Mobile devices, such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets, have become the mainstay for modern businesses. They provide the flexibility and productivity that today’s mobile workforce requires. In the past couple of years, the use of mobile devices among organizations has been expedited by the adoption of remote work. This surge in the use of mobile devices can pose serious security and financial risks to organizations if there is a lack of control over and visibility of mobile devices.
Device lifecycle management has, therefore, become a large and complicated hurdle that IT departments and organizations are struggling to overcome effectively. Now more than ever, organizations are in need of a device deployment plan with integrated device management capabilities that supports their devices, firmware, and applications as well as provides services that facilitate the staging, configuration, delivery, and retirement of the devices.
This blog post talks about Mobile Device Lifecycle Management, its relevance in today’s changing business environment, and its key benefits.
In this blog post, we will cover the following topics:
1. What Is Mobile Device Lifecycle Management (MDLM)?
Mobile Device Lifecycle Management (MDLM) is a solution that enables organizations to manage mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones across their entire lifecycle, i.e. from procurement to retirement. MDLM covers not just the devices but also the applications, content, and associated services.
A comprehensive device lifecycle management solution consists of tools, processes, policies, and procedures encompassing activities including device management, technical support, shipping, warehousing, and logistics. Typically, device lifecycle management consists of the following activities:
Procurement of devices such as laptops, smartphones, etc.,
Enrollment of the devices in a Mobile Device Management (MDM) system,
Configuration of the security settings,
Creation of user accounts, assigning privileges, and access rights,
Delivery of ready-to-use devices to the employees,
Deallocation and recovery of devices at the end of service or lifecycle,
Repair and refreshing of used devices,
Warehousing of procured or deallocated devices, and
Retirement or e-wasting of devices at the end of their lifecycle.
Mobile device lifecycle management is all about getting the right device with the right configurations and application into the hands of employees at the right time, no matter where in the world they are. Lifecycle management is not just about delivering the devices but also includes ensuring functionality, troubleshooting, and repair services. It offers an effective way of managing device expenses and ensuring security through better visibility of your devices throughout their lifecycle.
2. How Are MDLM And Mobile Device Management Different?
Mobile Device Management (MDM) is a technology solution that helps an organization manage its fleet of mobile devices from a single platform. MDMs primarily deal with configuring the devices, updating software and applications, monitoring, tracking, and ensuring overall device security.
The role of the MDM solutions starts after you receive the device hardware and address the software, applications, content, permissions, and security of the device. MDM solutions are primarily focused on endpoint protection and data security. However, it does not cover crucial services such as shipping, logistics, warehousing, repair, and retirement.
Mobile device lifecycle management, on the other hand, is an end-to-end solution for managing devices from cradle to grave. MDM covers only a subset of the activities involved in the full device lifecycle functions, therefore, it functions as one of the many tools and processes used in MDLM.
3. Why Is Mobile Device Lifecycle Management Necessary?
In the past couple of years, the world has embarked on a sudden and major shift toward remote work. This sudden transition to telecommuting and remote working has put the IT departments of most organizations on the ropes as they have struggled to get people the devices and necessary access needed to be productive.
Most organizations are still figuring out how to navigate the operational challenges brought about by the COVID pandemic, add to this the challenges of providing IT support to remote employees, and it is not surprising that organizations have been unable to devote time to figuring out how to deploy devices and onboard employees in a remote environment, when ‘no one is in the office’.
Here are some common situations that organizations are likely to encounter:
Receiving laptops at the IT manager's house.
Overflowing IT closets without proper locks, monitoring, or insurance.
Lack of visibility of IT inventory, leading to duplicate orders.
Delay in delivery of devices to new hires leading to poor onboarding experience.
Misconfigurations, missing applications, or incorrect access privileges.
Large sums of capital tied up in unused, old devices.
Unsustainable practices due to a lack of e-wasting process.
To overcome these challenges of the new work environment, organizations need to invest in location-agnostic tools and processes including services, such as the physical handling of devices that are part of the device lifecycle supply chain. Additionally, organizations can also partner with Mobile Device Lifecycle Management services that provide end-to-end device lifecycle management.
4. What Are The Benefits Of Mobile Device Lifecycle Management?
A comprehensive, end-to-end Mobile Device Lifecycle Management solution offers the following benefits:
It simplifies device management by bringing all the activities, namely, procurement, logistics, shipping/receiving, security, insurance, MDM, e-wasting, etc. under one single system.
It helps you streamline your accounting and cost planning by making hardware purchasing and warehousing costs more predictable.
It gives you comprehensive and real-time visibility of your mobile devices for better procurement planning and budgeting.
Freeing up your IT closet that takes up office space, and needs to be secured, locked, monitored, and insured, helps you save on office space rent and related costs.
Assured delivery of the right device, with the right configurations, and at the right time, no matter where the employee may be located, gives your new hires a seamless and effective onboarding experience.
By reducing new purchases, making use of old devices, and responsibly recycling e-waste, your organization positively contributes to issues such as chip shortages, responsible mining of rare earth elements, as well as supply chain shocks. This helps your organization become more environmentally sustainable.
Conclusion
The COVID pandemic has likely brought permanent changes to the workplace. To keep up with these changes, organizations will need to invest in transforming their device lifecycle management system. Successful device lifecycle management can be achieved through a combination of managed solutions, tools, and processes that encompass a wide range of activities including shipping, logistics, and warehousing, in addition to the standard mobile device management activities.
However, for most organizations, creating such an elaborate and comprehensive system is not feasible. It is much easier and cost-effective to outsource the entire process to a managed service provider that can proactively and intelligently manage the devices at scale as per your business requirements while ensuring end-user satisfaction.
Does your organization require comprehensive and efficient Device Lifecycle Management? Reach out to us by clicking the button below to know how we can help with end-to-end device management.
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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.