Mobile devices and systems have transformed the business landscape, delivering the visibility, accuracy, speed, and efficiency organizations need to keep work in motion. Given the complexity of the modern supply chain, that’s no small feat.
At the same time, mobility solutions are putting more and better data into leadership’s hands, so today’s business strategies and key decisions are based on fresher, more robust information than ever before.
But mobility can only meet its greatest potential when it’s properly implemented, configured, monitored, and managed. And in a complex business environment, that’s an increasingly complicated undertaking.
What’s more, there is no single curriculum career path that allows a person to develop every skill it takes to effectively manage a mobility program. For businesses that choose to do it all themselves, that can mean fielding a team with expertise that isn’t always needed, or that become a bottleneck when demand is high, or that have critical skills gaps that leave them looking outside for a solution anyway.
That’s where managed mobility services (MMS) come in. But before you and your organization take the step toward entrusting your MMS to a third-party provider, it’s important to review a few solid reasons why you should outsource—and what to do if outsourcing isn’t your answer.
As in all things, innovation and change are constants in IT, and no matter where an organization is at the start of a shift, it’s still undergoing a transformation. A few shifts currently underway in mobility include:
Wherever you and your organization are on the path toward optimally managed mobility services, these are just a few compelling reasons to work with an expert mobility management service provider.
When you contract with a team of experts, you get just that—specialized expertise to meet the specific MMS needs of your organization, when those needs arise. So you don’t have to worry about all the recruiting and retention stresses of building out and managing the team, ensuring enough workload to justify the hires, or getting an extra hand to troubleshoot and solve problems when they arise. In short, you get all the capability and agility, plus cost savings.
Working with an MMS provider means access to a team of true mobility geeks attuned to the field, with a deep awareness of updates, emerging best practices, and the most promising industry innovations to keep an eye on.
And because an MMS provider can field a team with such great depth and breadth of experience and expertise, those eyes and ears are on everything from devices and software to networks and service plans. And because it’s what they live, eat, and breathe, you can expect them to identify opportunities for cost-effective improvements that will actually make a difference to your mobile users and your bottom line.
When your MMS solution is expertly structured and managed to serve your organization’s unique needs, you can achieve true real-time visibility into device locations, usage, check-in/check-out status, connectivity, compliance, battery health, and much more.
An experienced MMS provider can help you determine the data that’s most valuable to your business growth and bottom line, and make sure you’re set up for success in capturing it.
Data is only as useful as you make it, after all. You can gather all you want, but until it’s analyzed and reported, it’s not delivering value. That’s where you stand to benefit from an MMS provider’s team and their experience transforming data into insights.
Whether it’s analytics and reporting to help you develop a sharper picture of your business mobility landscape, or fully integrating the data into an enterprise asset tracking platform like IntelliTrack®, when a team of experts is at the wheel, you can trust that the data will help you really see into the nooks and crannies of your enterprise.
When you’ve got a trusted MMS team that’s capable of handling mobility infrastructure, deployments, app development, device security and management, remote troubleshooting, issue resolution, and all the details of mobile device management, you can have all that brain bandwidth back to focus on business growth.
And, as you clarify your vision, you can consult with the team to streamline and optimize your MMS so it best supports your objectives. Faster, more efficiently, and with optimal use of your resources.
It can be hard to say no.
But long-entrenched practices that undermine IT security—shadow IT, noncompliance with configuration standards, and more—become easier to eradicate when your internal teams have an outside resource to take the blame.
When security configurations and updates are in the hands of your MMS support services team who can more confidently turn down “favors,” it helps your IT team more effectively shift toward a culture of standards and best practices.
Working with an expert MMS provider doesn’t have to be a one-size-fits-all experience. In fact, if that’s what you’re told to expect, keep looking. Expect your team to start with your people and processes, before jumping off into the technology solutions.
You should also expect customizable levels of support that give you the specific balance of hands-on and hands-off you’re looking for:
Contracting MMS services on an annual basis gives you the option to dial the support up or down with relative ease as your needs change. Knowing you can execute a smooth hand-off back to the experts can instill greater confidence to take on initiatives that make a real difference to your business.
The fact is, managed mobility is a highly specialized skill set that’s best put to use within a complex environment.
The expertise, experience, and awareness it takes to make the right device recommendations, administer MDM solutions, ensure consistent end-user satisfaction, troubleshoot and resolve issues quickly when they arise, and manage device lifecycles, systems, networks, and device configurations … all those skills take years of learning and experience to grow, so they can be hard to find.
They can be even harder to afford if you’re trying to build your own team. And the time spent attempting to DIY it—or waiting for that unicorn—can add up to time wasted, lost data, and missed insights.
The sooner you begin your search for the right MMS partner, the sooner you can start reaping the benefits, including improved mobile device security practices. Barcoding has been a trusted MMS provider to some of the world’s largest organizations, and we’re ready to help. It’s easy to schedule a consultation and get started.
In the meantime, learn more about eight key mobile security best practices in enterprise mobility management by downloading our free guide. Just click the link below to claim your copy today.