Cybersecurity threats are increasing for both small and large businesses. This means solutions that protect mobile devices are no longer just nice-to-have solutions. As more work is handled outside of the office, the risks to your data increase. Virtualization vendors are leading the charge to tackle these challenges with innovative solutions.
Mobile Device Management and Virtualization
Mobile device management (MDM) is about controlling how users on any device — from laptops to internet-connected printers — view, share and store sensitive information.
For instance, you have a user who retrieves data via a company-provided laptop, an office copier, and a personal smartphone. Your IT administrators can install an application on each device to enforce policies from a centralized console.
There are dozens of standalone MDM solutions that consolidate device administration. However, by using one that integrates with your virtualization platform, you can standardize policies. This encompasses any industry across a range of company-owned, line-of-business, and personal devices.
Users are constantly picking up and discarding devices. Solutions like VMware’s AirWatch and Citrix’s XenMobile mean you no longer need to manage security settings for each device. Rather, you can configure one virtualized environment for each employee. The settings will be applied regardless of which device it’s accessed from.
What are the Benefits of Virtualized MDM?
Beyond a centralized approach to device management and data access rights, virtualized MDM solutions allow you to enjoy a number of other benefits. For one, IT administrators can remotely lock or erase data on employee devices if the device has been lost or stolen.
You can also benefit from Single Sign-On security. This means your users need only one set of login credentials to access all their applications. Technically, each application will still use a different username and password. The virtualized solution will securely store each of the credentials. It will automatically log in users whenever they sign in to your MDM platform.
Hardware and software are evolving so fast that it’s almost impossible to secure them without extensive IT training. With a little help from trained professionals, virtualization is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways for business owners to simplify user settings and management.
It only makes sense that the next step would be unifying virtualized desktops, laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices under a single solution. Call us today to get started.