Choosing the Right EMM Solution Provider

As EMM technology evolves from the traditional mobile device management, they offer various functions and new features that enable firms to be connected and achieve greater heights through digital transformation. EMM is so prominent among the current technologies that all the major aspects of the enterprise like— operations and businesses are inclined on mobile solutions.

With all these benefits, yet, choosing the right EMM provider may become a daunting task with stiff competitors around. There are plenty of providers who not only offer new feature and capabilities but also meet the customer requirements. This parity among the vendors in the EMM space has made it even more difficult to choose the apt provider.

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As per the research from Forrester, nearly 71 percent of the enterprises have given priority to mobile technology and about 45 percent of the employees are available “anytime and anywhere” using this technology. With so many enterprises leveraging mobile technology, slightest mistake while choosing an EMM solution could cause a great threat to the resources of the firm.

Selecting an EMM vendor based on the popularity may not yield great results. Implement such a solution that covers all the aspects or concerns of the enterprise and is scalable enough to accommodate the organization’s growth. With so many competitors around, vendors tend to add more features that may sometimes not be used by an organization. For instance, small sized business may not need a solution to segregate entire corporate data with personal data that comes in a package along with device management solution. This article assist CIOs by providing a brief heads up and factors to consider while choosing an appropriate EMM provider for the organization.

Meeting Enterprise Requirements

Enterprises must have thorough knowledge on the organizational requirements before committing to EMM vendors. Choosing a provider with too many unwanted features should be avoided, instead pick those features that actually comply with the needs.

Enterprise must focus on the mobile device ownership model before selecting EMM vendor. This is because of the different methods used to safeguard and manage devices fall under different ownership models, including— Company-owned Business-Only (COBO), Personally Enabled (COPE) or Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). This mobility solution not only helps in security but also enhances productivity, job satisfaction, and customer management of the enterprise.

Firms must also ensure that the selected solution is compatible with needs of the business based on the size of the organization. Herein, organization should select the solution depending on the size of the organization and see to that solution provided by the vendor is easy to understand and user friendly. For instance, Larger EMM solution won’t be apt for small-scale enterprise likewise smaller EMM solutions won’t be suitable for large industry.

Cost

Organizations must consider complete cost, associated with implementing end-to-end EMM solutions. As per complete research on TCO by Strategy Analytics reports, “Upgrading an existing system can be more lucrative than changing the entire setup.” For companies with limited budget, cost of the EMM solution plays a vital role in choosing the vendor. The solutions offered by the vendors are mostly based on the monthly subscription or in the form of license. Depending on the size of the EMM solution the offering provided to customers varies –small EMM solution provider offers more flexibility and comes with monthly subscription charges similarly large EMM vendors offer more capabilities and features and charge more for on-boarding and support. Customers should concentrate on those product modules and services that are necessary for their firm and purchase only those features to cut down the enterprise cost.

Flexibility and support

Organization should see to it they don’t get locked into one EMM vendor without any support. Backup is as necessary as the effective solution. A thorough check on the Service Level Agreement (SLA) of the vendor would assist in selecting the right vendor. Apart from that checking on related experience of the vendor in EMM field and asking for client reference will assist in choosing the vendor.

Mobility requirements

An EMM vendor is expected to offer a secure and efficient platform for executives using mobile devices. It’s highly important to get the feedback about the size, scope, scale, applications and data access of the EMM solution before deploying. Enterprise must not jump in quickly; it’s wise to begin with pilot deployment and then switch to any of the IT services. This kind of filtered selection will assist customers in evaluating the measure of support and scalability provided by the vendor.

Plan your roadmap

Organizations must think beyond mobility device management, they have to identify a vendor that provides advanced features and capabilities, and flexible enough to embrace current trends like wearable technologies and many more. This type of selection, based on ability of solution provides customer liberty to adopt latest technology.  It is important for an organization to plan their road ahead, while the mobility world is all set to mature beyond devices. As the enterprise evaluates EMM vendors, they must ensure that platforms are built for content management systems, network security technology, and other app stores. Finally, enterprise must clearly identify their business needs before jumping into mobile solutions, because it is vital to choose an appropriate EMM vendor with various services and benefits to take the industry to the next level.