The emergence of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has changed the work culture of the enterprises. It has brought more agility towards the decision-making process combined with the scalability of technology. With the network infrastructure already in place that can support the BYOD strategy, many enterprises implemented the strategy of BYOD. The main advantage many of them saw during the initial phase was the reduction in infrastructure cost and increased employee productivity. However, the technology also led to a certain level of threat for the enterprise data and network infrastructure. A device that is connected to the enterprise network can act as a gateway to threat and cybercriminals can exploit the opportunity. When there is a challenge there is an opportunity for the enterprises to develop a better security solution, Enterprises that want to leverage device function need to solve the puzzle of security. One such solution is Mobile Application Management (MAM) it creates a pathway that keeps the application on a device secured. MAM is more inclined towards the management than the security solution for the applications. However, there has been a constant buzz around the Application Management Solution when it deals with the mobility, many of the names have popped-up i.e. UEM, EMM and many more have been added. This has created confusion in the name of the Application Management Solution and credit goes to the marketing effort to push solutions but also relate to the enterprise’s requirements without actually understanding the offering.
Chris Silva, a research Vice President at Gartner added that some of the MAM solutions are provided either through the standalone app stores or certain modules of complete Unified Enterprise management (UEM). Some of the enterprise applications also include features such as app wrapping and PIN generation but majorly the enterprises today turn towards a solution without actually evaluating their future requirements.
Ken Jochims, the Director of Product Marketing for Arxan also added that the MDM and EMM focus on the device interaction with the enterprises rather than on the device. MAM differs from the MDM and EMM it offers a different solution for the devices and is just a step away from the corporate control. By using the MAM the enterprises can deploy different applications, the major advantage with the MAM solution is even the unmanaged devices owned by the employees, contractor or partners can access the business data. Using the MAM the enterprises control the app level with application management, data monitoring to ensure the oversight and data security across the user base. MAM is just not restricted to the certain type of devices and with enterprises developing a workforce that are using different devices based on the cloud platform making it imperative that the MAM solution is also unreceptive.
Considering the third-party applications, many of the current enterprises have already developed or began to develop their own apps for internal usage. For enterprises, the solution might be more depending on the business requirements rather than the luxury of developing an application for usage. Many of the enterprises are reasoning to bring the devices that will only function for the enterprise network rather than the complete network environment.
Balancing Security and Functionality in MAM
MAM is about security and improving the functionality for the users. It’s about improving the efficiency and assisting the enterprises with separation of the data based on the personal and corporate data. The improvement in using the BYOD, protecting the data based on the device and also the network that accesses the data. For the enterprises, the tug between the functionality and security will maintain the challenge to keep improving the technology. In the recent survey, many of the C-level executives had added that they are likely to be more cautious when they move towards the other opportunities.
Dan Dearing, the senior director of product marketing for pulse secure also added that for the BYOD world enterprises must be able to represent the limitations of security. When we say that the devices are much more user-oriented then we are actually assuming that the device will hold a certain amount of personal data. A MAM platform should be able to secure the application and also curate the application based on the users. Application solutions derived are mostly focused on providing the agility of the environment.
Suneil Sassari, Director of product management for SOTI also added that MAM is primarily used for the security and control. Applications that the end users have on their devices are primarily based on the long list of solutions that will improve the device security. Enterprises using the MAM will also be able to leverage the feature to prevent the unauthorized access from any of the devices.
Is MAM a Solution that You Can Actually Leverage?
When the decision of adopting MAM from the third party providers is taken it’s usually important for the enterprises that the tools are well researched along with competitors offering with the differentiated products or different versions. Currently of all the MAM platforms vendors will also be leveraging the OS provided mobile application management capabilities to enable the security features. There are currently few platforms that even provides a certain type of required management and security code post-development and deliver similar capabilities for the application development with in-house.
What Questions You Should Ask Before Adopting Any Of The MAM?
Do you secure the applications based on the OS or the network? What application do you support on-premises or SaaS-based? Does your application solution have certain restrictions in relation to the number of apps or bandwidth barriers? Will you provide the backend service for the support of all devices? Though there are many of the requirements that enterprises need to satisfy before the implementation of the MAM begins.
Conclusion
Whether to develop an in-house application or take a third party vendor will depend on the extent of your requirement. Enterprises that have been developed with in house team feel that they can get easier application customization and with a third-party vendor, an already live tested solution that can directly be deployed.
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