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Thanks to cell phones, we are more connected than ever before in human history. According to Statista, a staggering 91% of the world’s population owns a cell phone, and 83.4% have smartphones. But it’s not just that we all have them; it’s that we all use them — all the time.
A reviews.org survey found that Americans check their phones 344 times per day on average, culminating in a total of 1,056 hours (44 days!) spent on our phones in 2022. With usage statistics like this, it’s no surprise many people have begun using their phones for business activities — and many companies have condoned or even encouraged this use. Cell phones offer unmatched convenience and portability, especially in remote and flexible business environments.
But the convenience of mobile device use can come at a cost, especially for managed service providers (MSPs) tasked with device management for multiple client companies. Management gets even more complex with tech-forward clients, where the average user may have a company cell phone, a laptop, a tablet, and company data on a personal device.
The best way for MSPs to combat this mobile device sprawl is to implement a mobile device management (MDM) solution as part of their clients’ tech stack. MDM is the strategy you use to enroll, configure, and secure portable business devices. It includes both software solutions and IT management practices.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits of mobile device management for MSPs, and share JumpCloud’s MDM features that make managing your clients’ mobile devices easier than ever before.
Why Do MSPs Need Mobile Device Management?
Simply put, managing multiple companies’ multiple mobile devices for multiple users is a full-time job for more than one MSP employee. And oversights in this management process can quickly lead to security breaches and cyberattacks. Instituting a MDM solution reduces your costs as an MSP, increases your efficiency by freeing your employees up for more complex tasks, and gives you a competitive advantage over other MSPs in the marketplace.
Improved Security
The biggest draw of implementing MDM for MSPs is the peace of mind you and your clients will enjoy from heightened security. MDM solutions offer remote administrator privileges, like security command execution (lock, shut down, restart, wipe), patch management, and strong password and multi-factor authentication (MFA) enforcement policies.
This significantly cuts down on the risk of your clients’ sensitive company data being compromised. In the event an employee’s phone (personal or company) is stolen or otherwise compromised, IT admins can remotely clear the device of all work-related information in mere seconds using their MDM’s single pane of glass. You can also push required security updates or policies directly from your console to your client’s devices, ensuring anything connected to their company resources remains as secure as possible.
Reduced Costs
While centralizing around a new tech core may require an initial cost investment, over time, MDM can actually save you and your clients money.
First off, MDM’s increased security and oversight means your MSP and its clients are less likely to experience a data breach. This is no small thing; a 2022 study by Verizon found that 45% of organizations have recently experienced mobile-related security breaches, while an IBM report determined a data breach costs a company an average of $4.35 million in 2022. If a price tag like that would cripple you or your clients’ business, MDM is well worth the initial investment.
MDM also allows MSPs to automate a lot of functions that otherwise have to be managed by a live employee. That allows you to get more work done with fewer employees, which can provide additional cost savings.
Increased Efficiency
MDM represents the gold standard in efficiency — especially for MSPs managing multiple clients’ businesses and devices. Cloud MDM’s remote oversight means your admins can view and manage all devices for a business in a single pane of glass. This can take tasks like patch updates from hours to minutes to deploy in a batch. In the event of a data breach, the affected devices can quickly be located and decommissioned from any location.
One of the greatest opportunities for increased efficiency with MDM comes in the onboarding and offboarding processes. MDM allows for device enrollment (like Apple Business Manager), meaning MSPs can institute zero-touch deployment for their clients. When a new employee joins a client’s business, their work phone and computer can be sent via zero-touch deployment. As soon as the employee receives the devices and logs in, Business Manager will complete the enrollment and authentication processes. All the MSP admin has to do in this process is enroll the new employee in the MDM program and select the appropriate applications for them to have access to.
The containerization of these devices also makes decommissioning a device or offboarding an existing employee quick and easy. Should a device be compromised or an employee leave the organization, all company info can be remotely removed from their mobile device immediately — without disrupting any personal user data.
Competitive Advantage
For MSPs specifically, including MDM in your tech stack also gives you a competitive advantage over other MSPs in your space.
Clients get increased peace of mind knowing their devices are under close watch with many remote-based controls. They can rest easy knowing that in the event of a data breach, their devices can quickly be wiped and issues can be addressed promptly, all without losing their data thanks to cloud backup.
Your increased efficiency can also be a selling point for your customers, since the time you free up on manually managing their devices can be reinvested into additional training, customer service, and client relationship building.
MSP Mobile Device Management with JumpCloud
While some MDM solutions are created for on-prem use, the superior choice in MDM is a cloud-based application that works in a heterogeneous environment. Cloud-native platforms are the natural fit for remote and distributed workplaces, and they’re easy to scale and expand based on your clients’ changing business needs.
JumpCloud streamlines MDM by giving admins the ability to create fleet-wide configurations for multiple devices and operating systems from a single unified platform. For MSPs, that means you can create a unique configuration based on each client’s needs and preferences just once — then automatically apply it to all future devices that enter that business network. Check out our MDM simulation for a guided walkthrough on configuration.
When comparing MDM providers, consider these unique features that make JumpCloud a standout choice.
Multi-Tenancy
JumpCloud’s Multi-Tenant Portal (MTP) allows you to manage all your MSP clients within the same platform. The single pane of glass shows you every client organization under your MSP, including the number of current users, devices, and applications. Top-level data for each client gives you better visibility, with metrics on user counts, enabled directory features, and devices under management.
BYOD and Remote Work Management
Use our platform agnostic open directory to centrally manage and patch Windows, Mac, and Linux devices. Create bring your own device (BYOD) policies that provide for business security without interfering with users’ privacy or personal data. Connect users to their on-prem applications and servers no matter where they are working from using LDAP, and deploy cloud RADIUS servers to provision and deprovision access to VPN and Wi-Fi networks.
Security
Quickly and easily transition your clients to a Zero Trust framework for the utmost in security. Single sign-on (SSO) offers clients secure and passwordless authentication to their applications and services, while push MFA enables you to create greatly increased login security. Policy-driven access controls can prohibit access to your client’s resources when their users aren’t on a trusted network or device, or require additional verification factors.
Patching and Compliance
Implementing Zero Trust helps to meet SOC, HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI compliance requirements with control over user and administrator access. Use JumpCloud’s web-based console to restrict user and admin access across your clients’ business environments, and deploy device-level policies, such as full-disk encryption. Easily create schedules and manage all devices’ patch processes in your single console, providing greater visibility.
Automation
Use Apple’s Automated Device Enrollment to remotely enroll macOS, iOS, and iPadOS devices in MDM. Automatically enroll devices into JumpCloud MDM during the new device out-of-box experience. After devices are enrolled in JumpCloud MDM, IT admins have management and configuration control over the managed devices. You can also customize zero-touch onboarding to provide a consistent, personalized experience for your clients’ new users. After a user authenticates with zero-touch onboarding on the device, JumpCloud automatically binds the device to the user.
MDM for MSPs Is Made Easier with JumpCloud
As an MSP, keeping track of all your clients’ devices can be a challenge, and logging in and out of each one can take up a lot of time.
The JumpCloud Directory Platform with MTP is a centralized platform that combines client management, SSO, device management, policy management, and more behind a single pane of glass. The software integrates with file sharing services, and provides advanced reporting options to help MSPs save time, stay organized, and work efficiently. If you’re ready to try our best-in-class Open Directory Platform™ for yourself, drop us a note, or sign up for a free account. It’s free to try for up to 10 users and 10 devices.
