Gartner Predicts Increased Popularity of MDM

According to Gartner analysts, the recent proliferation of mobile devices in business is expected to increase Mobile Device Management (MDM) technologies exponentially throughout the upcoming five years.

This prediction, a headlining topic for this year's Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, also claims that 65 percent of corporations will embrace some form of MDM as the popularity of mobile devices increase. The reason for this rapid adoption of MDM is to handle increased security issues from the use of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Gartner's explanation for this MDM forecast is based on their claim that 90 percent of enterprises will have at least two mobile operating systems by 2017. Many companies have already made the switch to Apple as their primary mobile platform and many others are expected to follow suit within the next 18 months. Other platforms such as Windows 8 are also on the rise, which further contribute to the need for a solid MDM, according to Gartner analysts.

At the recent symposium, Gartner also explored the three classes in which mobile devices should be placed. This categorization is done for the purpose of maintaining control by IT staff. These distinct classes include the following: standard and trusted devices given through the company, tolerated devices, and finally, those that are not supported. In this case, mobile device users are provided with a list of predefined technologies for each class alongside the budget projecting the amount consumed by each device. Thus, the user is given the opportunity to enhance their necessary technologies without going beyond budgetary limitations. The subjectivity of "reasonable use" can now be circumvented by this method.

By introducing this tiered support structure, "IT organizations can shield business information and enforce policies about data movement between the device and the corporate network, while enabling users to adopt the device they deem most appropriate," says Gartner's research vice president Phil Redman. Furthermore, he asserts that businesses will struggle to accomplish an effective mobile-support system if "all platforms are not managed the same way under enterprise requirements."

Redman continues by pointing out that MDM vendors are now progressing past just security issues and are now working to maintain content, data, and enterprise and third-party applications. He, alongside the rest of the Gartner, predicts that MDM platforms will continue to expand and shape into a mobile system management platform for organizations. (RP) Link