There is a lot of talk about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and COPE (Corporate Owner Personally Enabled). Both broadly refer to scenarios where employees are allowed to use essentially personal devices for work. Quite a few large organisations have adopted one of the 2 or a combination thereby reaping their benefits.

Most small and medium sized business tend to avoid BYOD or COPE even though they are likely to benefit from them the most. One of the main reasons for that is security. The idea of employees carrying with company data out of the office where it cannot be controlled or monitored can be very unsettling.

Mobile Device Management (MDM)
It does what it says. MDM is essentially a software solution that can either be installed on-premise or delivered as a service through cloud. Generally using a simple browser based interface, it controls and protects data and settings on all mobile devices connected to the network. So in case any device is stolen or compromised, MDMs can wipe out all important data from that device within minutes. They also perform a number administrative tasks such security updates, configurations and settings remotely with minimal disruption to end users.

With meteoric growth of mobile devices within workplaces, MDM solutions are in high demand and therefore quite a few companies now offer MDMs to suit the needs of virtually any kind of business operation. We have listed 21 MDMs below that are well regarded and would suit small businesses with 10 employees to a medium sized company with up to 250 employees.

Absolute Manage MDM
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“The features available with Absolute Manage MDM allow you to remotely manage the iOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices in your deployment. You can wirelessly (over cellular or Wi-Fi) configure, query, and even wipe or lock managed devices. Absolute Manage MDM is available as an on-premise installation or as a cloud-based solution.”

AirWatch (by VMware)
Pricing
Starting from USD $50 per device per year
Environment
Android, Blackberry, iOS, Windows Mobile
Company Spiel
“AirWatch® Mobile Device Management enables businesses to address challenges associated with mobility by providing a simplified, efficient way to view and manage all devices from the central admin console. Our solution enables you to enroll devices in your enterprise environment quickly, configure and update device settings over-the-air, and secure mobile devices. With AirWatch, you can manage a diverse fleet of Android, Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Mac OS, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows PC/RT and Windows Phone devices from a single management console.”

Amtel
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Amtel simplifies field services mobility management with a complete set of integrated, cloud-based solutions for secure communications, mobile device security, apps and expense management. Our award-winning enterprise class mobile lifecycle management solution is used by organizations worldwide for: securing mobile devices; protecting mobile access to enterprise data; providing a secure corporate communications channel for field employees on mobile phones and tablets; and taking control of apps and expenses for corporate and BYOD devices.”

BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (by BlackBerry)
Pricing
Starting from USD $19 per device per year
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 (BES10) is the only solution you need for secure device, application and content management, with integrated security and connectivity, for BlackBerry®, iOS and Android™. Deploy, manage and control both corporate and BYOD device users through a simple unified console. Perfectly balance end user and enterprise mobility needs without compromise.”

XenMobile (by Citrix)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Citrix XenMobile is a comprehensive solution to manage mobile devices, apps, and data. Users have single-click access to all of their mobile, SaaS and Windows apps from a unified corporate app store, including seamlessly-integrated email, browser, data sharing and support apps. IT gains control over mobile devices with full configuration, security, provisioning and support capabilities. Flexible deployment options give IT the choice to manage XenMobile in the cloud or on-premise.”

Dell Mobile Management
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Dell Mobile Management enables you to manage and provision access to smartphones and tablets from any device with a browser and internet connection. It also manages applications and content on the devices. With Mobile Management, employees can self-enroll their devices for instant provisioning of corporate access and automated policy enforcement.”

Excitor MobiControl
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Excitor MobiControl is a comprehensive enterprise mobility solution for managing your entire fleet of mobile assets across all operating systems. The centralized, web-based management console provides visibility and control of your corporate, shared and personally owned mobile devices.”

MaaS360 (by Fiberlink, an IBM company)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“MaaS360 lets you provision, secure and manage your mobile devices, apps and content—all from a single portal—while minimizing risk to your organization. We make the complex world of mobility simple by giving you a global mobile infrastructure without the burden of a large financial investment.”

GO! Enterprise MDM (by Globo)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“GO!Enterprise MDM  provides organizations of any size, real-time visibility and control over a variety of mobile devices regardless of operating system, liability, carrier, or email platform. Whether On-Premise or On-Demand (hosted), GO!Enterprise MDM provides a number of features including policy creation, compliance management, device statistics, audit tracking, app management, file distribution, and report generation, all from a single administrative console.”

Good MDM
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Good provides mobile device management (MDM) to support the complete device lifecycle. IT can easily control device settings on any managed device – corporate liable, BYO or COPE – , and ensure safe access to proprietary business information. MDM is a basic capability for enabling enterprise mobility, and is included in Good for Enterprise, the Good Collaboration Suite, and the Good Dynamics Secure Mobility Platform."

Kaseya
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Kaseya’s VSA solution provides MDM capability that extends robust IT policies and automated configuration settings to mobile devices by treating them as computers rather than souped-up cellular phones.”

LANDESK Mobility Manager (by Landesk)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“LANDESK Mobility Manager helps IT administrators provide mobile workers access to the content and applications they need, while safeguarding corporate information. Mobile access must be easy for the professional outside the office, but IT teams must be able to control that access to information successfully.”

Desktop Central (by ManageEngine)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Desktop Central is an integrated desktop & mobile device management software that helps in managing the servers, laptops, desktops, smartphones and tablets from a central point. It automates your regular desktop management routines like installing patches, distributing software, managing your IT Assets, managing software licenses, monitoring software usage statistics, managing USB device usage, taking control of remote desktops, and more. It supports managing both Windows and Mac operating systems. It enables you to manage your mobile devices to deploy profiles and policies, configure devices for Wifi, VPN, Email accounts, etc., apply restrictions on using camera, browser, etc., and to secure your devices like enabling passcode, remote lock/wipe, etc. You can manage all your iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.”

McAfee EMM (an Intel company)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“McAfee Enterprise Mobility Management (McAfee EMM) manages and secures the mobile workforce. McAfee EMM delivers a simplified, streamlined way to enable productivity with confidence in a world where users, and their devices, go everywhere and anywhere.”

Microsoft MDM
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“By delivering unified application and device management, both on-premises and in the cloud, you can support BYOD (bring your own device) initiatives by empowering people to work from the devices they choose while providing consistent access to, and protection of, corporate applications and data.”

MobileIron
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“MobileIron’s MDM capabilities enable IT to secure and manage mobile devices across multiple operating systems, providing secure corporate email, automatic device configuration, certificate-based security, and selective wipe of enterprise data for both corporate and user-owned devices. The MobileIron Client, Mobile@Work, works with MobileIron Core to apply policies and configure email, Wi-Fi, VPN, and security certificates. It creates a clear separation between personal and business data. Should the end-user leave the company or if the device is lost, IT can selectively wipe all corporate data on the device. The MobileIron Platform allows IT administrators to apply granular controls based on a variety of parameters such as device-type, device-ownership and employee role. With this granular policy framework, the IT administrator can both alleviate end-user privacy concerns and lessen the organization's burden of complying with a wide range of privacy laws.”

Mobile Control (by Sophos)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Mobile Control provides an easy way to manage all your smartphones and tablets. Whether you deploy corporate devices, or your employees bring their own (BYOD). Our EMM solution handles them from the initial setup and enrolment, right through to device decommissioning. And our fully web-based console allows administration from any location on any device.”

SOTI MobiControl
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“With the explosive adoption of consumer smartphones and tablets into the enterprise, enforcing corporate policies and best practices while supporting diverse user requirements can be a tough balancing act. Revolutionize your mobility strategy by managing corporate and employee-owned devices with SOTI MobiControl.”

Symantec Mobile Management
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“Symantec Mobile Management (SMM) is an MDM platform that enables enterprise-wide mobile email and application rollouts, safeguards mobile data and devices and provides visibility and control of the mobile environment. The suite delivers integrated single sign-on functionality across in-house and third-party apps, leveraging popular authentication methods including LDAP, SAML, and Kerberos.”

MatrixMobile MDM (by Tangoe)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“MatrixMobile MDM is a comprehensive monitoring, management, and support software and service suite for mobile devices and applications in the enterprise offering complete control of the device lifecycle—from device setup to decommissioning. Mobile device management provides organizations with unmatched visibility and control of any managed device, whether corporate or individual liable, ensuring safe and secure access to invaluable corporate resources.”

SAP Afaria (by Sybase, a SAP company)
Pricing
Contact sales
Environment
Android, Apple iOS, Blackberry, Mac OS X, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone
Company Spiel
“SAP Afaria's software platform delivers centralized control of all mobile devices and tablets including iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry, as well as the apps that run on them. With keeping technology in mind, SAP Afaria offers Enterprises the flexibility to deploy on premise or partner hosted.”

Read more:

• http://www.computerworld.com/article/2497055/mobile-device-management/mdm-tools-features-and-functions-compared.html
  
• http://technologyadvice.com/mdm-byod/smart-advisor/?tmp_opt_hme_var=rst_at_end
  

Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) is fast becoming a jargon like ‘Big Data’ but unlike the ambiguity the latter carries, it is what is says. Quite simply put it’s a business strategy where employees get to bring and use their own laptops, smartphones or tablets to access company emails, applications and data.

The advantages of such a move for any organisation are in most cases undisputed. Increased productivity, greater employee engagement, employee satisfaction and significant cost savings for companies are merely the tip of the iceberg. Yet there is hesitation and often complete refusal to adopt BYOD. Broadly speaking there are three main reasons for that.

1. Complexity
The very notion of letting employees use their own devices to freely access company network and data without the ability to control their access can be very daunting. It will effect standard company policies, employee contracts and the overall company culture.

Solution
We recommend start by establishing a BYOD policy. Every department must be involved and it should encompass acceptable use, devices and support, risks and liabilities, security and responsibility. The policy must include a provision for managing change with an ongoing review system. Feel free to download our BYOD Policy Development Checklist.

2. Security
This is often the one sole reason for organisations to completely shun the idea of BYOD. Which is more than justified in some specific industries more than others. IT departments already have a tough time trying to protect their networks and data when every aspect of that network is controlled by them. The idea or having employees freely access these networks from unmonitored devices can potentially pose a serious threat.

Solution
Mobile Device Management (MDM) are low cost software solutions that can be deployed rapidly to manage, monitor, secure and support a wide range of mobile devices operating on networks of virtually any service provider. They containerise organisational data on any device thereby making the process of adding and removing devices from the network simple and secure. Blackberry’s BES10 and IBM’s MaaS360 are among the well acclaimed MDM solutions.

3. Cost
Cost of doing business is not always monetary. Introduction of new solutions and strategies almost always have some level of initial disruption of productivity which is often more expensive and hence harder to justify. With limited resources cost is always biggest deterrent.

Solution
There is no simple and straightforward solution to this. Every company is unique and needs to evaluate its position accordingly. We do, however, recommend triggering the process by initiating the BYOD policy formation. It will not just help build the scope of the project but also highlight its viability.

And finally, staggering the deployment is highly recommended. It would not only help alleviate the concerns but small doses of trial and error are often the foundations upon which robust polices are built.