As businesses continue to pull through the economic storm brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears that they will also have to navigate the changes in employment and hiring practices that the past couple of years have caused.
If they haven’t done so already, businesses will have to adopt remote work, either fully or shift to a flexible, hybrid work structure. From a financial perspective, most businesses will benefit from remote work. An increase in productivity, fewer sick days, and better work-life balance are all advantages everyone will enthusiastically welcome.
However, remote work brings many challenges from an IT perspective, the most critical one is efficiently and securely onboarding and offboarding employees. Onboarding and offboarding employees are already difficult enough but performing these activities remotely is an even bigger challenge. Getting either of them wrong can open up your business to a host of security and compliance risks, not to mention the dent in your employer branding and increased employee churn.
This blog post talks about how you can create a robust strategy for mobile device deployment, onboarding, and offboarding in a remote environment while ensuring requisite security, data protection, and compliance with regulations where applicable.
This post covers the following topics:
1. What Is Device Deployment?
Device deployment means the action of bringing devices into effective action by delivering them to the right people at the right time and with the right settings and configurations. Businesses follow different strategies for deploying their mobile devices depending on their business model, growth stage, and security requirements.
The device deployment process usually includes the following steps:
Procurement of devices such as laptops, smartphones, etc.
Enrolling the devices in the IT asset management system
Configuring the security settings
Creating accounts, allotting privileges, and access rights
Delivering the ready-to-use device to the employee
Deallocation and recovery of the device at the end of service or lifecycle
The deployment strategies range from Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to corporate-owned deployment models. BYOD is a valid deployment model for small businesses, but as they grow and mature, moving to a centrally managed and more secure deployment model such as the company-owned model is more advisable.
From security and compliance perspectives, the organization needs to maintain full control of all the devices and maintain them at the same security level as the company-owned desktop computers. Having control of the device means control over company data and access to resources. Any information on company-owned devices can technically be deleted at any time by the organization. Such control is important if your business has high-level security and/or compliance requirements.
2. How Has Device Deployment Been Changed By Remote Work?
Remote work has changed device deployment, onboarding, and offboarding radically. It has made the whole process more complicated. The traditional IT support and security systems were designed to cater to employees connected to one secure network under one roof. This means that the device deployment, onboarding, and offboarding were also expected to be done under one roof. With remote work, such traditional processes require huge changes.
Employee onboarding consists of a series of activities that allow new employees to integrate into the company culture and process quickly. Efficient device deployment and prompt access to tools and resources are a prerequisite for effective onboarding. Remote work means fewer touchpoints, asynchronous communication, time zone differences, and challenges of digital communication.
There’s no dropping in for a quick chat seeking help and no real-time face-to-face troubleshooting. Workshops and training sessions are replaced by video calls. Shadowing, learning problem-solving through observation, and impromptu coaching, all need to be done online over video calls. Therefore, they are much more reliant on technology, and having access to all of the tools, applications, and resources certainly helps smooth the onboarding process.
3. What Are The Challenges Of Remote Onboarding
The first and foremost challenge to remote onboarding is device deployment. The traditional model required devices to be procured, configured, training delivered, and returned at the end of the lifecycle under the same roof. Now, shipping and logistics have become a big part of the process. The new devices need to be shipped to the IT department or the person responsible for the configurations, enrollment, and account settings. After that, the device needs to be shipped to the remote employee.
To make matters worse you need to contend with supply chain disruptions and chip shortages that have increased the lead time for many devices. This means that you need to plan device procurement well in advance. However, early procurement brings in additional challenges of storage and shipping. Where do you store all of the new devices when office spaces come at a premium? But that’s not all, you wouldn’t want unauthorized backdoor access installed on your device, so you also need to ensure that the devices are not tampered with while they are stored.
4. How To Manage Device Deployment In A Remote Environment?
Having adequate visibility and control over a broad range of cross-functional activities may seem challenging but with the right strategy, tools, and processes, you can easily achieve them, and that too at scale. Here are the keys to your success in managing device deployment:
1. Procurement
As we mentioned earlier, because of the chip shortage and supply chain disruptions, the lead time for many devices is increasing. A device delivery that used to take days may now take weeks or even months. Therefore, it is prudent to plan your procurement in advance. Make policy adjustments to allow quick approvals and authorizations for the procurement of devices faster.
2. Storage And Shipping
With early procurement, you will also need a facility to package, store and ship the devices to different locations as and when needed. If your business is planning for growth in the near future, you may even consider maintaining inventory levels for the company's standard devices.
Ideally, procurement, storage, configuration, and shipping should occur at the same place to prevent unnecessary movement and additional shipping costs. This will allow for a smooth and seamless start-to-finish device deployment process. For complete peace of mind, you will also need end-of-lifecycle management including disposing of e-waste.
3. Mobile Device Management (MDM)
Mobile device management (MDM) solutions simplify the management and improve the security of company-owned mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, etc. MDM solutions ensure that each device is configured according to the company’s standards and policies. It also allows you to update the devices, software, and applications centrally, ensuring optimal security.
In addition, MDM solutions allow the monitoring and tracking of devices to ensure that devices are secure. Its remote diagnostics and troubleshooting feature also ensure that the devices perform consistently. Effective MDM solutions offer advanced capabilities that help you keep up with the changing deployment, onboarding, and offboarding requirements.
MDM solution protects your apps, documents, content, and data while allowing you to effectively manage user access. With over-the-air (OTA) device enrollment, you can rapidly enroll devices at scale. Without an MDM solution, it is near impossible to have a streamlined onboarding process and deliver a secure and exceptional experience to your employees.
4. Identity And Access Management (IAM)
Identity And Access Management (IAM) helps keep your systems and data secure by identifying, authenticating, and authorizing access to enterprise resources. From device deployment and new user onboarding, IAM solutions help you manage user access and identity to ensure that the right employees get the right access to data from the right devices.
With IAM, regulating access to systems, applications, and networks is simple. You can apply role-based access to identifying, authenticating, and authorizing individuals who access the company’s IT resources. This makes it a whole lot easier to onboard employees at scale. For companies that require elevated security standards or rigorous compliance requirements, Identity And Access Management is a must-have.
Conclusion
Traditionally growing a business with respect to the number of employees has always been a huge challenge for small businesses. On one hand, the new employee has to be onboarded efficiently and effectively and on the other hand, the IT team has to ensure that the employees have the right devices and access to the right tools and resources. All this has to be done while navigating the labyrinths of technological changes, security challenges, and compliance requirements.
Modern IT teams need to be able to deliver devices and support to users wherever they are located. With the rapid adoption of remote work, the need for a solution to the challenges of device deployment and onboarding has become even more pressing. Thankfully, with the right set of tools and processes, we can deploy, and manage corporate devices wherever the workforce is based, allowing organizations to thrive and grow.
Does your organization need help with device deployment, storage, and shipping? Do you want streamlined onboarding and offboarding processes? Are your deployment and onboarding processes able to handle rapid fluctuations in growth? Reach out to us by clicking the button below to find out how we can help you with asset management, onboarding, and offboarding in a remote environment.
If you liked the blog, please share it with your friends
About The Author
Hari SubediMarketing Manager at Jones IT
Hari is an online marketing professional with a focus on content marketing. He writes on topics related to IT, Security, Small Business, and Mindfulness. He is also the founder and managing director of Girivar Kft., a business services company located in Budapest, Hungary.