Let's just state the obvious: mobile device utilization has experienced profound growth within both our personal and professional lives. Gartner has stated that "there are over 20 billion devices connected to the Internet today -- that's 3 devices for every single person on the planet." There’s simply no question that mobile devices have become our preferred solution for data capture, communication, and for accessing the internet.
It's estimated that over 94% of workers utilize a mobile device, and over 40% use tablets today. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops have become primary corporate IT assets. This means that -- under ISO 5500, which calls for ITAM managers to maximize value to all stakeholders in the value chain throughout the asset's lifecycle -- they need to be managed and maintained.
ITAM standards for mobile asset tracking can be realized through a combination of mobile device management and IT asset management systems. In this blog entry we will define the difference between the two and explain why it is important NOT to overlook physical mobile IT device asset management.
What is Mobile Device Management?
Mobile device management (MDM) is a software-based solution that enables IT administrators to control, secure, and enforce policies on smartphones, tablets, and other highly mobile or movable endpoints. The intent of MDM is to optimize the functionality and security of mobile devices within the enterprise BYOD environment while also protecting the corporate network. The addressable market for these systems has grown significantly over the past 5 to 10 years.
Benefits of MDM include:
- Delivers mobile application configuration and policy management
- Provides data loss prevention (DLP) services, such as remote wipe and enforcing security policies
- Greatly improves mobile OS management
- Provides some location management functionality
MDM also has its limitations, particularly when it comes to governance. In order to rollout an effective ITAM strategy for mobile assets, IT organizations also need to centralize location monitoring, monitor lifecycle management ensuring efficient asset utilization, and implement theft prevention for critical on-premise devices.
Mobile IT Asset Management from RF Code
RF Code’s new solution for Mobile Asset Management enables IT organizations to track and manage the physical location, financial, and contractual information of enterprise-owned mobile IT assets through their life cycle. RF Code's unique active RFID wire-free sensor technology, reader infrastructure, and CenterScape software solution gives IT managers real-time visibility of mobile assets by collecting, consolidating and analyzing real-time information on virtually all of their distributed IT assets with one unified management platform.
Benefits of Real-time Mobile IT Asset Management include:
- Accurate Mobile Asset Tracking: Identify the exact physical location of your mobile assets in real-time whether they are connected to the network or not
- Efficient Lifecycle Management: Achieve better asset availability by gaining an understanding of all asset status to effectively plan purchasing, manage resources and predict future preventative maintenance
- Reduce Mobile Device Total Cost of Ownership: Maintain inventory accuracy and eliminate the need to perform full manual audit by centralizing monitoring of all on-prem mobile IT assets
- Unified ITAM: Unify processes for wide-ranging IT asset tracking across Data Center, Collocated, and Edge deployed infrastructure environments
Implementing real-time IT Asset Management solutions, such as RF Code, will provide effective mobile device management strategies. Mobile ITAM can help inform decisions regarding the purchase and deployment of assets for future operations making it easier for companies to limit spending, enforce compliance policies be met where necessary, and improve overall operations.
