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3 min read

The ROI of Mobile Device Management

3 min read

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Mobile device management (MDM) is a proven, cost-effective solution to meet an organization’s needs for security and control. However, as organizations scale up, or need to manage risk or stay compliant, they also need to manage costs. A company’s smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other connected devices—and the apps and data plans associated with those devices—are expenses, which can quickly escalate.

Companies want employees to be as productive as possible, as this affects the business’ bottom line. Luckily, today’s IT manager or IT service provider can prove the ROI and overall value of MDM to the organization. Whether it’s saving time or money, or mitigating risk, the benefits of implementing an MDM solution in an organization can be quantified.

Save time with MDM

First off, MDM solves a common organizational challenge and prevents the loss of the ultimate, non-renewable resource: time. The average time to set up a phone without MDM is 60 minutes; with MDM and enablers like Apple DEP and Android Zero-Touch Enrollment, the time can drop to as low as 5 minutes.

However, at scale, with dozens or even hundreds of devices, the time savings becomes even more dramatic. For 50 devices, and with conservative estimates, the time savings amounts to: 50 devices * 30 minutes = 1,500 minutes = 25 hours saved. Senior management and productivity experts would be especially interested in such data.

Dutch HR and recruitment technology firm YoungCapital, who purchases more than 400 phones annually, has experienced the time and associated cost savings with MDM. By using Apple DEP and MDM, the new device is already set up out of the box, saving YoungCapital about 200 hours annually on setting up employees’ phones, with zero errors. In addition to saving time for the IT manager on the initial set-up, employees can get to work faster, without worrying about the different apps to be installed or security settings to be configured.

Reduce on-site visits

Further on the time-saving benefits of MDM is the reduction of on-site visits or in-person meetings with the IT department. MDM’s features allow the IT professional or business owner to remotely lock and wipe a device, reset a passcode, or deploy or remove apps. The ability to remotely manage phones saves countless hours in lost productivity and travel time. For some remote employees who work far from a company’s offices, MDM provides a better alternative to shipping devices to the IT manager.

Additionally, remote management, including deploying business policies, automating installations, and enforcing configurations, reduces human errors and increases productivity.

Save on mobile data

While time savings certainly translate directly to cost savings, especially when considering the salaries for IT managers or fees for IT service providers, the ROI of mobile device management extends to the cost savings when factoring in data usage. MDM can ensure that devices under management have app usage restrictions (i.e., no Netflix), saving on data costs.

Such control features also ensure that employees are only using applications you’ve approved in advance.

Stronger security and mitigated risk

MDM also acts as a type of insurance plan. MDM’s Location Tracking feature helps organizations recover lost or stolen phones. About 10 percent of phones become lost and 5 percent of phones are stolen – with a 50 percent found rate for each.

With Location Tracking, phones can be recovered faster, reducing employee downtime and saving the organization from having to re-purchase devices. Of course, the more expensive the phone, the greater the potential loss to the organization—though mitigated, with MDM.

MDM’s security features also lessen the risk of data loss with lost or stolen devices, leading to potential compliance violations, such as those involving regulations like GDPR and HIPAA. MDM protects company data by separating business and personal apps, enforcing safe passcodes and screen locks, and encrypting all confidential content stored on the device.

With MDM, Wi-Fi configuration profiles can be used to deploy strong wireless network settings to managed devices. In this way, for example, employees working in remote locations are prevented from accidentally connecting to public, non-secured Wi-Fi, which would be a risk to the organization.

Still another benefit of MDM is device lifecycle management. MDM’s monitoring and analytics features help an organization identify the devices that are at the end of their use or life, so that the devices can be replaced before they break down and cause further business interruption.

In sum, the ROI of mobile device management to the organization can be proven. As a timesaver or simply an insurance plan, the value of implementing an MDM solution in an organization can be measured.