In today’s world, employees are increasingly using smartphones, such as iPhones and Androids, and tablets, such as iPads, for work related purposes. In fact, according to Juniper Research, the number of employee owned mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) used in a work capacity will more than double by 2014, reaching 350 million compared with almost 150 million this year. Of course, the blending of personal and work related devices has numerous advantages for companies and employees, allowing employees to more easily connect to work when out of the office. And these BYOD (bring your own device) policies do have great benefits. Studies show that a flexible workplace (including BYOD technology initiatives) can increase employee productivity by 20 percent

However, companies need to have mobile device management policies and mobile device management systems in place. Fully one quarter of companies allow BYOD but do not have any kind of management system in place and a third of employees who use a personal mobile device for work say that their company’s data is not encrypted or secure. This could have catastrophic implications. For example, imagine a company phone was lost or stolen from an employee that contained confidential company information. Anyone could easily gain access. Therefore, there needs to a policy in place to protect this information or data. Ideally, mobile management policies should mandate that employees password protect their devices and also provide access that allows a phone to be wiped remotely in the event that it is lost or stolen.

To help with MDM management, it can be advantageous to look into device management software, also known as Mdm software. Device management software is a type of software as a service that supports mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, mobile POS devices, and more. Cloud based device management software, in particular, can be a great option. Cloud based providers of mobile device management software are able to offer services that are cheaper, faster, and more scalable than on premises services. Overall, effective mobile device management is absolutely essential.