What are the best practices for monitoring your MDM solution?
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Mobile device management (MDM) is a crucial tool for ensuring the security, performance, and compliance of your organization's mobile devices. However, to get the most out of your MDM solution, you need to monitor it regularly and effectively. Here are some of the best practices for monitoring your MDM solution and keeping your mobile devices in optimal shape.
Before you start monitoring your MDM solution, you need to define what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. For example, you may want to monitor the device inventory, enrollment status, compliance status, app usage, battery life, network connectivity, security incidents, and user feedback. You should also set clear and realistic targets and thresholds for each metric, such as the desired device coverage, compliance rate, app adoption, and user satisfaction.
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Gary Lee
CEO @ B2M Solutions | Executive Director | Mobile Analytics | Enterprise Mobile Software
Critical KPIs we see our customers monitoring their MDM solution for include: 1. Battery health information tracking battery charge levels each hour to spot changes in battery performance as devices, apps and network connection change. 2. Reboots 3. Network performance including switching from 5G to 4G to WiFi to signal loss and also tracking network clocking problems as they occur from cellular or NTP servers. 4. App usage by minutes and data consumption. 5. Devices usage my minutes to spot underused devices. 6. Lost / Stolen devices including devices attaching to rogue access points. All of this is doable using 3rd-party monitoring / analytics tools such as B2M's Elemez software, but are almost impossible to derive using just an MDM.
Depending on your MDM solution and your monitoring goals, you may need to use different tools and methods to collect and analyze the data. For example, you may use the built-in dashboard and reports of your MDM solution, or integrate it with external tools such as analytics platforms, log management systems, or business intelligence tools. You may also use different methods to monitor your devices, such as active monitoring, which involves sending commands or queries to the devices, or passive monitoring, which involves collecting data from the devices without interfering with their functionality.
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Gary Lee
CEO @ B2M Solutions | Executive Director | Mobile Analytics | Enterprise Mobile Software
MDM tools today are not designed for real-time gathering of analytics and intelligence on the health and usage of mobile devices, apps and networks. They are designed to be used as software tools to make changes to these critical assets, but fail at providing real-time intelligence. It's critical for the success of an enterprise mobility deployment to supplement your MDM with a separate software offering which can provide these real-time insights. As an example, an MDM will be used to update the version of an app in the field, or revise settings on all devices. Without a real-time analytics or monitoring software product, the only way to know there is a problem with these change is to monitor trouble ticket and help desk calls.
To monitor your MDM solution effectively, you need to schedule and automate your monitoring tasks as much as possible. For example, you may set up a regular schedule for generating and reviewing reports, sending alerts and notifications, and performing maintenance and troubleshooting tasks. You may also use automation tools or scripts to streamline your monitoring workflows and reduce manual errors and efforts. However, you should also be flexible and adaptable to changing needs and situations, and be ready to perform ad hoc or emergency monitoring tasks when needed.
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Gary Lee
CEO @ B2M Solutions | Executive Director | Mobile Analytics | Enterprise Mobile Software
Monitoring should be done 7x24 and not treated as a task to run every X hours. Software tools such as B2M's Elemez are available to constantly monitor the health and usage of mobile devices, apps and network connections. These tools do not replace the MDM, but add the real-time insights and reporting critical to ensure uptime and compliance. Elemez also offers dashboards which can be viewed from any web browser to receive up-to-the minute intelligence on devices, apps and networks, while also supporting custom reporting in Microsoft Excel, PowerBI and other BI tools.
Monitoring your MDM solution is not only a technical task, but also a communication and collaboration task. You need to communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders, such as your management, IT team, device users, and vendors, to ensure that everyone is on the same page and aligned with your monitoring goals and expectations. For example, you may need to inform your stakeholders about the monitoring policies and procedures, share the monitoring results and insights, solicit feedback and suggestions, and resolve issues and conflicts.
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Gary Lee
CEO @ B2M Solutions | Executive Director | Mobile Analytics | Enterprise Mobile Software
Agree, but this is an area where most MDM tools do not scale well. Access to MDM tools are rightfully reserved for highly trained individuals authorized to make changes to mobile devices. Access should be restricted to just those individuals to ensure changes to security profiles and other changes are not made which could compromise the integrity of critical mobile access. But as pointed out here, communication is critical. Software tools such as Elemez from B2M were designed to allow for distributed reporting across IT, Operations, Finance and even Sustainability groups. Elemez' read-only access allows for real-time intelligence to be conveyed to those who need to receive the information and act on it immediately.
Finally, you need to evaluate and improve your monitoring process on a regular basis, to ensure that it is delivering the desired outcomes and meeting the changing needs and challenges. For example, you may need to review your monitoring goals and metrics, assess the effectiveness and efficiency of your monitoring tools and methods, identify the gaps and opportunities for improvement, and implement the necessary changes and enhancements. You should also keep up with the latest trends and best practices in MDM monitoring, and learn from the experiences and lessons of other organizations.
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Gary Lee
CEO @ B2M Solutions | Executive Director | Mobile Analytics | Enterprise Mobile Software
Like any monitoring program, it's critical to determine what are the KEY Performance Indicators (KPIs) needed to run your business. It can vary by company depending on their use of mobility and what is most critical for them. For instance, for one parcel delivery company we work with, providing proof-of-delivery is a business-critical use of mobile devices, apps and networks, with fines applied if packages are not delivered on time. Our Elemez software is being used to track network health as a KPI to ensure devices can easily communicate delivery data at each stop. It's critical to select a monitoring package such as Elemez that supports a wide set of measurements.