increasingly complex issues surrounding mobility, many companies are finding that it makes more sense from a staff resource, tools, cost, and expertise basis to outsource mobility management to a provider of Managed Mobility Services (MMS).

Managed Mobility Services ensures your employees receive the correct devices and applications as well as arms your organization with tools and services to manage them throughout their lifecycle. Determining which employees receive corporate owned devices, leased devices, bring your own device (BYOD) and other variations each require considering a unique set of issues, polices and support needs. MMS provides the expertise and assistance in managing the entire mobility lifecycle for your organization – starting with ordering (procurement), configuration, deployment, support, expense management, contract cancellations, and recycling devices when employees upgrade or leave.

Here’s a quick checklist for how MMS can help you:

• Procurement:
  • Streamline device purchasing, provisioning and activation to integrate directly with your purchasing system or allow self-service access
  • Enforce your mobile policy – deploying a user specific catalog that provides access to the right people so they can select the right devices and accessories
  • Provide BYOD users streamlined, secure authorizations and service provisioning through MDM integrations, while supporting content management

• Deployment:
  • Deploy devices or upgrade users in the field by managing staging and kitting device/accessory packages, depot repair, advanced replacement and recycling
  • Leverage expertise and technology to automate device configuration and security using Apple DEP and EMM

• Help Desk Support:
  • Provide mobile expertise to support your employees in addressing daily mobility challenges regarding the devices, software and carrier issues
  • Ensure user up time with EMM/MDM enrollment for remote management, email, apps, lost and damaged phones management, and service plan/device upgrades

• Expense Management:
  • Gain visibility into communications services and assets to reduce costs and streamline operations
  • Manage data and voice pools, pinpoint mobility costs and target excessive spending by cost center and/or individual levels
  • Better manage device financing plans, program audits, payments and disputes, as well as how to allocate mobility expenses through chargebacks

• Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM)
  • Manage solutions around core processes such as technology selection, app deployment, training, documentation, security, updates and user support
  • Give employees access to the right corporate content when they need it, as well as the apps to present it and the systems to keep it current and secure
  • Enforce mobile policies to minimize risk and maintain secure systems with employee-owned devices connecting to enterprise networks

• Policy Management:
  • Assess your mobility needs, environment, risks and requirements
  • Define your mobility road map
  • Enable and enforce the mobile policy with compliance, security, visibility

• Reporting and Business Intelligence:
  • Drive better decisions with advanced analytics
  • Clear visibility into usage & cost to plan for future mobility projects

• Expertise and Consulting Support
  • Continue to evolve the program for mobile enablement and ongoing improvements

I recently participated in a webinar that will give you additional information on how managed mobility could work for you.  Click to view.

I look forward to hearing your comments or questions.