DCIG, LLC Announces Insider's Guide to Evaluating Mobile Data Management

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“It’s no longer an issue of “if” BYOD will come to your organization but “when,” said Howard Haile, DCIG, LLC and MDM Buyer’s Guide analyst.

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) November 04, 2013

The rise of "bring your own device" (BYOD) to work is reshaping the way IT handles support of employees worldwide. With predictions that 38 per cent of all companies will be completely BYOD by 2016, and the cost per year per employee rising to $300, IT organizations face adapting and even embracing the trend or risk serious privacy and security issues that could ultimately hurt the business.

For IT to support a BYOD program, or just to manage company-issued devices, using a Mobile Data Management (MDM) solution is key. To address the need to eliminate unnecessary research to identify and find an appropriate MDM solution, DCIG is proud to announce the publication of its first Mobile Data Management Buyer’s Guide. This inaugural guide helps identify MDM applications that allow IT managers to control application installation, enforce company security and privacy policies, remotely wipe and lock mobile devices, detect hacked or compromised devices, and much more.

“It’s no longer an issue of “if” BYOD will come to your organization but “when,” said Howard Haile, DCIG, LLC and MDM Buyer’s Guide analyst. “In order for network administrators and senior IT and security leaders to be best prepared to address the challenges that any BYOD policy brings to an organization, they need to understand the best solution to meet their needs. With our latest Buyer’s Guide on Mobile Data Management, we fully believe we have a great resource to help in identifying and understanding what solutions are available along with key factors to consider when deciding which solution to test and deploy.”

For the first Mobile Data Management Buyer’s Guide, DCIG, LLC evaluated 26 offerings from 26 companies. After an initial questionnaire of more than 80 questions was completed, participating companies’ capabilities were assessed from the questionnaire and from information available in the public domain. Solutions were then evaluated for more than 100 characteristics, and weighted after conversations with end-users. After scores were compiled, solutions were assessed and ranked either “Best-in-Class,” “Recommended,” “Excellent,” “Good,” and “Basic” across functionality and capability relative to the overall market landscape.

The intent for this Buyer’s Guide, as with all DCIG Buyer’s Guides, is to provide an “at-a-glance” comparison from which end users can select the most appropriate solution for their existing needs. This Buyer’s Guide also provides perspective on how solutions from less well known midrange array providers compare against established and better known brands.

The DCIG 2014 Mobile Data Management Buyer’s Guide Top 10 solutions include (in alphabetical order): Amtel Mobile Lifecycle Management; Excitor DME Mobile Data Manager; Fixmo Sentinel; Maas360 Fiberlink Communications Maas360; MobileIron Advanced Mobile Management; Motorola Mobile Services Platform v4; Sophos Mobile Sophos Mobile Control; Sybase (SA) Afaria; Symantec Mobile Management Suite; Tangoe Mobile Device Management.

MobileIron Advanced Mobile Management earned “Best-in-Class” status due to its rich security feature set, delivery model flexibility and strong product support. MobileIron provides a high level of device scalability with a single cluster configuration supporting up to 100,000 devices. Other features that users will find useful include:

•     PKI Certificate Support
•     Support for Windows 8
•     SIEM and DLP integration
•     Support for Apple VPP and Samsung SAFE Program
•     Two-factor authentication support
•     Customizable dashboards

The DCIG 2014 Mobile Data Management Buyer’s Guide achieves the following objectives by:

•     Providing an objective, third party evaluation of MDM solutions that evaluates and scores their features from an end user’s perspective.
•     Scoring and ranking the features on each MDM solution that matters most to end users and then presents these results in an easy to understand table that displays the products’ scores and rankings so they can quickly ascertain which midrange array is the most appropriate for their needs.
•     Providing a standardized data sheet for each of the MDM solution so users may do quick comparisons of the features that are or are not supported with each product.
•     Providing insight into which features on a MDM solution will result in improved performance.
•     Giving any organization a solid foundation for getting competitive bids from different MDM providers that are based on “apples-to-apples” comparisons.
•     Providing insight into what features MDM providers offer to optimize and organization’s BYOD integration.

“Our research indicates that the ideal business for an MDM solution is the small-to-midsize enterprise,” added Haile. “For many of those organizations, the use of cloud-based technologies or hybrid models that deal with advanced administrative and security features are commonplace. As cloud adoption proliferates so does the concern with administration and security that drive differing mobile operating systems. We know the MDM Buyer’s Guide will help end users focus their energy on product evaluations and competitive bid processes versus wasting cycles on determining what solutions could possibly fit their needs.”

Disclosure and Methodology
DCIG identified twenty-six (26) companies that provide MDM solutions. Each array had to meet the following criteria:

•     Primary purpose had to be for managing mobile devices.
•     Primary intent is to provide organizations the ability to maintain security and manage features over corporate or personal devices.
•     Must provide functionality as original software, not licensed from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)
•     Must support functionality asked about through software, not services.
•     Must be generally available prior to June 15th, 2013.

In every case the participating vendor had the opportunity to review and respond to the survey and the information regarding their product displayed on the data sheets included in this Buyer’s Guide. MDM solutions were then put into the respective Buyer’s Guides based upon their starting price point.

There were some cases where MDM providers elected not to respond to DCIG’s inquiries or requests. While those products were still covered in this Buyers Guide, the information as presented in this Guide may be incomplete or not represent all of the products capabilities. In cases where no responses were received, a notation is included on the bottom of that products' data sheet indicating that all information displayed is strictly drawn from publicly available sources.

DCIG also spoke to various end-users to get a sense of how they would weight their needs in these various areas. DCIG then evaluated the vendors’ capabilities by applying weighting indicated from our conversations with these end-users. No vendors, whether clients or not, were afforded preferential treatment in the Buyer’s Guide. All research was based upon information provided directly by vendors, research and analysis by DCIG and other publicly available information.

It is worth noting that each Buyer’s Guide is not intended to be a substitute for internal testing. DCIG encourages any organization that is considering the purchase of any solution included in a Buyer’s Guide to do its own in-house testing.

Availability
The DCIG 2014 Mobile Data Management Buyer’s Guides is available immediately and may be downloaded for no charge with registration at the following http://dcigbuyersguides.com/.
Resources:
DCIG Blog: http://www.dcig.com

About DCIG
DCIG analysts provide informed, insightful, third party analysis and commentary on IT hardware, software and services.

DCIG independently develops and licenses access to DCIG Buyer's Guides that provide actionable intelligence through comprehensive, in-depth analysis of data center infrastructure product features. DCIG also develops sponsored content in the form of blog entries, case studies, product reviews, special reports and executive, standard and full-length white papers.

DCIG's research serves the need of C-level executives, IT managers, systems and storage engineers and architects for multiple industries as well as the needs of enterprise, SME, channel, reseller and service providers.

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