Securing mobile devices is incredibly difficult. They often have privileged access to sensitive data that they connect to via unprotected network connections. Virtualization vendors are finding ways to include solutions to these problems in their products and they’re perfect for small businesses.

Mobile device management and virtualization

Simply put, mobile device management (MDM) is about controlling how users on any device -- from laptops to internet-connected printers -- view, share, and store sensitive information.

For example, if you have a user who accesses data via a company-provided laptop, an office copier and a personal smartphone, IT administrators can install an application on each device that enforces policies created from a centralized console.

There are dozens of standalone MDM solutions that consolidate device administration, but by using one that integrates with your virtualization platform, you can standardize policies for any industry across a range of company-owned, line-of-business, and personal devices.

Users are constantly picking up and discarding devices. Solutions like VMware’s AirWatch and Citrix’s XenMobile mean you no longer need to manage security settings for each device; instead, you can configure one virtualized environment for one employee, and its settings will be applied regardless of which device it’s accessed from.

What are the benefits?

Beyond a centralized approach to device management and data access rights, virtualized MDM solutions allow you to enjoy a number of other benefits. For example, IT administrators can remotely lock or erase data on employee devices if the device has been lost or stolen.

You can also benefit from Single Sign-On security. This means your users need only one set of login credentials to access all their applications. Technically, each application will still use a different username and password, but your virtualized solution will securely store each of the credentials and automatically log in users whenever they sign in to your MDM platform.

Hardware and software are evolving so fast that it’s almost impossible to secure them without extensive IT training. With a little help from trained professionals, virtualization is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways for business owners to simplify user settings and management.

It only makes sense that the next step would be unifying virtualized desktops, laptops, smartphones and other mobile devices under a single solution. Call us today to get started.

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