2020 has been a challenging year so far, and it looks like it’s going to be continued. Luckily, when it comes to enterprise mobility, according to statistics, 71% of businesses count mobility as a top priority to stay competitive. And companies have already been making changes towards a more flexible, mobile work environment in the past years.
However, mobility has become more complex today and used in a larger number, as employees often use their mobile devices more than they use traditional endpoints. Even more so in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 era. So, what will the future of Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) look like? Read on to explore some ideas inside this article.
Embracing a new productivity
With the majority of employees working remotely, the word productivity might get new meanings every day. As the corporate world is becoming more flexible, you need to keep up with your employees’ needs. And embracing enterprise mobility is the first step. Recent studies have shown that employees use mobile devices not only to check their emails but also for other work-related purposes—with a positive impact on their productivity. Long story short, mobility streamlines flexibility, communication, and overall experience. It also reduces talent churn—leading to growing revenue.
So, if enterprise mobility was cautiously being adopted pre-pandemic, it is now embraced faster than ever. And the numbers will only get higher from now on. Which brings the question: how will you navigate any potential security challenges and issues? What should an Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) tool do to help you address any concerns, ensuring that all your devices are safe? How can you remain relevant to your employees and customers?
Future trends in mobility management
The need to provide more flexibility and improve the experience of employees has been the primary driver of mobility this year. With the IoT devices being more popular, companies are looking for more complex solutions to offer them support and security. Fortunately, the future of mobility management focuses on solutions that are going beyond just keeping track of mobile devices. EMM providers need to be more proactive and understand better the challenges faced today by enterprises, what’s driving productivity, and how they can develop tools for what seems to be the future: physically and socially distanced employees/users.
Today, companies are trying to keep pace with new innovations in mobile technology. And it’s not exactly easy, since technologies are constantly evolving. In a world where, for example, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) is already becoming available for testing, the very concept of mobile is changing, breaking the limits of smartphones and tablets. So, prepare to welcome the next generation of mobile device management solutions. To give you a heads up, here are three trends that you should keep an eye on in the upcoming year.
- An increased focus on tailor-made security solutions
- Mobile analytics and real-time decisions
- A multi-dimensional EMM experience
Security
Attackers are still targeting enterprise mobile devices. As a result, multi-layered security will be crucial in the upcoming year. And the growing need for security and privacy requires EMM vendors to think outside the box and beyond traditional ways of operating. New mobile devices need new levels of security. Maintaining security controls like remote data, user authentication, encryption, anti-virus precautions will be essential in 2021.
Insights
Machine learning and data analysis generate insights and predictive analytics in real-time, which allows your team to evaluate how they are performing, and if they are producing the best results. For 2021, analytics is another significant trend that comes with benefits for enterprise mobility, as it empowers better decision-making. Analytics can empower companies to properly evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and learn more about their performance. EMM will need to ensure the effectiveness of analytical tools and help employees with in-depth insights into their mobile devices.
A multi-dimensional EMM experience
In 2021, a tool that can manage both mobile and IoT devices will greatly reduce costs and will lead to a seamless business experience. Companies will ask for solutions for a range of mobile devices and hybrid IT deployment systems. On top of that, firms are embracing more connected devices within their IT environment. So, next year will be all about combining EMM with IoT to drive optimization, better performance and collaboration, and enhanced productivity. Unified endpoint management will go hand in hand with EMM to secure, manage, and integrate a wide variety of devices.
It will be also vital to understand AI in mobility management, and reap the benefits of efficiency (through a better understanding of habits in the workplace), cost savings, improved recruiting experience (through chatbots that can find, onboard, and guide new employees), simplified problem-solving (through predictive analysis), and enhanced security.