Secure your company’s data in today’s remote work environment
Unified Endpoint Management or UEM is a dynamic approach for connecting & managing all devices consistently from a single console.
UEM provides a single management interface for mobile, PC, wearable, IoT, and other devices. It combines mobile device management (MDM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM) with client management tools to help organizations manage the devices in remote work environments.
Managing and securing endpoints used to be relatively simple, but the new remote work environments demand more agility & flexibility. As more diverse mobile devices enter the work arena, endpoint management solutions can no longer be limited to a specific operating system or device. A UEM solution can manage all device types, operating systems and both cloud and the on-premise environment.
How is UEM different from MDM?
Mobility management has helped businesses to create and manage their mobility options. It involves device deployment, configuration, monitoring, securing, and ongoing support. There are various categories, but choosing the wrong strategy can cost the business, money and employee satisfaction.
The mobility management umbrella comprises Mobile Device Management (MDM), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), and Unified Endpoint Management (UEM).
| Mobile Device Management (MDM) ⇢ | Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) ⇢ | Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) |
First, there was mobile device management (MDM), which helped organizations administer unified corporate strategy across all mobile devices, corporate or employee-owned, like smartphones, laptops and tablets. These devices could be monitored, tracked and locked remotely.
Next came enterprise mobility management (EMM), which helped businesses manage mobile devices, wireless networks and other mobile computing services. It also added content and application management capabilities alongside device management.
The latest development is UEM or unified endpoint management. It is a dynamic approach for connecting & managing all devices consistently from a single console.
MDM caters to tablets, smartphones, and some basic application controls. The characteristics include installation of applications, enforced passcodes, remote device wipes and configuration of corporate profiles for BYOD and COPE.
UEM caters to tablets, smartphones, PCs, wearables, notebooks, smart devices, and more. It also has a single admin console via integrated management. The characteristics include configuration and updating desktop and mobile applications at the same time, apply EMM controls to PCs and desktops, and manage IoT devices and printers. UEM is a mechanism to integrate the management of all endpoints with mobile devices into a single platform.
UEM tools are not limited to iOS and Android operating systems. Organizations can manage notebook computers with the same platform they use for other mobile devices management. UEM makes remote access easy, can secure sensitive data, and locks down the hardware in times of a security breach.
Two of the world’s leading technology research companies, Forrester and Gartner, moved towards UEM and now independently review UEM vendors each year and release their reports.
Read and understand Gartner’s viewpoint surrounding UEM, the next stage in the evolution of mobile device management (MDM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM). Download your complimentary copy of the report.
2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management
What are the benefits of UEM?
Benefits of unified endpoint management:
- Easy to manage the corporate architecture: With cloud computing and many mobile devices entering the market, the businesses are more vulnerable, making it challenging to keep pace with the IT policies. By integrating UEM, every aspect of a corporate architecture can be easily managed for both Windows and macOS devices.
- An upswing in productivity: UEM eliminates the need to use different point solutions and simplifies device management. It helps in saving costs and resources and also increases the operational efficiency in an organization.
- Brings uniformity: Unified endpoint management makes it easy to tackle all mobile devices in an organization irrespective of their operating system or location. It makes remote working, which is the new normal, more secure and viable.
- Benefits remote organizations: With the existence of UEM, it is now easy to manage not only devices but also the users. It helps personalize the experience and secure the user workspace even in a virtual environment.
- Automation and Security: UEM helps to automate and to secure endpoint management in a flexible, agile manner utilizing the cloud. It levels up to fully automated enrolment, pre-configuration and retirement for any device, simplifying administration.
- AI in UEM: Artificial Intelligence (AI) in UEM enables, manages and secures endpoints, end-users, including apps, content, and data. It facilitates single-pane endpoint management extended to all endpoint devices.
- Complex work environment: By leveraging an open cloud approach, UEM simplifies and accelerates support of a diverse, complex endpoint and mobile environment.
Closing:
UEM is a recent technology trend and will undoubtedly be an integral part of digital business transformation projects, be it migration or security. The benefits of bringing in UEM for IT noteworthy. It eliminates redundancy of processes and increases time efficiency.
Choosing the right UEM vendor can be a challenging task. Here is a list of few vendors offering UEM – 42 Gears, BlackBerry, Citrix, Codeproof, Hexnode, IBM, Ivanti, ManageEngine, Microsoft, MobileIron, Sophos and VMware Airwatch.
Unlike all other vendors for UEM, IBM MaaS360 is the only solution that offers open cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities delivered by Watson. It helps IT and security leaders make informed decisions about their end-users and endpoints.
Forrester defines a leading UEM platform as one incorporating analytics, threat detection, identity and access management, and robustness of OSs supported. IBM fits in all the above and hence is positioned as a leader in UEM.
It was connectivity at the beginning, which moved towards productivity, and now it is growth combined with security & efficiency. What’s your take on this evolution? We’d love to know.
