It’s now status quo: Your users probably have at least one, if not more, of their own devices that they use to access company resources and get work done. They log into your network, check email and even edit documents using their smartphones, tablets and laptops. It’s great because of the increased productivity and employee flexibility and satisfaction, but it’s kind of an IT nightmare in terms of managing all those devices, apps and the constant changes. Plus, you’ve got to make sure each device complies with corporate privacy and security regulations and is up-to-date with operating system patches, software versions and licensing agreements.
It’s just too much to track in an ad hoc way. As an IT leader, you’ve got to build a unified endpoint management (UEM) strategy that works for your environment, your users and your business — and you need the endpoint management tools and technologies that can help you do that. In a recent webcast, Nathan O’Bryan, a Microsoft MVP, and Bruce Johnson, outside sales engineer at Quest, discussed BYOD management and BYOD security risks in increasingly complex IT environments.
Microsoft Exchange Mobile Device Management may seem like a no-brainer for keeping track of your mobile endpoints because it automatically comes with Exchange Online and integrates well with Office 365 and Active Directory. But, according to O’Bryan, that’s not always great in a BYOD environment where there are many different operating systems, applications and types of data in the mix. Trying to manage these “rogue” devices (which really aren’t that rogue nowadays) separately or individually just adds complexity to your infrastructure and eats up time and resources.
True unified endpoint management should provide a single solution for all of your endpoints, including company-issued and BYOD mobile devices. That way your IT team can access information about every device connected to your infrastructure from one place. In the webcast, Johnson talked a bit about why implementing a UEM solution is so critical in business today and offered some information on the Quest KACE UEM solution, including six ways it simplifies endpoint management.
Take a look at this Digital Dialogue summary from Redmond Magazine to learn more about O’Bryan and Johnson’s webcast.
