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The internet, information technology and smart devices tiptoed into diverse industries- from logistics to healthcare, education to finance, and have very quickly taken over the responsibility to completely rehaul the way these industries operated. The much-needed revamp of replacing conventional processes and methodologies has been in the making for almost a decade and IT had a LOT to do with it.
What started initially as a way to optimize cumbersome processes later became a norm of operation, especially as the world became more and more connected, and more and more digital devices took a prime space in day-to-day life.
It goes without saying that modern businesses had already implemented digital transformation in the past decade. Early on in the 2010s, most paper-pen-based transactions were a thing of the past, and from payments to record-keeping, everything was already digitalized. The influx of smartphones at work and in our personal lives further drove the digital revolution in the workplace.
Employees checking work emails on the phone? Why not!
Students having access to iPads to enhance learning? Yes please!
It worked out, and how! More and more businesses were prompted to bring in the digital ecosystem. Digitalisation and enterprise mobility existed but was not full-fledged. Certain processes and systems were still operating conventionally, although not with papers and punch cards but with desktops and physical boundaries.
However, several small and mid-size enterprises still heavily relied on data, device and network security implemented within a conventional 'office space'. Barring the exception of logistics and last-mile delivery, most of the frontline workforce was yet to undergo a massive digital transformation.
If there could be a singular catastrophic event that made the world realize the importance of a digital ecosystem (and a well-maintained one, at that) was the pandemic. When everything suddenly went fully remote, there was no option but to get ahead with the digital transformation that could sustain the ever-changing global rules, lockdowns and restrictions. For businesses to stay afloat, embracing technology that could help and boost remote operations was imperative.
According to a survey, only 6% of the employed worked primarily from home and about three-quarters of workers had never worked from home before the pandemic. These numbers changed to over one-third of the employed working from home by May 2020.
IT teams of organizations of any size could no longer physically provision devices, everything needed to be available on devices that were geographically distributed, security measures couldn't be applied on devices operating within a particular network, moreso, employees could no longer be restricted to work from a particular device – it was a now or never situation and it was safe to say that digital transformation had fully arrived.
Nonetheless, the encumbrances that prevented enterprises from going completely digital first were still present and had to be dealt with on an SOS basis. Ensuring data security, enabling a digital ecosystem to streamline access to corporate information and business resources and facilitating collaboration outside of corporate network boundaries was critical, and so was BYOD. There was no time to stop and have a change management team drive this, it had to be done now.
For enterprises with limited IT resources, this was a testing time. Moving to fully remote operations was not easy.
MDM has always been considered an essential part of digital transformation. Enterprises can effortlessly create custom usage policies, apply security measures, set compliances and attest to device and OS performance to maintain security, using an MDM. But the importance of MDM was highlighted when the IT teams had to operate remotely. Enterprises that did not invest in an MDM needed to do so, to support the demands of fully-remote operations.
With mobile device management, provisioning devices straight out-of-the-box was facilitated, enforcing VPN to access work apps could be streamlined, taking control of OS versions, identifying security vulnerabilities and applying patches was possible. Moreso, MDM enables organizations to eliminate the security risks associated with employees working remotely, and connecting to unknown, shared or public networks.
A survey suggests that 61% of Gen Y workers believe the tech tools they use in their personal lives are more effective and productive than those used in their work life. More than 60% use or want to use their personal device for work. To accommodate this critical need of enabling employees to work on the devices they love, organizations have to embrace MDM, no matter where they are in their digital transformation journey.
Mobile device management has quintessentially made remote working possible, and this kick-started the enterprise mobility journey for several organizations- big and small. Of course with the era of 'remote everything', there's no looking back and there's no question about whether or not to invest in an MDM solution, but only the question of how soon.
Sriram Kakarala is the Vice President of Products at ProMobi Technologies. He carries with him an immense experience of more than 17 years in developing mobile applications. As an engineer at heart, he has expertise in developing ingenious products from scratch. He is one of the innovative minds behind Scalefusion, an effortless mobile device and endpoint management solution for organizations.
