When Left to Their Own Devices ...

• Track 1,500 phones across the globe
• Configure new handsets for 100 salespeople
• Upgrade software for the field technicians
• Block malware 24/7

WHEN IT COMES TO WIRELESS in the mid-to-large-business segment, the to-do list for a mobility administrator never seems to end. Put another way, companies are tired of being left to their own devices, so-to-speak.

Dealers can lend a helping hand with outsourced mobile device management, or MDM — from ordering, configuration and fulfillment to asset tracking, replacement and upgrades.

It’s a growing opportunity: IDC expects this market to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 44.9 percent to $911.4 million by 2008.

“The opportunity plays into the channel’s hands because device management is a specialized business,” says Ollie Omotosho, vice president of marketing at CommonTime Inc., maker of the mControl all-in-one management suite. “In other words, very few MDM development companies can give the rounded and total approach that the channel delivers on a daily basis. For the enterprise, visibility leads to enlightenment, enlightenment leads to action, which leads to improvement, cost savings and so on.”

A close cousin to expense management (see related story on Page W+8), MDM starts with maintaining corporate catalogs of available devices and facilitating employee ordering and fulfillment, explains Dan Hannah, director of sales and marketing for expense management company TeleBright Corp., which offers its outsourcing services through direct and indirect channels. TeleBright creates co-branded portals for enterprises to automate employee orders. This can happen one of two ways, says Hannah. Either the end user is preauthorized for a certain amount of spend or selection of devices, or they make a request and the system kicks off a workflow to secure the appropriate approvals before the order is sent to the carrier. Once the order has been fulfilled by the carrier or an outsourced fulfillment firm, TeleBright then tracks the device as inventory.

Asset tracking — managing how many are ordered, how many are in-house, who has what device and where they are using it — is one of the fundamental components of mobile device management.

“I can’t tell you how many times companies pay for mobile devices — sometimes hundreds of them — for months for employees that have left the business,” says Al Loges, vice president of channel sales for Vercuity Solutions Inc., which offers a range of expense and device management services to clients both directly and through commissioned sales and referral agents.

Not only are there ongoing expenses, but unused devices are stranded assets. “Devices in the hands of inactive users can be redeployed to produce improved value elsewhere,” says Omotosho says.

Tracking devices also is a key to discovering and preventing loss or theft, not only of the device itself but the information that is on it. “Simply preventing the information held on one PDA from getting into the wrong hands could pay back the investment for a small business. In this case one PDA may carry most of the company’s customer information or financials. Using MDM to wipe the device if it’s lost would be crucial,” says Omotosho.

He adds, knowing how, when and where users employ devices also can be helpful to telecom managers. “CIOs are more financially accountable now than they ever have been, and if they’re going to buy into a solution then not only do they have to understand the business case, they have to be able to manage or adjust the variable inputs to improve the results over time,” says Omotosho. “Imagine their GPRS or 3G data bill is spiraling. How do you find the cause and help them optimize the system? You won’t know that the user is inside the office and still connecting to the telco and paying five times as much as it would cost if they could just be bothered to use the office Wi-Fi for data transfer. Device management can open CIOs’ eyes.”

Device management also can include moves, adds and changes. Jim Roberts, director of wireless services for Vercuity, says the company can serve as an enterprise’s wireless help desk. “Frankly, it’s a distraction for them from their core business and responsibilities,” says Roberts. “We have put together an endto- end solution that includes everything from procuring the device all the way through to level one support and swap-outs or changes that need to be done with the SIM cards or a devices for an executive in an emergency.”

Another task a channel partner can take on is applications management, which is becoming a greater need as devices get smarter. This can include centralized software administration, managing upgrades and patches, tracking firmware versions and controlling how data is accessed.

“Say you have a company that’s already spent money on an ERP system, and they want to extend that to sales,” says Pankaj Asundi, CTO of the enterprise group at Ericsson. “They need to be able to remotely do a software install without needing to update large numbers of phones in the office; and to give workers on the road the ability to download a new piece of software over the air to look up inventory, say, or track contacts. A centralized platform to address that becomes critical.” Ericsson provides a licensed platform for centralized management of over-the-air upgrades, security, patch management and software distribution, trouble-shooting and disaster recovery, and inventory control. Ericsson will host the management for companies if owning the platform isn’t an option, in which case a VAR plays an architect role.

“There is some beautiful stuff out there,” says Mitch McCoy, senior director of marketing at master agent American Wireless. “And businesses may not know which applications are right for them or how they can benefit from something like job site geo-fencing. A main concern for businesses is how they can manage it all.” Once the applications are in, the partner can bring custom reporting, configuration services, integration and upgrade management to the account. “VARs can participate in many ways when it comes to applications,” says McCoy.

Click to Enlarge Asset management can include batterylevels and software status.

Meanwhile, the need for security is high on the MDM agenda, due to the advent of lightweight devices, high-capacity mobile storage, the virulence of viruses and executivelevel responsibility for corporate data security. Some common needs include updating and maintaining security profiles, the ability to cut off or restrict the infrared and Bluetooth ports, authentication and encryption, and preventing users from opening viruses or running applications that are not on a “white-list” of programs they are allowed to run. “Security is part of device management more and more; we see a strong trend in that more and more customers want device encryption for a secure, reliable environment, and partners are very successful here. They go in and look at the entire business problem, bring in the solutions, then integrate them,” says Richard Stone, vice president of business development at CREDANT Technologies, which provides security for data across mobile devices via a centralized server and client software. CREDANT offers licenses and annual maintenance via VARs and OEMs.

Ericcson’s Asundi says the evolution to smarter devices that hold more sensitive information is making MDM an easier sale. “We are seeing initial interest in comprehensive device management for smart phones and handhelds connected to the corporate network, because of what it means to the total cost of ownership,” he says. “We are at the beginning of a curve for device management, and it’s becoming a huge internal IT affair.”

Omotosho concurs. “If you want your mobility strategy to succeed and gain sustainable competitive advantage it has to be planned and managed through, just like the rest of your IT strategy,” he says. “Mobile device management solutions give enterprises the ability to control costs, improve uptime and drive workforce and client satisfaction. It simply has to be part of wireless technology deployments.”