In the current digital world, many employees use one mobile device for both their personal and private sectors. If these are prviately owned, they pose a potential risk for sensitive company data being leaked or shared with other apps. A container app is needed – or better even a MDM software? We compare these two.

A solution for this is “container apps,” which safely separate personal and company data apps. They also encrypting the business data that employees store on their mobile devices. However, container apps are not inexpensive: licenses range around 5 $ per month and user. At the same costs, all-around Mobile Device Management (MDM) software is also available. And MDMs come with a lot more features than the containerization.

Mobile Device Management in overview

Currently, many businesses use a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. This is because most employees already have a mobile device for their personal use. This is supposed to remove costs for a business having to buy hundreds or thousands of mobile devices for all their employees.

Unfortunately, the BYOD policy is a significant risk for businesses because their IT department cannot monitor everyone’s personal phones. This is where mobile device management comes in to comply with the specific data laws regulated by the GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation).

No matter their size, all businesses can benefit from MDM as a solution to data risks. Enterprises and small businesses can benefit from MDM software to centrally control all employee devices across the board in a few minutes.

Depending on your business size, an MDM provider will cater to your specific needs. Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, an MDM provider will suit your business model and the number of mobile devices and tablets your employees use for business and personal reasons.

Various MDM providers cater to enterprises and small businesses with only a few mobile devices that need to use the MDM solution to secure business information and separate it from personal data. MDM providers, such as MobileIron, MaaS360, Baramundi, or VMware, are the best in the business.

Mobile Device Management in comparison to container apps

Container apps separate explicitly personal and business data on a mobile device. The purpose of a container app is to lock all business data from being accessed from the private sector on the phone. For example, an employee cannot copy business information and paste it onto a private app or document.

The container app encrypts the entire workspace on the phone. It secures the data from being accessed from any personal apps. However, the problem with using container apps is that not all employees have this app installed on their own devices.

Mobile Device Management (MDM) is a software that offers businesses the opportunity to manage and control all of their employee’s mobile devices in a centralized manner. MDM provides more functions and makes using container apps easier for both the business and the employee.

MDM is centralized in that IT has the power to update software such as antivirus phone protection software across all employee phones that are registered on the database without accessing any employee’s personal information.

The Mobile Device Management software also ensures that if a phone is stolen or lost, IT can quickly delete all company data if someone tries to access it. This ensures that all company data is safely encrypted and protected on BYOD or company phones.

MDM software compared to container apps - why is it important?

Whether your business is using a BYOD device approach or providing mobile devices for your employees, keeping work separate from personal apps is essential on mobile devices. This can prove difficult when a business has hundreds or thousands of mobile devices. And you need to individually install and encrypt each one with container apps.

Container apps only have one function. They separate business apps and personal apps in designated digital workspaces that can be switched between the two. However, the containerization of business apps is not enough by itself for the protection of business data. MDM has more functions, including centralized access for IT, which increases the overall security.

The process of container apps increases IT costs and makes it difficult to track each individual phone and ensure that all work data is secured. Data separation with MDM software means you can keep an automated inventory of every device that each employee uses.

MDM ensures that mobile devices can be used for corporate processes while protecting business information from being leaked or lost. IT has complete control to change access rights, configurations, data distributions, policies, and software updates in a centralized way.

Using MDM for your employees’ mobile devices reduces IT costs and resources, which could be focused on other implementations. It also ensures a safe and encrypted dedicated workspace that cannot share information with the personal mobile space and apps.

Benefits of MDM software

When you rent a phone of your choice from Everphone, each phone comes with MDM software automatically installed for all your work phones. An MDM smartphone system provides all the functionalities of a container app. It separates the work apps from the personal apps on work phones.

However, unlike container apps, the primary benefit of MDM is that it is independent of mobile device manufacturers and their operating systems. This means that you can implement and use MDM on iOS or Android mobile devices without any problems.

When looking at MDM in comparison to container apps, here are the benefits:

MDM systems allow for the pre-configuration for the access of apps. This enables employees to use their phones for work within a few minutes.
MDM offers streamlined and centralized device management for IT.
MDM software is compliant with GDPR laws of separating business and personal data.
MDM software sets up a secure workspace for employees to use while encrypting business data.
Implementing MDM is an easier and quicker process for IT, which saves time and budget.
MDM can be integrated with various mobile operating systems.

Final thoughts on the MDM comparison

Mobile Device Management, in comparison to container apps, provides your business and IT department peace of mind when it comes to complying with the GDPR and keeping personal and business information separate.

Read up on MDM comparisons:

MDM also ensures that all your work data is safely stored and protected from data breaches or leaks on an employee’s work phone. MDM software offers various features that make encrypting business data painless.

Once you have invested in MDM software, your business will be able to control all business data from a centralized point which saves time and money while providing a systematic method for your IT to keep sensitive data safe.

Mobile device management in comparison with container apps