It’s impossible not to notice the pervasive influence of mobile devices in our world today. Whether at home or in the office, tablets, phones hybrid devices like Microsoft’s Surface are de facto gadgets to aid productivity and convenience.
The very nature of mobile devices has given rise to the concept of ‘bring your own’, with the result that a wide range of personal devices are used at and for work.
And that’s a good thing – but only if you have taken steps to make sure the use of those devices is controlled and managed to ensure they add value, but don’t present excessive risk to your company.
The answer to all that is Mobile Device Management (MDM) and the good news is that putting MDM in place needn’t be difficult or complex. Your solution provider partner can do so for you, with the help of tools provided by Microsoft, specifically its Intune solution.
InTune is part of Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), a set of tools to enable employees to use all of their personal devices at work, while at the same time looking after company information.
Taking a closer look at EMS, it is a complete suite which covers productivity, identity, access control, management and data protection. It is a ‘one stop’ set of tools which provides everything required to effectively manage mobility in your company.
Intune is the specific module to manage mobile devices and apps. It integrates with Azure Active Directory (AD) for identity and access control and Azure Rights Management (RMS) for data protection.
Use InTune to:
- Secure on-premises email and collaboration infrastructure so that it can be accessed by mobile devices and apps on the Internet
- Secure Office 365 infrastructure so that it can be safely accessed by mobile devices and apps over the internet
- Enable the issue and control of mobile phones to employees
- Enable the provision of limited-use ‘shared devices’ (such as tablets in reception, or for task workers)
- Enable the implementation of a secure ‘bring your own device’ strategy
- Enable support for employees accessing Office 365 from devices and apps that you don’t control – such as third party computers at a tradeshow kiosk.
Security and management are essential to ensure that mobile device use is encouraged in your organisation (because convenience and the implied productivity is highly beneficial), but doesn’t come with the risks of data being stolen or lost along with those devices. You need to be sure that the devices being used by staff members are protected with the appropriate anti-malware software and that, should the device fall into the wrong hands, it isn’t possible for that third party to access and change or illegitimately use company information.
That’s precisely what MDM is all about; the InTune tools provided by Microsoft feature familiar interfaces and integrate with the vendor’s broader set of EMS solutions. Combined with the expertise of a dedicated managed services provider, InTune means taking charge of mobility is made simple for your company – and safe, easy use of personal devices means empowered employees.