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Introduction to enterprise mobile strategy
The number of mobile devices in use worldwide continues to skyrocket so it’s no surprise that the management of mobile devices becomes more critical than ever. From asset management to security, and financial concerns – IT leaders have a lot to think about.
Here are some key questions to ask as you develop your mobile device strategy:
- Who owns the device?
- Who is responsible for maintaining the device?
- Who’s paying the bill?
- Who owns the data?
- Who owns the phone number assigned to the device?
With answers to these questions, your organization can review your strategy and make sure their approach is the right one — meaning that it aligns with business needs, organizational policies, culture, budget, IT and staff resources, and other considerations.
Today, CIOs and enterprise leaders are faced with deciding which mobile device strategy and infrastructure best suit their business:
- Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
- Choose Your Own Device (CYOD)
- Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled (COPE)
- Corporate Owned, Business Only (COBO)
Top 4 mobile device strategies
#1 – BYOD
Bring your own device (BYOD) is a popular approach. In fact, research from Gartner indicates that 90 percent of organizations around the globe will leverage BYOD (mainly due to BYOD being more successful for smaller businesses, which account for the majority of companies). In a BYOD system, employees use their own devices, choose their own carriers, and are responsible for paying their own bills. In most cases, the company then reimburses the employee through a monthly stipend.
Benefits:
- Higher employee satisfaction
- Increased productivity
- Little to no hardware costs
Drawbacks:
- Security concerns
- Compatibility issues
- Stretched resources
- Hidden Costs
#2 – COBO
The complete opposite of BYOD is a Corporate Owned Business Only (COBO) strategy. This gives the IT department and business complete control. An employee receives a company-owned and issued device for only company and work-related use. This completely removes the user’s ability to use one device for work and personal applications. This also takes control one step further from CYOD and COPE strategies (mentioned below), perhaps acknowledging their inability to keep personal and corporate data separate.
Benefits:
- Complete security control
- Operational efficiency
- Cost savings
- Complete control over corporate data
Drawbacks:
- Learning curve
- Innovation
- Low employee satisfaction
#3 – COPE
The flip side of COBO, Company Owned Personally Enabled (COPE), creates something of a compromise in which employees are supplied a phone chosen and paid for by the company primarily for business use, but allows for personal use such as voice calls, texting, personal email, and other applications. The company can decide how many choices and freedom employees get, which can be a powerful tool in supporting mobile expense management.
Benefits:
- Security control
- Operational efficiency
- Mobile expense management
- Complete control over corporate data
Drawbacks:
- Corporate responsibility
- Keeping on top of upgraded technology
- User privacy
- Employee satisfaction
#4 – CYOD
With IT departments struggling to support literally any device a user brought in a BYOD system, some companies have shifted to a more hybrid controlled approach called Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) which limits the user’s choices to those devices specified by the company. In some cases, specific models were made available for “power users” such as a sales team member or an executive. Others can be made available for people with fewer requirements. While efforts are made to provide multiple selections, this was far more limiting for the employee and far more manageable for the IT department.
Benefits:
- Security control
- Operational efficiency
- Cost savings
- Control over corporate data
- Employee satisfaction
Drawbacks:
- Corporate responsibility
- Keeping on top of upgraded technology
- User privacy
Visibility and security of mobile endpoints
One of the main challenges in determining which strategy best fits your organization is gaining visibility across your mobile environment. IT teams have to process hundreds or thousands of invoices, across multiple carriers and locations which can make it a nightmare to understand where spending is being allocated. IT leaders need a platform that allows them to understand the combined scope of their mobile ecosystem with actionable analytics and reporting for admins, managers, and end-users.
See how brightfin provides insight into mobile lines and expenses.
The other side of the expense equation is balancing your organization’s security needs. Companies who don’t leverage a UEM, or believe that they can keep corporate data segregated from personal use will likely stick to corporate-owned strategies at the expense of personal flexibility.
Emerging technologies bring more change
Over the next few years we will see further advances in IoT, as well as the introduction of 5G. 5G will be significantly faster and more resilient than 4G LTE, and that level of connectivity will bring changes to the way end users access their devices as well as the types of tasks they can perform.
brightfin is the missing link when it comes to holistically managing all of your device management programs. brightfin helps manage any mobile program within ServiceNow, integrating all inventories and actions from all leading MDM/UEM providers. In conjunction with ServiceNow, brightfin creates a single, business-facing solution that brings together mobile expense, service, and asset management. brightfin transforms the way cross-departmental work is managed, unlocking unbridled productivity, giving enterprises full control of their technology environment, and greatly decreasing technology provider expenses.