They say necessity is the mother of invention, and the accelerating pace of the mobile revolution is no exception. The proliferation of mobile devices affected countless industries, creating a powerful need for businesses to manage those devices. And so, mobile device management (MDM) was born. While these solutions have evolved considerably over the years to keep pace with new technologies and innovations, their core function remains enabling IT personnel to remotely manage, track, troubleshoot and secure devices – mostly smartphones and tablets these days.
It’s easy to see the parallels between the factors driving the development and adoption of MDM – namely device control and security – and those that brought about IoT device management. Similarities in concepts and terminologies further cloud the distinction between the two. But, as any company that has attempted to repurpose an MDM solution for the management of IoT devices can attest, the resemblance is only superficial.
Any number of technical guides can detail how the technologies behind MDM and IoT device management differ. However, there are a few key disparities that businesses should consider when determining what type of solution is best suited for their unique situation.
The most obvious disparity is the variety and complexity of devices each solution is built to handle. As the name implies, managing mobile devices – typically smartphones and tablets – is the primary focus of MDM. While development of the technology has progressed – accelerated by the popularity of bring your own device (BYOD) workplaces – to the point that it can now support additional endpoints, its scope remains limited. Conversely, the variety and complexity of IoT devices is extremely broad. The spectrum stretches from two-dollar temperature sensors to million-dollar wind turbines, which is why IoT device management solutions are designed to control a range and sophistication of devices far exceeding that of MDM.
The human element is another important differentiator. With MDM, the vast majority of devices are tied to a person. Furthermore, much of the focus centers on how those people interact with the devices – who can log in, what installs are allowed and when, varying levels of access, and so on. IoT lacks this level of human involvement because there’s no correlation between people and devices. This lack of direct human interaction means the use cases and problems to solve are different. The focus is more on enabling advanced functionality, such as predictive capabilities, with a device rather than how someone interacts with it.
Although the mobile devices central to MDM are important to a wide variety of areas across a business, the consequences of one of them failing are generally fairly isolated.
