Automate Everything You Can with Endpoint Management
Prevent Issues Before They Happen
Benefits of Endpoint Management
The best first step in supporting mobile devices and end users is to do it proactively. You can do that with a good endpoint management solution that helps you keep devices healthy wherever they are and automate routine IT processes. It's a rapidly evolving area, and there's crossover in the ways different software companies use the same terms, so it can get a little confusing. Broadly speaking, Mobile Device Management—or MDM—is typically device-centric. Enterprise Mobility Management—or EMM—is more user-centric. The latter is especially important if your organization has a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy and you need to control and secure what users have access to regardless of the device they're using.
Podcast: MDM vs. EMM: What's the Difference?
While enterprises often understand they need endpoint management, there's some confusion around what's in solutions like Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM).
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Selecting the right MDM/EMM solution for your organization boils down to what you need it to do, so don't get too hung up on what it's called. Focus on the features instead. Here are some of the things you'll likely want:
- Device Compliance – GPS tracking; monitor, update, and troubleshoot devices in real-time; detect non-compliant devices; lock or remote wipe
- Mobile management – deploy, manage, and support – push updates, new applications, backup, and restoration
- Application security – apply security restrictions, rules around data access, data downloading, sharing, etc.
- Endpoint security – mobile threat defense, identity management, antivirus, etc.
- Data protection - securing data and access to organization networks, etc.
- Manage BYOD – define policies, separate work and play (containment)
The features you require depend on the needs of your organization and benefits like efficiency and security. Here are some questions to consider:
What devices do you need to protect?
- Device type (now and in the future)
- Brand
- Operating system
Any specific capabilities?
- Restricting mobile access to certain times or geographic areas?
- Certain content management requirements?
How easy is it to use the software?
What are your application needs?
- What do you use now and plan to use in the future?
- Will you be pushing apps and updates through your endpoint management solution?
- Will you require custom-built applications?
What data needs to be protected?
- How sensitive is the data moving between devices?
- Do you have to follow specific industry rules like in healthcare or financial services?
- Will you have to have logs or other records of data movement?
Get Help
MDM and EMM platforms require specific knowledge to implement and manage. They're quite complex. Misconfigurations and mistakes can lead to significant problems for organizations. It's not an area where an internal IT team should be expected to "just figure it out"—especially as so much is riding on getting it right. You can easily get the required expertise by partnering with a managed mobile services provider that can help you pick the right solution and then aid with the implementation and management.
International Grocery Retailer Turned to Stratix to Help Manage Growing Mobile Ecosystem
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Alex explains what mobile first means and its transformative value for organizations—including significant efficiency and productivity advantages.
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Blueprint for a Modern Management and Security Strategy
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Make Your Mobile Strategy Better with a Big Picture View
Know Where Everything Is with Asset Management
Why Asset Management is so Important
While an endpoint management platform gives you a level of visibility around each device's location and its health, a comprehensive support strategy should go further to include a robust asset management component. For example, at Stratix, we leverage our proprietary itrac360 system to get all the data required to keep mobile solutions running smoothly.
Good asset management gives you a cradle-to-grave view of every device and its status—including procurement, provisioning, activation, repair, technical support history, and decommissioning. Systems like itrac360 offer a single-pane-of-glass view of all the chess pieces in your mobile environment so you can quickly see its overall health and any issues that need to be addressed. Alerts can be set up so that you're warned when something needs attention.
The data on trends, repair volumes, and asset distribution gives you key performance indicators like device effectiveness and spare pool levels. That informs purchasing decisions, drives support strategy tweaks, and gives insights on overall program success. Real-time reporting of help desk call volume, ticket status, and other pertinent information—for example—is invaluable for support management.
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Blog: How Real-time Asset Tracking Improves Mobile Device Lifecycle Management
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Mobile Asset Management: Tough and Getting Tougher
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Gaining Visibility into Mobile Assets and Performance
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Podcast
The True Cost of Mobile Technology: How Fully Understanding Your Total Cost of Ownership Can Improve ROI
Listen to Ross explain how when you have full visibility of your total costs, you can make better strategic decisions that'll bring you a higher return on your mobile technology investment.
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An Expert to Turn to Makes All the Difference
What Makes a Good Help Desk
Automation is the first step in support, but there are going to be issues that you can't automate your way out of. That's when you need channels for people to get effective help quickly and easily. Your support strategy should focus on the end-user experience and quick resolution to minimize frustration and downtime wherever possible.
Hire the Right People and Maintain Enough Capacity
The aim for help desks should be first contact resolution wherever possible. Hiring knowledgeable agents and giving them the right training is key. They need to thoroughly understand the devices and software being used along with your operating environment and workflows. At Stratix, we keep our help desk on-shore and don't outsource so that we can ensure that we have the best people available.
If you have a complex environment with multiple mobile solutions in use, then make sure the right agents are matched with the right problems. Don't leave folks on hold or transfer them around in search of the right expert. Your help desk should be staffed so you have the capacity to minimize wait times. Suppose it becomes known through your organization that calling the help desk involves long waits. In that case, people will be reluctant to call, and issues that affect productivity and the use of mobile solutions will snowball.
Use the Right Software
To efficiently handle operations, using ITSM (IT Service Management) software such as Service Now is a must. It helps manage tickets and resources and provides essential metrics around the effectiveness of your team. The platform allows you to automate and aggregate ticketing through multiple channels like phone, chat, or email. Tickets can be prioritized, and the system is even smart enough (using AI) to route problems to the agent(s) best qualified to handle them.
Track Performance
Because your help desk is so important to the success of your mobile solutions, you want to measure its effectiveness. Some key performance indicators are first contact resolution rate, Average Speed of Answer (ASA), and customer satisfaction. Follow up on resolved tickets and ask end users about their experiences and if they're happy with the solution they got. You'll learn a lot. Something else to track is agent satisfaction. Good people are hard to find, and you want to ensure that you're giving them the tools, culture, and incentives that will keep them around.
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How to Run a Great Mobile Help Desk While Keeping Costs Down
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Mobile’s Most Daunting Challenge - Support
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Data Sheet: Mobile Help Desk
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Podcast
Why a Help Desk For Mobile Makes a Difference
Learn how a help desk works, what pieces are required, and the things organizations need to consider the ensure that their employees get the right amount of support to keep them happy and productive.
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Protect Your Investment
Enterprise-scale mobile solutions are not fire and forget. They require constant care and attention to keep them running smoothly. Things are going to happen, but you want to ensure that they have as minimal an effect as possible on operations, productivity, and user experiences.
With proactive device management, asset tracking, and a skilled and effective help desk, you can achieve that.
A well-thought-out comprehensive enterprise mobility support system is your defense against unexpected and unnecessary problems that could ruin all the time and money your organization has put into its mobility strategy.
Premier LTL Carrier Enables ELD Compliance and Digital Transformation for All Fleet Operations
Learn how this leading carrier migrated from DIY device management and legacy devices to a modern managed mobile technology for its drivers.
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