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The MDM Opportunity [ITP.net (United Arab Emirates)](ITP.net (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The complexity of the Mobile Device Management (MDM) market is a daunting prospect for many organisations as they wrestle with the challenge of realising the business benefits of BYOD without compromising data security. The good news for the channel is that the demand for tools and services that will help the enterprise get to grips with this complexity is rising exponentially. Analyst Markets and Markets expects the global market to rise from $1.01bn in 2013 to $3.94bn by 2019 – an annual growth rate of 26.8%. It breaks the market down into a range of solutions (device management, applications management, security management, network service management etc.), services (implementation, training and support, and managed), deployment type (cloud and on-premises), and vertical industries. Across the board, BYOD and data security are the main drivers for MDM adoption, along with other key influences such as the general proliferation of smartphones and tablets. Tools remain relatively expensive, and this is inhibiting adoption at SMB level. However, Markets and Markets pointed out that this also constitutes a great opportunity for suppliers to deliver cheaper and simpler solutions. In the Middle East, the mobile explosion has been one of the most significant recent influences on corporate IT strategies. According to Hussam Sheikh Ali, head of channel and SMB sales in the Middle East at Kaspersky Lab, the security challenge alone has created a huge business potential for the channel. "Several organisations and industry verticals have a varied workforce, which includes remote workers and contractors," he said. "These organisations are now moving towards the adoption of new trends and technologies to enhance the productivity and satisfaction of employees. BYOD, the availability of various mobile device operating systems, the introduction of devices like smartphones and tablets, and security concerns in organisations are just some of the factors that will excite the MDM market in the Middle East in the coming few years." Given the escalating concerns among IT professional regarding the BYOD movement, there is a distinct lack of policies to govern mobile devices. The Arabian Computer News (ACN) IT Security Behaviour Survey 2014, revealed that 19% of respondents in the GCC indicated a restrictive policy where employees were forbidden to have corporate data on personal devices. Only 16% said their organisation had implemented controls to allow data on devices but also protect it, while 30% said no such rules were in place. Healthcare and education are leading the way for early MDM adopters, said Mathivanan V, director, product management at ManageEngine. "These sectors have to embrace MDM because their users and employees are embracing a wide range of mobile technologies, including smartphone, tablets and soon, wearable devices," he said. "Not surprisingly, organisations have adopted a number of strategies to successfully manage their mobile device populations. Successful MDM strategies include selective access based on the employee's role, stringent security practices and data protection policies, such as disallowing apps that read data from the device or apps that transmit data to the cloud." Anand Choudha, managing director at Spectrami, said that mobility in the Middle East is now mainstream, and organisations are actively looking at MDM solutions as they face the challenges associated with BYOD, mobile devices and mobile apps. "We are seeing enterprises in general having a holistic approach to mobility solutions, but banking – because of regulations and compliance – is among the early adopters of better mobility strategies," he said. "We see the GCC at the forefront of mobility adoption, as well as South Africa, which has recently enacted a protection of personal information act that mandates organisations to manage mobile devices effectively." Kaspersky Lab's senior product manager Stepan Deshevykh said the nature of the business is not ultimately the main issue. The key to a successful MDM strategy is the maturity of internal business processes. "If a company relies heavily on IT in operations, then deployment of an MDM system is a good idea as employees will embrace it eagerly and will support the company's endeavours to make them more productive," he said. "MDM deployment is all about risks versus benefits analysis. This means that incumbents must identify the benefits they are chasing, understand information flows and anticipate the change that MDM will induce, and discover the threats and risks caused by blurred security perimeters. We recommend thinking of data and its sensitivity first. Having this understanding, it is quite easy to figure out a proper data security policy for proper implementation with an MDM solution." Hussam Sheikh Ali, head, Channel and SMB sales, Middle East at Kaspersky Lab, suggested the climate is ideal for channel players to focus on the MDM arena – particularly if they can offer a comprehensive solution that combines MDM with mobile devices security. Like other leading players, Kaspersky Lab has developed multi-layered endpoint platforms that include mobile security and MDM, are easily integrated with the infrastructure and managed from one console. "The challenges resellers experience are mostly associated with convincing clients to invest in MDM and mobile security before they actually face security issues," he said. This can be particularly difficult with SMB customers – perhaps because they are more concerned about cost – but it does have the benefit of creating more awareness around the benefits and security issues of BYOD. However, generalised trends such as BYOD can distract from the fact that MDM will usually need to be tailored to suit the specific requirements of any organisation – which, as ManageEngine's Mathivanan said, will define the ideal solution. "To build a security foundation, the IT team should have robust MDM features that can protect data from threats," he said. "Some of the MDM security features are password policy, data wipe, and profile configuration, which help maintain strong data security with maximum protection. "Containerisation is another feature that helps in segregating enterprise data from personal data; this is the key in a BYOD setting. To ensure that only trusted devices enter the network, you can integrate network access control and MDM software. The anti-virus license should permit installation on employee-owned devices." Integration is a crucial consideration, agreed Deshevykh. But it is also a good idea for solution providers to explain the benefits of systems that do not need multiple management consoles. "Single security and MDM consoles save a lot in MDM project implementation, making integration pretty straightforward and predictable," he said. "Single console also helps save on staff education as employees continue to use the tool they know – making fewer mistakes and supporting higher MDM service availability levels." Meera Kaul, managing director at regional VAD Optimus Technology & Telecom, said the advent of bring your own device (BYOD) culture has grown the need for the MDM market very appropriately. In the Middle East, Kaul pointed out that enterprise mobility is going to be the main proponent of enterprise technology transformation over the next few years. "This will further transform the market to one of consumerisation of enterprise technology with a focus on enterprise mobile apps, security and management, unified communications over mobile devices and managed mobile enterprise wide services," she said. Kaul added that mobile network operators and service providers are early adopters of MDM. "Enterprises in oil and gas and government have led the growth of mobile device strategy in the region. As more and more enterprise adopt mobility, MDM will become a more pertinent technology vertical," she said. Resellers who can help organisations find ways for employees to access corporate data and email on the go will also be helping their customers to improve productivity. "More and more businesses realise this, and implement BYOD," Deshevykh said. "Yet they also hear about and face [security] threats relate to mobile devices. In this situation, more business and IT staff are demanding effective and easy-to-manage solutions to make BYOD beneficial and safe." Kaul concurred and said MDM is still in its infancy in the region. "Apart from adoption, one of the largest challenges that I forsee is lack of skill sets to enable enterprise support diverse mobile device based BYOD strategy. Mostly, as enterprise decides what platform to finally place their strategy on; a lot more mobility is based on Blackberry than on iOS or Android," she noted. However, Kaul said the migration across platforms is perhaps the most lucrative opportunity for resellers in the Middle East region. "The market should expect more enterprise adoption across mobile platforms that will drive the market of products. The security aspect of MDM will be the most competitive vertical to grow into," she advised. (c) 2014 ITP Business Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |