Which Mobile Device Management Solution is Right for Your Business?
In recent years, the use of various devices and the increase in telecommuting is one of the main challenges organizations face in equipment management and security.
These challenges caused organizations to rethink and automate device management processes.
COPE, BYOD, CYOD, and COBO are the device management policies that enterprises should consider when providing mobile devices to their employees. Now let's explore these terms to better realize the best device management strategies for organizations.
1 What Are COPE, BYOD, CYOD, and COBO?
These policies aim to protect and manage organizational devices, but each serves a different purpose.
Enterprise requirements and goals determine mobile device policy. So, when choosing a policy, users should understand their device usage rights, responsibilities, and constraints inside the business.
| Policy | Definition | Who uses it? | Who manages the device? |
|---|---|---|---|
| COPE | "Corporate-Owned, Personally Enabled" (COPE devices) refer to mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets, that are provided by an organization to its employees for both work and personal use. | Organizations that issue devices to employees. | IT Department of Company |
| BYOD | "Bring Your Own Device" is a mobile device policy that allows employees to use their own personal devices for work purposes. | Organizations that allow employees to use personal devices. | Employees. |
| CYOD | "Choose Your Own Device" is a mobile device policy that allows employees to choose from a pre-approved list of devices that are provided by the enterprise. | Organizations that offer a range of devices to employees. | Enterprise owns and manages the devices through its IT department. |
| COBO | "Corporate-Owned, Business Only" is a mobile device policy that involves the enterprise providing a mobile device to the employee for business use only. | Organizations that issue devices solely for business use. | IT Department or another designated administrator. |
2 Learn the Advantages & Disadvantages of Different Policy Models
COPE
Advantages
- Flexibility in Usage: It gives employees a balance between work and personal use, which makes them happier and more productive.
- Data Protection: It helps enterprises ensure compliance with regulations and industry standards, particularly regarding sensitive data or applications.
- Support and Training: The COPE policy provides greater support and assistance regarding management, troubleshooting, and training.
Drawbacks
- Increased Burden on IT: COPE devices require additional management and support from IT departments, potentially leading to increased workload and reduced efficiency. However, the MDM solution provides a centralized platform for IT professionals to monitor and safeguard COPE security in one place, reducing their burden.
BYOD
Advantages
- Healthy Working Environment: BYOD policies can make it easier for employees to talk to each other and work together because they can access and share information on their own devices. A healthy work environment is established with higher device uptake.
- Reduced Device Management: Companies can save money on device management and support costs because employees are in charge of their devices.
- Increased Innovation: Employees may have access to the newest technologies and apps on their own devices, which can help them develop new ideas.
Drawbacks
- Potential for Data Loss: Personal devices may not have adequate data backup and recovery processes, potentially resulting in data loss or corruption.
- Increased Security Risks: Personal devices may need the necessary security measures, increasing the risk of data breaches and other security threats.
- Limited Device Management: IT departments may need more control over device management, making enforcing security policies and ensuring compliance more difficult.
CYOD
Advantages
- Reduced Support Costs: CYOD policies can reduce support costs as IT departments only need to support a select number of pre-approved devices.
- Increased Standardization: CYOD policies can lead to increased standardization of devices and software, making it easier to manage and support devices across the organization.
- Increased Security: CYOD policies allow for more control over device security, ensuring that devices meet necessary security standards and reducing the risk of data breaches. It also increases employee satisfaction.
Drawbacks
- Reduced Flexibility: CYOD policies may limit flexibility as employees may be restricted to using company-approved devices for work-related purposes.
- Potential for Compatibility Issues: Even with pre-approved devices, compatibility issues may still exist with company software and applications, potentially reducing productivity.
- Increased Training Costs: With CYOD policies, employees may need to be trained on various pre-approved devices, potentially increasing training costs.
COBO
Advantages
- Reduced Distractions & Better Accountability: Employees are less likely to be distracted by personal apps and notifications, leading to better focus on work-related tasks. COBO devices are easily monitored and tracked for better accountability.
- Improved Data Security: COBO allows more security of data to organizations. The administrators can block file sharing and access to various device apps.
- Complete IT Management: COBO gives you more control over security policies, like requiring passwords and letting you delete data remotely. It lowers the risk of data breaches and other security problems.
Drawbacks
- Limited Device Choice: Employees might be unable to choose their preferred device or operating system, making them less happy at work and less productive.
- Limited Innovation: COBO policies could make it harder for employees to use new apps and technologies, limiting creativity and innovation at work.
- Higher Costs: Buying and managing devices can cost more upfront than other policies like BYOD.
3 Use Cases of Different Policy
IBM
IBM has a global presence and operates in over 170 countries. It utilizes the benefits of COBO and BYOD policies while minimizing their drawbacks using the COPE policy.
By providing company-owned devices, IBM ensures they meet their security requirements and are properly managed.
At the same time, employees can use the device for personal purposes, increasing productivity. With COPE, IBM manages and tracks devices, and software updates and security patches are rolled out quickly and efficiently.
Cisco
Cisco uses the BYOD policy in its system to provide flexibility and convenience to employees while maintaining the corporate network's security.
Cisco implements various security measures, including mobile device management (MDM) software, encryption, and access control. It helps in reducing their purchasing cost and also improves employee satisfaction.
BYOD also helps CISCO to stay competitive in the technology industry by keeping up with the latest trends and technologies.
Accenture
Accenture provides employees with various devices with the necessary software and security features to meet the organization's standards. It protects corporate data and resources using an MDM solution.
By doing so, Accenture can improve employee satisfaction and productivity, reduce costs, and stay competitive in the professional services industry.
Intel
Intel aims to leave no space for risk. Thus, the company uses COBO policy. Although it seems difficult to manage, the organization has complete visibility and control over the devices.
It helps to manage and monitor their security settings, software updates, and applications. With a standardized environment, it becomes easy for the administrators to configure with the same security settings and software, enabling easy troubleshooting.
4 Which One Is Right for Your Company?
After comparing these policies, it's clear which is best for specific businesses. For more clarity, read below key factors.
Key Factors to Consider Before Making a Selection
Enterprise device management policies must take multiple considerations into account. The adopted policy must fulfill business and industry security standards.
The policy should also make it easy for workers to access data and apps. Cost, device kinds, compliance, scalability, and support also matter.
How to Choose?
It is important to be vigilant about various policies, their benefits and drawbacks to get a perfect policy for your organization. Here are some examples of device management policies with their unique purposes:
COPE Policy: This policy is suitable for companies that want to control the devices that employees use for work but also want to offer them the flexibility to use them for personal purposes.
BYOD Policy: This policy is suitable for companies with a limited budget for providing devices to their employees or those who want to offer their employees the flexibility of using their devices. However, it cannot be easy to implement security measures and manage company data on personal devices.
CYOD Policy: This policy is suitable for companies that want to offer their employees some flexibility in choosing their devices while maintaining control over the devices used for work.
COBO Policy: This policy is suitable for companies that require strict control over company data and want to ensure that all devices are managed and secured properly.
5 Which Option Do We Prefer & Why?
Selecting the appropriate device policy is crucial for achieving successful enterprise mobility, high productivity, and robust security, and a one-size-fits-all approach is unsuitable.
We recommend that enterprises should incorporate a combination of two or more device environments within their enterprise environment.
Moreover, an MDM solution is essential regardless of the chosen device environment. A good MDM solution can help you save costs and stay productive.
6 Best Practices to Secure Android Devices
An MDM solution that helps organizations easily support, control and manage devices must be considered.
Best MDM Solution - AirDroid Business
AirDroid Business MDM is an attractive solution to handle Android devices circulated in an enterprise. By connecting all the devices to AirDroid Business, IT managers can remotely manage, monitor and control the devices making them operational and fully productive in support of the organization.
Main Featurs of AirDroid Business
Device management: Grouping devices based on business requirements, remotely viewing devices' information and data, and generating analysis reports.
App management: App deployment, update and uninstall. You also can test app release on a small scale of devices.
Remote monitor and control: Check the equipment screen in real-time, and check the surrounding environment through a remote camera; remote troubleshooting.
Policy & custom alerts: Use the policy settings to configure restrictions on your managed devices, such as disabling hotspots, USB connections, and other safety settings. You can create alerts to detect abnormal behaviors.
Location tracking & geofencing Real-time tracking of device position; Set up a geofence to be notified when equipment enters/leaves a specific area.
7 Common Challenges of Mobile Devices Management
Strike a balance between employee privacy and corporate control
Maintaining employee happiness and productivity while preserving the organization's assets requires balancing these responsibilities.
Security & data privacy
Organizations must establish robust security protocols to protect corporate data from unauthorized access, breaches, and theft.
In addition, enterprises must ensure that employee privacy is respected and that personal data is not accidentally or intentionally accessed or exposed.
Remote management and support
IT teams must establish remote management protocols that allow them to manage and support the devices from a central location, regardless of their physical location.
It includes troubleshooting and resolving issues and pushing out security patches remotely.
Establish proper policies to govern the usage of devices
Enterprises must establish policies to govern their usage. It includes policies related to data privacy, security, acceptable use, and personal use.
These policies must be communicated to employees, enforced consistently, and regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in technology, regulations, and organizational needs.
Network connection and management
Devices need to rely on network connectivity to access corporate data and applications, making it essential to ensure that the network is secure and reliable.
IT teams must establish proper protocols to manage network connectivity, including monitoring network traffic, restricting access to sensitive data, and ensuring that only authorized devices can connect.
8 Related Questions
9 Conclusion
Enterprise mobile device management includes COPE, BYOD, COBO, and CYOD. COPE gives better control over device usage, security, and administration while enabling employees to use devices for personal use, making it the best option for many enterprises.
However, multiple equipment policies are recommended for balancing internal enterprise management, and MDM solutions such as AirDroid Business are essential for securing and compliantly managing devices.
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