A major trend of the year 2018, Unified Endpoint Management tools stand out in the software landscape of companies. The publication of the first Forrester Wave on EMU is an opportunity to reflect on the role of these solutions and the actors involved. The somewhat chaotic arrival of mobility in companies – outside of the BYOD debate ( Bring Your Own Device) / COPE (Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled) – has led to the emergence of technology waves to address mobile security. The first Mobile Devices Management (MDM) solutions for remotely wiping smartphones and tablets have been complemented by Mobile Application Management (MAM) solutions, which have been replaced by merging Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) solutions.

EMM solutions are now gradually being replaced by a new generation offering a much more unified approach to enterprise security by taking into account identities, accesses and all endpoints that have to connect in a certain way or another to corporate resources. Designated under the acronym “UEM”, for Unified Endpoint Management, these solutions imposed their unified approach in 2018 and are now scrutinized not only by analysts like Gartner or Forrester but also by the CIOs who see it as an approach more in phase with the focus imposed by the directorates-general on both digital transformation and cybersecurity.

EMU differs from the old approaches to managing mobility by seeking to unify the management of all terminals whether fixed or nomadic. The arrival of Windows 10 in companies has profoundly changed the game in terms of PC management. Now laptops and hybrids can be managed like smartphones and tablets. In addition, a new generation of mobile products such as Chromebooks or Samsung DeX terminals are entering the business and should also be considered. UEM solutions offer a unified dashboard to manage all the corporate terminals, all that diversity, from a single screen. EMU is also characterized by the desire to integrate identity and access management at the heart of terminal administration tools. The idea is to provide contextually, conditionally, and risk-sensitive access to corporate resources, including cloud resources. The goal is both to restrict or even eliminate the use of multiple passwords while being able to detect abnormal behavior.

From Gartner to Forrester, who are the leaders? Last July, Gartner published its Magic Quadrant of EMU. VMware, Microsoft, IBM (formerly MaaS360), BlackBerry and MobileIron were thus positioned in the coveted square of “Leaders”. Forrester has just released its “Forrester Wave Q4-2018” on EMU. His study covers 28 criteria such as managing mobile diversity, distributing historical applications on all terminals, single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication, unified management of cybersecurity risks, and more. Its wave Leaders highlights VMware, MobileIron, IBM, Microsoft, and Citrix Systems.

For Forrester, the four points that differentiate these “leaders” from others are the simultaneous and combined support of traditional (Windows & Active Directory) and modern (cloud mobility and identity) management techniques, contextual access management (and identity management). ), the use of AI-enhanced analytics, and the ability to accommodate the needs of companies subject to highly stringent regulations. More concretely, the differences between the two charts revolve essentially around two platforms: that of BlackBerry UEM 12 which has the preference of Gartner (Forrester ranking it in the “Strong Performers”) and that of Citrix which has the preference of Forrester ( Gartner classifying it in the “Visionaries”). It should be noted, however, that Gartner only considered the “Citrix Endpoint Management” offering in its study, where Forrester opted for “Citrix Workspace” (a more competitive offer with VMWare Workspace One retained in both studies). EMU, suites, and bundles. The other leaders are very consensual with the possible exception of Microsoft who has made a good move towards leading positions in the 2018 editions of these studies. A recognition that tends to demonstrate the success of the “Microsoft 365” offering that incorporates Office 365, Windows 10 and especially the security suite “Enterprise Mobility + Security” (EMS). Subscribing companies thus discover EMS as a built-in (not to say “forced”) “bonus” that allows them to manage the security of all their mobile devices along with the identity of their users and the identity of their data.