How MDM and Zero-Touch Can Maximize Efficiency for Your Hybrid Team

This ain’t your grandfather’s office.

Did you know that globally, 62% of employees are taking a hybrid approach, meaning they work from home at least part of their workweek? Add to that the fact that there are now 3x more remote jobs than there were in 2020, and it’s clear that the old ways of managing a team no longer apply.

The same goes for the equipment teams use to get the job done. Many employees are taking their company laptops home to work, but that can create problems. When employees take their devices in and out of the office, issues may arise in security, hardware, and processes.

It’s time to come up with better ways to manage the hybrid team and the equipment it uses.

Old Way: Equipment Stays in the Office

When employees could only access company data on their desktops in the office, it was easier for the company to maintain security measures. The office was, in a sense, a fortress.

Of course, the pandemic made companies realize they were limiting productivity by keeping the work in the office, so they began to allow staff to take laptops home to work. But that came with security concerns.

New Way: Equipment Goes Where the Employee Goes

Now with hybrid work, an employee might be in the office two days a week and then take her laptop home with them to work the rest of the week. That opens up the company to vulnerabilities in security, like data breaches and hacking.

This has created the need for mobile device management (MDM). Companies must incorporate security tools and measures that protect devices both in the office and elsewhere.

VPN

Many companies use virtual private networks (VPNs) to give remote employees access to data that lives in the company’s data center. This information is encrypted and secure, and IT managers can control who has access to which information.

Robust Password Management

Employees often need to be educated on the importance of creating strong, unique passwords, and IT managers need to create a policy to require those to be changed regularly.

Limiting Data Accessible Off-Site

Not every employee needs to be able to access all information, and you may want to limit what employees can access off-site. Sensitive information, such as customer data, might be limited to access only in the office. 

Removing Access Upon Termination

It’s also important to remember to revoke access to any and all data, email, and accounts once an employee is no longer with the company. This helps keep that data secure.

Old Way: IT Manages Processes Manually

With an in-house team, it was easy for the IT department to manage maintenance schedules and updates for physical equipment. It wasn’t the most efficient, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it?

The problem was, it was often an employee who had other responsibilities who ended up chasing laptops down around the office to install updates or fix them. This was a waste of time and money, and it’s a system that no longer works with today’s hybrid workforce.

New Way: Zero-Touch Processes

So many processes can be automated these days, including security updates, software upgrades, onboarding, and offboarding.

Using zero-touch reduces human involvement, lets employees get back to work without the disruption of taking their computers to the IT department, and saves money when the company isn’t paying for staff to handle these tasks manually.

These processes can also be outsourced to a third party like allwhere, who can then manage everything from sending a new hire their outfitted laptop to maintaining those updates and upgrades remotely.

As the saying goes: work smarter, not harder. Both MDM and zero-touch offer companies with hybrid teams the ability to manage and secure devices no matter where they are without wasting valuable time and money.

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Ready to see what today’s hybrid teams can really do with the right resources? allwhere will help you create a world-class workplace by providing outsourced, centralized procurement; full lifecycle asset management (deployment, replacement, retrieval, storage, disposal, and redeployment); and more to help your teams navigate the future of work, no matter where they are. To learn more, book a demo with us here.