Why managing mobile devices is a question of optimization as well as security
Mobile devices have become an essential part of most business technology strategies.
It no longer seems out of place to see business smartphones used in place of cards to read medical diagnostics, as digital logbooks on airplanes, or as an alternative to a card reader in a store.
But as mobile moves from being a “nice to have” to an essential business technology, it becomes increasingly important for organizations to ensure they are delivering optimal value and avoiding unnecessary risks.
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Organizations must take steps to modernize their mobile technologies to unlock the transformational power of mobile.
How have mobile devices in the enterprise changed?
It doesn’t seem that long ago that mobiles were essentially a companion tool used for basic applications like email and messaging, but these devices have quickly become critical strategic assets that have transformed the way many businesses operate.
Many mobile devices are what we consider “mission critical,” playing a key role in a business’s operations. If it fails or is compromised, the entire operation stops.
If a retailer only uses cards and uses smartphone add-ons for payments, and those devices stop working, it means the entire POS system is down. Suddenly the company can no longer make sales and profits begin to fall. Even without a complete outage, a slow and crash-prone mobile device can cause delays and cost the business money.
Ultimately, this changes the conversations businesses are having around mobile. It’s not just a question of “are our mobile devices secure?” but “do they really improve productivity and improve our business?” »
This concept is called mobile optimization where more tools are brought under the mobile umbrella and integrated, so that “management” is informed by “security” and all driven by “user experience” to ensure that no tool negatively impacts the worker, while consolidating data to enable more informed business outcomes.
To do this, organizations need to have visibility into these devices, how they are used, and how they are secured, to fully understand whether they are delivering meaningful and lasting transformation, or whether they are simply adding cost or introducing more risk.
Why are organizations struggling to optimize mobile?
The major challenge of mobile optimization is that you need to have the right data to know workforce behavior, productivity, and performance. IT management must have visibility into its mobile fleet, but it is an ingredient that is often lacking.
Organizations have invested heavily in enterprise devices, mobile applications, and mobile workflows, but many cannot determine how, when, or even if these devices are used in daily operations.
A prime example of this challenge is a healthcare organization that has deployed thousands of mobile devices. However, I soon discovered that it was unclear whether clinicians were using them effectively.
And they are not alone. This is a challenge I see in many businesses. This highlights a wider gap between investment in mobility and mobile vision.
The majority of mobility strategies still focus on purchasing hardware and providing connectivity, not understanding how mobility drives measurable business outcomes.
And this, even if they have a mobile strategy once deployed.
Why are visibility and context so important for mobile optimization?
Companies often make mobility decisions based on assumptions. Yet mobile domains have become too large, too diverse, and too operationally important to manage based solely on assumptions.
Mobile operations consolidates the data needed to assure IT that devices are in the hands of authorized users, remain properly connected, comply with business and regulatory standards, and meet acceptable risk thresholds for production use.
Large companies are going further by tracking the impact of the mobile environment on employee satisfaction and productivity across their entire device fleet.
Without real usage data, organizations cannot make decisions that reflect the reality of frontline work. Visibility allows organizations to see the big picture, while context goes a step further in explaining why these patterns exist.
Visibility and context are the foundations of mobile optimization. It allows organizations to understand not only what devices do, but why they behave the way they do, how they support business workflows, and where performance risks arise.
Without this knowledge, mobility management becomes reactive, based on assumptions rather than evidence, leaving businesses unable to fully leverage their mobile assets.
How do organizations gain the visibility and context essential to optimizing mobility?
Mobility optimization is emerging as a new area of interest; however, it should not be treated as a separate entity. Instead, it should be the driving force between integrated device management security and end-user experience.
What applications are actively used and redundant, are employees relying on the right tools for their workflows, and where the connectivity gaps are are all questions that need to be asked when it comes to security, resiliency, and regulatory compliance, as well as optimization.
Traditional approaches called “unified endpoint management” are no longer enough. Organizations need to rethink device management and truly focus on mobile-first use cases by consolidating various data signals such as device health data, network context, user behavior patterns, and application intelligence into a single mobile-first telemetry stream.
Mobile device management tools are one of the most effective ways to ensure that all devices are monitored and security policies are enforced. This gives IT teams a unified, cross-functional view of mobile risk and performance.
Once there is a single source of telemetry, the next step is to merge policy enforcement. Instead of device management enforcing one set of controls and security another, integrated environments use conditional policies that reflect both sets of requirements.
A more integrated approach that reduces conflicts and ensures users have an uninterrupted working experience. This removes blind spots and allows both teams to influence the behavior of the device, without duplicating efforts.
Visibility and context transform mobility from a fleet of managed devices into an intelligent ecosystem that can be optimized, secured, and continuously improved.
With this information, they gain the knowledge needed to deliver better user experiences, stronger security, and higher operational resilience. Without them, organizations are flying blind.
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