Tasked with ensuring a secure and successful business transformation, IT and security leaders are actively working to get ahead of the ever-changing endpoint and mobile landscapes. This involves keeping up with constant evolution across disparate device types, which is best addressed with a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution. With UEM, IT teams can take a device-agnostic approach to supporting and enabling endpoints, end users and everything in between.
Stemming beyond traditional devices such as smartphones and laptops, wearables, ruggedized devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) fulfill a significant number of use cases for many businesses. Consequently, IT teams need an adequate means to manage these endpoints — plus their users, apps, content and data — alongside everything else.
To provide up-to-date context and streamline the UEM solution evaluation process for IT professionals, International Data Corporation (IDC) released a new MarketScape report, “Worldwide Enterprise Mobility Management Software for Ruggedized/IoT Device Deployments 2018.”
Read the report
Supporting Ruggedized and IoT Devices in the Modern Enterprise
Security leaders rely on ruggedized IoT devices to make sure their users are productive and, depending on the work environment, safe. UEM solutions can wirelessly push down security profiles to manage devices, any required apps and content directly to the device. The ease of use to deploy a fleet of devices is a requirement, otherwise it may be a detriment to the organization.
Since being introduced into the workplace, ruggedized Windows CE devices have maintained one of the largest operating system (OS) presences across all industries. With the ever-changing mobile landscape, support for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 ended as of June 10, 2018. Windows Embedded 8.1 Handheld and Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 will no longer receive support beyond June 9, 2019 and Jan. 14, 2020, respectively.
In the face of these forthcoming changes, IT organizations that are heavily dependent on these OSs are taking proactive measures to not fall behind. In seeking the best possible compatibility, security and use case applicability, organizations could switch to a different OS altogether. Regardless, now is the time for IT teams to be critical of the UEM options at their disposal and research those with the broadest assortment of capabilities and the strongest strategies.
Understanding the 2018 IDC MarketScape for Ruggedized and IoT Device Deployments
The IDC report lends perspective into what IT teams should look for when considering a solution with strong ruggedized and IoT device management capabilities, such as:
These criteria considered, organizations must take notice of what they need to be successful: a solution that provides security and cohesion and is easy to use for both the administrators and end users. Today, users need to work with more than one device type and OS, so IT teams need to be able to manage everything under one solution.
What Made IBM a Standout Vendor in 2018
The IBM MaaS360 with Watson UEM has a 100 percent cloud-based delivery model, which is hosted on its own data centers that offer redundant architecture. As the most widely deployed IBM software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, MaaS360 brings a strong set of UEM capabilities for IoT devices and offers support for a wide range of nontraditional consumer devices.
Utilizing over-the-air (OTA) capabilities, IT teams can deploy a fleet of devices without physically touching them, in what is considered a low-touch, no-touch deployment. In addition to fast deployments, remote assistance for end users is available depending on the OS. MaaS360 achieves this by integrating with TeamViewer to provide remote support, regardless of where the user is located. By allowing the user to open his or her device, have it already enrolled, and provide remote support within the solution, MaaS360 saves time and expense right out of the box.
Watson IoT has been a large driving factor in MaaS360’s support for ruggedized devices and IoT, working with some of the largest international logistics companies to reduce and eliminate worker fatigue and injury through the combined efforts of MaaS360.
For example, when a user clocks into his or her shift and picks up an enrolled shift device, a survey appears about his or her sleep the previous night and current energy levels. The user cannot begin his or her shift until the survey is complete, and the user is required to wear a health tracking device, along with other wearable proximity sensors. The health tracking device monitors the user’s heart rate and other levels to determine if he or she needs to take a break or end his or her shift. The proximity sensors can detect a fall or if the user is entering a hazardous work zone where accidents are prevalent. Using Watson IoT and MaaS360, the logistics company is provided with the data it needs to see how and when workers are affected by their environment and how to reduce injury, thus resulting in higher productivity.
Beyond its leadership in the latest industry analysis, IT and security leaders can rely on MaaS360 for its broad range of support for industry use cases, from retail, distribution and manufacturing to finance, healthcare and government. Beyond robust support for ruggedized and IoT devices, MaaS360 also supports the most commonly used OSs, including iOS/macOS, Android and Windows.
Learn More About MaaS360’s Approach to Ruggedized Device Management
If you’d like to learn more about MaaS360’s extensive ruggedized device management capabilities, watch our on-demand educational webinar. If you’re ready to see it in action, sign up for a free 30-day trial.
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MaaS360 Product Marketing Professional, IBM