2020 has arrived. Most companies are striving to become digitally transformed, business applications are moving to the cloud, and day-to-day IT operations are becoming more mobile-oriented with executives using a diversified range of devices. Employees don’t just use company-provided desktops; they often work on the go with corporate-owned, personally enabled (COPE) laptops, mobile devices, and iPads; bring your own device (BYOD); etc.
With this diversity in mind, IT departments need to provide hassle-free management of both corporate and personal devices. IT administration needs to be location agnostic, provide round-the-clock services, and enable employees to use their own devices for work.
The Unified Endpoint Management approach is important for the digital transformation of enterprises.
Unified endpoint management (UEM) addresses this challenge: UEM controls all platforms, all devices in all locations, and all computers and mobile devices from a single, unified console.
Here’s why UEM is important for the digital transformation of enterprises:
1. A single, unified console for management
With a UEM solution, you can enroll all devices under a single umbrella, and manage and secure them from a single, unified console. There’s no need to deploy multiple solutions; UEM helps you accomplish client management actions, as well as enterprise mobility management actions.
2. Overcoming the challenges in device management
There are various types of mobility devices in an enterprise. A UEM solution helps overcome the challenges in handling them all, including:
Manage roaming devices remotely: Mobile devices or laptops of employees who travel can be managed by UEM solutions via a public IP address.
Devices that connect to enterprise networks remotely: UEM helps manage devices connected to enterprise networks from any location, via a VPN or even through a remote session. We’ll discuss more of these options in a future post in this blog series.
Lost or stolen devices: With a UEM solution, you can track stolen devices and enable data wipe to ensure that your data is safe.
Devices connected within the organization: All endpoints—mobile, laptops, desktops, servers, IoT, wearables, rugged devices, etc. that the organization employs—can be managed from a single UEM console.
User owned mobile devices: BYOD trends started about 4-5 years ago and are gaining prominence today. IT admins may find it challenging to allow and deny access to applications and data within the organization; UEM helps you create tailor-made policies to separate corporate and personal profiles, as well as manage confidential data accordingly.
3. The 5 “Ws” of UEM
UEM allows user-based access, authentication, and authorization that enables employees to use authorized devices and access approved applications. An IT admin’s job is easier and more efficient using UEM; they can oversee client management from a single, unified console instead of having to access multiple solutions.
Who: Who can access the endpoints—defining access privileges based on user type.
What: What devices are being used in the environment—local, remote offices, and roaming devices.
When: When the management policies need to be applied.
Where: Where are the managed devices present, aka device tracking.
Which: Which applications need to be managed, and the security configurations around these applications.
4. Endpoint management and security go hand-in-hand
Endpoint security is an inherent element in UEM. By enabling secure access to users, devices, and applications, you can eliminate security compromises. Additionally, UEM capabilities, such as single sign-on (SSO) and certificate authentication, eliminate the need for keying in credentials more than one time in a single session.
5. On-the-go management
Using UEM, you can manage devices irrespective of their physical location, which means you can monitor all security and endpoint administrative configurations from your centralized location.
We will learn more about UEM capabilities in the next post of this blog series.
