Enterprise mobility 2023: UEM meets DEX

2022:
UEM
adds
user
experience,
AI,
automation

The
past
two
years
have
seen
mobility
management
take
on
a
greater
importance
than
ever
in
the
enterprise.
As
remote
and
hybrid
work
models
take
hold
at
many
organizations,
“mobility
management”
has
expanded
its
meaning
from
management
of
mobile
devices
to
management
of
all
devices
used
by
mobile
employees,
wherever
they
happen
to
be
working
from.

Unified
endpoint
management
(UEM)
has
become
a
strategic
technology
at
the

center
of
companies’
efforts
to
control
this
increasingly
complex
environment.
Essentially
combining
enterprise
mobility
management
(EMM)
tools
with
PC
management
tools,
UEM
platforms
help
companies
manage
and
protect
a
range
of
devices
including
smartphones,
tablets,
laptops,
and
desktop
computers
across
multiple
operating
systems
—
all
from
a
unified
interface.

“With
remote
and
hybrid
work
here
to
stay,
having
a
cloud-powered,
unified
endpoint
strategy
and
toolset
is
key
to
staying
ahead
of
updates
and
security
risks,”
says
Dan
Wilson,
senior
director
and
analyst
at
research
firm
Gartner.
“We
are
also
seeing
an
increase
in
interest
around
UEM
tools
managing
macOS
and
Linux
endpoints,
as
part
of
continued
efforts
to
consolidate
tools,
teams,
and
associated
skills.”

What
the
UEM
market
looks
like

The
UEM
market
is
dominated
by
about

a
dozen
major
vendors.
It’s
not
seeing
many
new
players
enter
the
fray,
Wilson
says.
“However,
[smaller]
vendors
offering
products
and
capabilities
for
specific
use
cases
are
gaining
attention,”
he
says.

Such
use
cases
include
managing
frontline
worker
devices,
sensors
and
smart
devices
used
in
logistics
and
transportation,
kiosk
devices,
Internet
of
Things
(IoT)
endpoints,
commercial
drones,
and
wearables,
he
says.
“These
are
not
often
available
from
the
mainstream
UEM
tools,”
Wilson
says.

The
few
new
entrants
into
the
UEM
market
tend
to
be
companies
focused
on
small
and
midsized
businesses
(SMBs),
says
Andrew
Hewitt,
senior
analyst
at
Forrester
Research.
“We
expect
that
market
to
fundamentally
transform
into
a
new
market
in
the
next
two
to
three
years,”
Hewitt
says.
“What
that
looks
like
is
hard
to
say
at
this
point.”  

Pricing
of
UEM
platforms
remains
more
or
less
stable,
Hewitt
says.
“I
still
routinely
see
anywhere
between
$1
and
$10
per
user
per
month,”
he
says.
“There’s
a
mix
of
both
per-user
and
per-device
pricing
out
there,
with
per-user
pricing
increasingly
common.
However,
I
don’t
see
major
changes
when
it
comes
to
pricing.
One
new
trend
is
providing
specific
pricing
for
frontline
workers,
which
a
few
of
the
UEM
providers
now
have
today.”

While
list
prices
for
UEM
platforms
are
not
changing,
some
vendors
are
getting
more
aggressive
with
discounts,
Wilson
says.
“New
SKUs
and
bundles
are
being
created
to
attract
smaller
or
budget-conscious
customers,”
he
says. 

Emerging
trends
for
2022 

Forrester
sees
a
few
major
trends
emerging
for
UEM
this
year,
Hewitt
says.
One
is
the
rise
of
user
experience
management
within
UEM
tools.
The
use
of
end-user
experience
monitoring
(EUEM)
will
become
more
common
among
organizations,
he
says. 

This
involves
collecting
telemetry
from
endpoints
for
the
purposes
of
benchmarking
end-user
experience,
remediating
issues,
and
collecting
employee
feedback.
“As
enterprises
continue
to
try
to
improve
employee
experience for
hybrid
work,
these
experience
management
capabilities
will
become
increasingly
useful,
especially
when
combined
with
existing
tools
in
house,”
Hewitt
says. 

Another
trend
Hewitt
notes
is
an
acceleration
of
“modern
management,”
a
strategy
to
manage
endpoints
in
a
unified
way
without
compromising
the
security
of
the
endpoints.
“The
pandemic
forced
many
IT
decision
makers
to
modernize
their
endpoint
management
strategies
to
better
serve
remote
workers,”
he
says.
“We’re
now
seeing
large
moves
to
support
modern
management,
and
the
UEM
vendors
are
making
it
increasingly
easy
to
do
so
with
new
migration
tools.” 

In
addition
to
these
developments,
Hewitt
expects
to
see
a
greater
focus
on
remote-first
management
capabilities
with
UEM,
“specifically
when
it
comes
to
visibility
over
at-home
endpoints
and
improved
patching
via
the
internet,”
he
says.  

“I’d
also
expect
to
see
a
greater
focus
on
improving
deployment
automation,
providing
a
fully
automated
deployment
service
that
includes
areas
previously
not
included,
such
as
BIOS
[basic
input/output
system]
configuration,
user
personalization,
and
third-party
app
deployment,”
he
says. 

Gartner’s
Wilson
points
to
many
of
the
same
trends.
“We
anticipate
leading
UEM
tools
will
continue
to
try
to
consolidate
workloads
and
expand
features
to
include
experience
management,
automation,
patching,
vulnerability
and
risk
management,
configuration
management,
secure
remote
access,
and
remote
control,”
he
says. 

Security
and
endpoint
management
unite

Another
major
trend
Forrester
emphasizes
for
2022
is
the
continued
convergence
of
endpoint
management
and
endpoint
security.
Some
UEM
vendors
have
acquired
endpoint
detection
and
response
(EDR)
providers
in
recent
years,
Hewitt
notes.
“In
addition
to
integrating
those
tools,
we’re
seeing
more
interest
among
vendors
to
offer
combined
management
and
security
capabilities
within
a
single
platform,”
he
says. 

What
this
means
for
buyers
is
more
consolidation
of
tools,
fewer
agents
—
software
tools
that
monitor
threats
and
vulnerabilities
—
on
endpoint
devices,
and
a
growing
need
to
improve
collaboration
between
IT
operations
and
security
teams,
Hewitt
says. 

Phil
Hochmuth,
program
vice
president,
enterprise
mobility
at
IDC,
highlights
the
unification
trend
as
well.
PC
management
technology
will
increasingly
look
like
mobile
device
management
(MDM)
as
modern
endpoint
management
adopts
MDM
protocols
and
architectures
for
software
delivery,
he
says.  

“Automated
unified
endpoint
patching
—
especially
third-party
app
patching
—
will
be
difficult
to
achieve,”
Hochmuth
says.
“Endpoint
management
teams
will
increasingly
take
on
endpoint
security
roles
as
this
line
blurs.
To
address
these
trends,
we’re
advising
enterprises
to
keep
‘traditional’
endpoint
options
open
for
end-user
endpoint
management,
with
an
eye
toward modern
management.” 

IDC
is
emphasizing
the
importance
of
a
“single
pane
of
glass”
functionality
across
multiple
operating
systems and
device
form
factors,
Hochmuth
says.
“We’re
seeing
and
encouraging
more
integration
of
UEM
technology
into
both
end-user
computing
operations
teams
and
security
operations,”
he
says.

AI,
ML,
and
automation
on
the
rise

Mobility
experts
expect
artificial
intelligence
(AI),
machine
learning
(ML),
and
automation
to
play
increasingly
important
roles
in
UEM
platforms. 

“Analytics
is
becoming
an
increasingly
popular
feature
being
introduced
by
UEM
vendors,”
Hochmuth
says.
“This
is
the
ability
to
gather
data
and
telemetry
from
managed
endpoints
and
putting
that
data
into
usable
reports
and
workflows
driven
by
automation
and
AI.” 

Because
AI
and
ML
capabilities
are
relatively
new,
“it
will
take
time
to
prove
to
IT
administrators
that
the
insights
and
recommendations
[made
by
AI/ML]
are
complete,
accurate,
and
reliable,”
Wilson
says.
“But
the
sky
is
the
limit
on
what
can
be
done
to
eliminate
repeatable,
mundane
tasks.
We
also
expect
to
see
ML
play
into
better
risk
and
vulnerability
assessment
to
drive
better
prioritization
of
and
eventual
automation
of
software
updates
and
patching.” 

There
is
a
tremendous
need
for
self-healing
of
endpoint
devices
today,
“and
AI
plays
a
large
role
in
that
by
bringing
the
endpoint
back
into
compliance
with
its
initial
configuration,”
Hewitt
says.
“We
also
see
an
AI
play
when
it
comes
to
proactively
improving
experience
or
preventing
issues
from
happening
that
disrupt
employees.” 

This
will
require
significant
coordination
and
historical
knowledge
of
user
behavior,
Hewitt
says,
“but
it’s
something
that
will
improve
enterprises’
ability
to
predict
and
solve
issues
before
they
happen.” 

2021:
UEM
becomes
key
to
the
hybrid
workplace

The
push
toward
unified
endpoint
management
(UEM),
a
technology
strategy
that
emerged
a
few
years
ago
and
became
especially
vital
during
the
COVID-19
pandemic
and
shift
to
remote
work,
will
likely
play
a
major
role
in
the
coming
months.
Many
workers
have
begun
returning
to
their
employers’
offices
at
least
part
of
the
time,
and
a
new,
hybrid
work
model
is
emerging
post-pandemic.

UEM,
an
approach
that
unifies
and
centralizes
how
enterprises
manage
devices
such
as
smartphones,
tablets,
PCs,
and
Internet
of
Things
(IoT)
devices,
is
an
extension
of
mobile
management
technology
that
has
evolved
from

enterprise
mobility
management (EMM)
platforms,
which
in
turn
grew
out
of
mobile
device
management
(MDM)
products.
UEM
delivers
a
comprehensive
approach
to
managing
all
kinds
of
devices
in
the
enterprise,
so
is
a
natural
fit
for
the
hybrid
workplace.

“Across
the
world,
the
way
people
work
has
changed
significantly,”
says
Adam
Holtby,
principal
analyst
at
consulting
firm
Omdia.
“Mobility
has
been
the
central
theme
of
this
change,
with
businesses
across
the
globe
embracing
remote
and
flexible
work
styles
at
an
unprecedented
speed
and
scale.”

For
many,
the
shift
to
remote
and
fluid
work
styles
will
be
a
permanent
one,
Holtby
says,
and
businesses
must
act
now
to
ensure
that
the
right
technologies,
services,
and
processes
are
in
place
to
support
the
new
ways
of
working.

“Workplace
mobility
is
nothing
new,
but
in
2021
it
will
rise
in
priority
as
enterprises
look
to
invest
in
capabilities
that
help
secure
and
enable
a
more
flexible
workforce,”
Holtby
says.

Redefining
mobility

The
remote
work
model
redefined
“mobility
management”
in
the
enterprise,
expanding
its
meaning
from
management
of
mobile
devices
to
management
of

all
devices
used
by
mobile
employees,
including
those
who
work
from
home,
says
Dan
Wilson,
senior
director
and
analyst
at
research
firm
Gartner.

“This
has
elevated
the
importance
of
UEM
and
devalued
disparate
[MDM]
tools
and
use
cases,”
Wilson
says.
Critical
capabilities
to
support
the
“anywhere
workforce”
include
location-agnostic
automated
device
enrollment;
software
deployment;
operating
system
and
app
patching;
policy
management;
and
integration
with
identity,
remote
access,
and
endpoint
security
tools
for
zero
trust,
he
says.

This
can
only
come
from
UEM,
which
“has
served
as
a
foundational
technology
to
enable
an
any
device,
any
app,
any
location
experience
for
the
workforce,”
says
Andrew
Hewitt,
a
senior
analyst
at
Forrester
Research.
The
pandemic
proved
the
importance
of
UEM,
he
says,
as
it
allowed
organizations
to
enable
people
to
work
from
home
effectively
and
easily,
all
while
helping
IT
organizations
ensure
they
could
manage
and
secure
enterprise
data
as
it
left
the
traditional
perimeter.

“As
we
move
into
a
hybrid
working
world,
features
such
as
single
sign-on,
certificate
management,
and
multi-factor
authentication,
which
all
come
standard
in
most
UEM
solutions
today,
will
ensure
employees
can
easily
switch
context
between
the
home
and
the
office,”
Hewitt
says.

Forrester
also
expects
that
UEM
will
play
a
vital
role
in
distributing
applications
for
the
return
to
work,
such
as
health
and
safety
applications
and
desk
booking
tools,
Hewitt
says.
“Increasingly,
we’re
seeing
UEM
solutions
embed
experience
analytics
to
better
understand
the
[technology]
experience
employees
are
having,”
he
says.
“This
becomes
increasingly
important
in
a
hybrid
scenario,
as
the
surrounding
environment
is
constantly
changing,
creating
issues
for
the
end
user.”

An
eye
on
the
market

Staying
ahead
of
the
curve,
EMM
vendors
have
been
adding
UEM
features
to
their
platforms
for
years.
Prices
have
remained
stable
over
the
past
year,
Hewitt
says,
ranging
from
as
little
as
$1
to
$2
per
user
per
month
to
as
high
as
$15
per
user
per
month.

The
leading
vendors
in
the
mobility
mangement
market
(see
chart)
are
unchanged
from
a
year
ago,
and
there
has
been
no
consolidation,
with
the
exception
of
MobileIron
being
acquired
by
Ivanti.
“Mostly
what
we
see
is
UEM
vendors
acquiring
endpoint
security
functionality,”
Hewitt
says
—
for
example,
the
pairing
of
VMware
and
Carbon
Black,
BlackBerry
and
Cylance,
and
Ivanti
and
Pulse
Secure.

One
noteworthy
development
in
the
market
is
a
greater
focus
on
small
and
midsized
businesses
(SMBs).
“There
are
definitely
more
SMB-focused
options
in
the
marketplace
today,
served
primarily
through
the
introduction
of
new
vendors
such
as
42
Gears
and
Hexnode
but
also
in
freemium
packages
from
the
larger
vendors,”
Hewitt
says.

Hewitt
notes
that
smaller
companies
often
don’t
use
the
full
scope
of
features
offered
in
EMM/UEM
products:
“I’ve
heard
of
some
customers
using
as
little
as
10%
of
the
full
capabilities
of
some
products.
That
leaves
a
nice
opening
for
SMB-focused
players
with
[a]
simpler
offering.”

Key
trends
for
2021

Experts
note
several
key
trends
in
enterprise
mobility
this
year.
One
is
a
reemphasis
on
bring-your-own-device
(BYOD)
policies
and
procedures.
BYOD
“is
back
with
a
bang,
and
businesses
must
revisit
their
strategy,”
Holtby
says.

The
speed
and
scale
of
the
transition
to
remote
working
in
2020
presented
businesses
with
a
challenge
in
getting
devices
to
the
employees
who
needed
them,
Holtby
says.
“As
a
result,
many
people
had
to
undertake
work
on
personally
owned
devices
and
across
different
apps,
some
of
which
were
not
sanctioned
by
IT,”
he
says.

Moving
forward,
organizations
need
to
ensure
they
have
the
right
technologies
and
processes
to
support
different
device
and
app
management
approaches,
he
says.

“Remote
and
mobile
working
is
no
longer
a
nice
to
have;
it
is
a
business
priority,”
Holtby
says.
“Businesses
will
move
from
supporting
pockets
of
remote
work
to
becoming
organizations
that
more
fully
embrace
and
support
fluid
workstyles.
This
brings
a
range
of
different
technological,
physical
workplace,
and
cultural
considerations.
Businesses
must
ensure
that
employees
can
easily
access
work
resources
and
data
across
different
device
types
when
needed,
regardless
of
where
they
may
be
located.”

Another
trend
is
a
move
to
converge
endpoint
management
and
security,
with
UEM
providers
starting
to
take
on
more
endpoint
security
capabilities,
Hewitt
says.
“This
can
be
as
simple
as
an
enabling
a
BitLocker
enforcement
policy
or
as
advanced
as
doing
behavioral
anomaly
detection
on
devices,”
he
says.

Also,
the
move
toward
UEM
platforms
to
manage
traditional
clients
using
cloud-based
MDM
application
programming
interfaces
(APIs)
is
accelerating,
as
organizations
try
to
support
a
more
mobile
workforce,
Hewitt
says.

New
capabilities
offered
by
UEM
vendors
will
go
beyond
endpoint
analytics
to
enable
digital
employee
experience
management
(DEX),
Wilson
says.
“In
addition
to
the
collection
of
usage
and
performance
data,
DEX
applies
organizational
context
to
map
technology
use
to
roles
and
business
processes,
provides
a
near
limitless
number
of
derived
insights,
and
drives
automation,”
he
says.

As
endpoint
management
workloads
migrate
to
the
cloud
via
software-as-a-service
(SaaS),
the
door
will
open
for
greater
use
of
machine
learning
to
reduce
IT
administrative
and
support
overhead
and
improve
employee
experience,
Wilson
says.
“This
is
the
next
evolution
of
endpoint
management,”
he
says.

2020:
In
a
pandemic,
UEM
to
the
rescue

Enterprise
mobility
has
taken
on
a
whole
new
meaning
during
the
past
several
months.
Working
remotely
has
become
the
norm,
which
means
users
are
relying
on
a
range
of
devices
and
apps
like
never
before.

Some
key
questions
for
IT
leaders
to
consider:
What
impact
are
the
changes
brought
on
by
the
pandemic
and
resulting
economic
downturn
likely
to
have
on
mobile
technology
going
forward?
And
how
can
enterprise
mobility
strategies
and
tools
help
organizations,
both
now
and
in
the
long
run?

Accelerating
UEM

One
major
mobility
trend
that
will
likely
continue
is
the
rise
of

unified
endpoint
management
(UEM),
a
strategic
approach
that
unifies
and
centralizes
the
way
organizations
manage
their
deployed
devices,
including
phones,
tablets,
PCs
and
even
Internet
of
Things
(IoT)
devices.
It’s
a
logical
extension
of
mobile
management
tools
that
started
with
mobile
device
management
(MDM),
incorporated
mobile
application
management
(MAM),
and
expanded
through

enterprise
mobility
management
(EMM)
platforms.
UEM
offers
a
comprehensive
approach
to
managing
devices
in
the
enterprise.

Having
vastly
more
stay-at-home
workers,
combined
with
curtailed
IT
budgets,
will
accelerate
the
trend
toward
UEM,
says
Chris
Silva,
vice
president
and
analyst
at
Gartner.
The
firm
has
revised
its
guidance
around
the
importance
and
timing
of
UEM
from
a
key
program
to
consider
in
2020
to
a
project
that
should
already
be
underway.

The
older
device
management
tools
at
many
organizations,
which
rely
on
centralized
imaging
and
patch
management,
“present
significant
challenges
as
workers
remain
remote
and
cannot
access
physical
work
locations,”
Silva
says.
“We
have
already
seen
more
rapid
adaptation
to
supporting
remote
work
in
organizations
where
a
UEM
tool
is
in
place
for
PC
management.”

Forrester
Research
is
seeing
a
big
acceleration
in
cloud-based
technologies
as
result
of
the
work-at-home
transition.
“Some
of
this
is
definitely
UEM,
particularly
when
it
comes
to
enrolling
personally
owned
laptops
into
management
software
to
access
corporate
resources,”
says
Andrew
Hewitt,
a
researcher
at
the
firm.

“I’ve
also
been
talking
to
a
number
of
clients
that
are
increasing
cloud-based
desktop
and
app
virtualization
to
deal
with
this
transition
overall,”
Hewitt
says.
“It’s
an
alternative
approach
which
can
also
work
for
personally
owned
devices,
especially
for
banks
and
other
regulated
industries.
Overall,
I
see
increases
across
the
board
in
different
types
of
EUC
[end
user
computing]
technologies,
but
the
common
factor
is
that
they’re
almost
always
cloud
versions.”

Stepping
up
remote
security

With
so
many
employees
working
remotely
and
likely
to
be
doing
so
for
some
time,
security
and
user
support
are
high
priorities
for
enterprise
mobility.

“It
is
important
that
employees
have
the
tools
and
resources
they
need
to
securely
work
in
a
more
fluid
fashion
—
both
in
and
away
from
the
traditional
office
environment,”
says
Adam
Holtby,
principal
analyst
at
Omdia.

“Mobility
management
platforms
will
be
an
important
piece
of
the
remote
work
puzzle,
enabling
businesses
to
secure
the
use
of
mobile
devices
and
apps.”

Many
businesses
had
already
made
effective
remote
working
a
reality
prior
to
the
pandemic,
but
typically
only
for
small
numbers
of
people
and
with
slow
rollouts,
Holtby
says.
“The
sudden
huge
shift
to
remote
working
means
businesses
have
had
to
act
quickly
to
help
employees
work
from
home,
but
they
need
to
do
it
in
a
way
that
is
productive,
familiar,
and
secure,”
he
says.

Mobility
management
platforms
can
help
secure
against
employee
behaviors
that
could
put
sensitive
business
data
and
information
at
risk,
Holtby
says.

“For
example,
if
no
secure
file-sharing
options
exist,
or
if
they
are
not
well
understood,
employees
may
start
sending
sensitive
data
over
personal
email
or
may
save
sensitive
documents
on
local
device
drives,”
Holtby
says.
“Mobility
management
tools
help
ensure
that
only
devices
compliant
with
data
protection
policies
can
access
sensitive
work
files.
Saving
work
only
to
a
trusted
cloud
store
location
is
something
that
can
be
enforced,
using
the
policy
engines
many
managed
mobility
solutions
offer.”

Some
companies
are
reexamining
their
authentication
strategies
and
asking
if
there’s
an
easier
way
to
establish
identity
and
grant
access
to
work
applications
than
password-centric
models,
Hewitt
says.
“Things
like
digital
certificates,
biometrics,
and
2FA
[two-factor
authentication]
are
top
of
mind
for
many
organizations
that
didn’t
previously
have
remote
work,”
he
says.

The
use
of
behavioral
analytics
for
security
is
intriguing
in
a
remote
environment,
Hewitt
says,
although
there
does
not
seem
to
be
much
deployment
yet.
There
is
a
big
opportunity
for
technology
such
as
artificial
intelligence/machine
learning
to
determine
where
an
employee’s
house
is
located
and
provide
more
frictionless
access
to
enterprise
resources
when
the
user
is
in
that
location,
he
says.

“Some
companies
have
also
been
talking
about
using
finger
swipes
to
identify
people
when
they
are
in
the
application
—
not
biometric,
but
the
actual
gestures
they
make
with
their
fingers
while
scrolling,
clicking,
etc.,”
Hewitt
says.
“It’s
an
intriguing
capability
in
a
remote
setting,
because
you’re
better
able
to
identify
who
is
really
using
a
device.”

In
addition
to
security,
organizations
will
need
to
ensure
they
are
effectively
supporting
mobile
users.
“IT
support
practices
and
processes
will
need
to
evolve
and
‘mobilize’
in
better
meeting
the
needs
of
a
more
remote
workforce,”
Holtby
says.
“Traditional
IT
support
will
need
to
ensure
systems
and
support
mechanisms
are
accessible
and
optimized
for
use
by
the
mobile
worker.”

Modernizing
mobility
strategies
for
long-term
success

Experts
say
enterprise
mobility
strategies
and
tools
can
help
organizations
get
through
the
short-term
challenges
they
are
facing
—
including
the
work-at-home
model
—
as
well
as
thrive
in
the
long
run.

“Enterprise
mobility
helps
keep
the
business
afloat,”
Hewitt
says.
“Simply
put,
without
a
mobility
strategy
you’re
going
to
have
to
keep
people
in
the
office.
And
with
so
many
regulations
out
there
forbidding
that,
it
basically
means
you’re
out
of
business.
The
fact
is,
every
organization
is
going
to
need
to
build
a
mobility
strategy
going
forward
for
workforce
continuity
reasons.”

Modernizing
endpoint
management
tools
from
older
systems
to
UEM,
deploying
management
models
for
bring-your-own-device
(BYOD)
programs,
and
using
tools
to
support
any
mobile
platform
will
become
key
components
of
mobility
strategies,
Silva
says.

“An
outgrowth
of
this
is
likely
the
increased
mastery
of
using
analytics
data
to
drive
continual
improvement,
[evaluating]
actual
usage
and
performance
data
to
drive
decisions
on
what
new
tools,
systems,
and
applications
[should]
come
into
the
digital
workplace
portfolio,”
Silva
says.

In
the
long
run,
mobility
offers
an
opportunity
to
provide
more
flexible
workstyles
that
can
be
used
to
attract
and
retain
talent,
Hewitt
says.
“Many
organizations
I’ve
talked
to
feel
they
haven’t
seen
a
drop
in
productivity
as
a
result
of
moving
people
remote,
so
now
they’re
wondering
how
to
formalize
their
workplace
flexibility
strategy
to
drive
additional
benefits
beyond
workforce
continuity.”

2019:
Dawning
of
the
age
of
UEM

Unified
endpoint
management
(UEM),
a
strategic
approach
that
unifies
and
centralizes
the
way
enterprises
manage
their
deployed
devices,
is
finally
becoming
a
reality.

Over
the
past
decade,
enterprise
mobility
platform
vendors
have
been
evolving
mobility
management
tools
from
simple
mobile
device
management
(MDM)
through
mobile
application
management
(MAM)
and
enterprise
mobility
management
(EMM)
into
UEM,
which
encompasses
phones,
tablets,
PCs,
and
even
IoT
devices.
The
market
has
arrived
at
the
point
where
companies
can
use
the
latest
mobility
software
to
manage
their
mobile
environments
in
perhaps
the
most
comprehensive
and
effective
way
ever.

“A
few
key
vendors
have
made
UEM
technically
possible,
with
solutions
mature
enough
to
support
enterprise-level
UEM
deployments,”
says
Andrew
Hewitt,
an
analyst
at
Forrester
Research.
Those
vendors
include
VMware,
Microsoft,
IBM,
Citrix,
and
MobileIron,
which
can
all
technically
manage
the
main
mobile
operating
systems,
Hewitt
says.
VMware
and
Microsoft
have
the
most
customers
using
their
offerings
for
full
UEM,
he
adds.

“We’ve
even
seen
some
larger
companies
successfully
move
to
a
fully
unified
model,
inclusive
of
Windows
10
management,”
Hewitt
says.
“It’s
no
longer
just
vendor
and
analyst
driven.”

However,
“there
are
still
notable
gaps
in
many
of
the
vendors,
in
particular
with
macOS
and
Windows,”
Hewitt
says.
“The
vast
majority
of
companies
are
still
using
multiple
management
platforms,
with
less
than
5%
actually
using
UEM.”

Many
of
the
mobile
platform
providers
are
partnering
with
hardware
OEMs
such
as
Dell
and
Lenovo
to
develop
joint
solutions
leveraging
UEM
software,
Hewitt
says.
One
example
is
the
Dell
Unified
Workspace,
which
he
says
essentially
enables
IT
teams
to
automate
the
provisioning
of
PCs.
“That’s
been
a
huge
area
of
interest
for
our
clients,”
he
says.

Interest
in
UEM
is
being
driven
by
a
need
to
embrace
a
more
modern
endpoint
management
approach,
says
Adam
Holtby,
a
research
analyst
at
Ovum.

Companies
want
a
more
streamlined,
centralized,
consolidated,
and
better-integrated
technology
platform
for
mobility,
and
this
will
drive

investment
in
UEM
capabilities,
Holtby
says.
The
interest
in
UEM
signals
an
intention
to
move
away
from
the
traditional
management
divide
of
fixed
and
mobile
devices,
he
says.

“The
ability
to
create
and
enforce
one
policy
across
the
enterprise
has
become
critical,”
Holtby
noted
in
a

November
2018
report
on
enterprise
mobility
trends.
“The
use
cases
are
becoming
better
understood,
but
the
pathway
to
a
more
modern
and
unified
endpoint
management
approach
is
one
that
remains
complex.”

True
UEM
is
still
years
away
for
most
enterprises

Research
firm
Gartner
thinks
it
will
be
three
to
five
years
before
most
organizations
with
enterprise
mobile
platforms
truly
accomplish
the
transition
to
UEM.
That
is
due
to
the
complexity
in
updating
staff
skills
and
business
processes
and
in
preparing
existing
technology
—
especially
legacy
applications
or
those
developed
in-house
—
for
deployment
in
a
UEM
model,
says
Chris
Silva,
research
vice
president
at
Gartner.

“The
transition
to
UEM
tools,
specifically
the
consolidation
of
PC
and
mobile
management
to
a
single
tool,
is
still
taking
shape,”
Silva
says.

One
mobile
platform
provider,
Microsoft,
has
shifted
its
messaging
in
this
space
over
the
last
year
to
emphasize
a
“co-management”
approach,
in
which
Microsoft’s
traditional
client
management
tool
System
Center
Configuration
Manager
(SCCM)
configures
and
manages
devices,
with
Microsoft
Intune
UEM
providing
some
additional
management
of
the
same
device,
Silva
says.

Integration
with
third-party
UEM
tools,
which
Microsoft
calls
“co-existence,”
results
in
SCCM
going
into
a
state
where
it
can
take
no
action
on
a
device
beyond
imaging
the
device
and
providing
a
feed
or
inventory
information
to
the
third-party
UEM,
he
says.
That
approach
might
face
some
challenges
going
forward
due
to
the
need
for
a
Microsoft
tool
such
as
Intune
to
be
present
to
help
enable
conditional
access
to
Microsoft
resources
such
as
Exchange
and
SharePoint,
Silva
says.
That
could
slow
the
migration
for
companies
that
are
not
all-in
on
Microsoft,
he
says.

Indeed,
many
Gartner
clients
are
tapping
the
brakes
on
their
move
to
UEM,
Silva
says.
Some
of
those
organizations
that
had
planned
to
be
“all
UEM
by
2020
are
realizing
that
this
approach
invites
a
lot
of
additional
work”
such
as
modernizing
applications
and
changing
deployment
processes,
Silva
says.

“It’s
not
that
they’re
backing
off
[UEM]
entirely,
but
they’ve
reassessed
their
approach
and
timeline.
And
in
many
cases
[they]
have
given
themselves
extra
time
to
get
to
UEM,
realizing
that
a
hard
cut-over
from
traditional
and
key
process
steps
like
imaging
a
PC
are
not
supported
natively
in
many
UEM
tools.”

As
with
any
workplace
mobility
initiative,
Ovum’s
Holtby
says,
a
UEM
initiative
benefits
from
being
championed
by
a
centralized
steering
group
or
center
of
excellence
that
can
help
businesses
realize
value.
IT
needs
to
involve
all
major
business
units
as
part
of
this
group.

Pricing
and
new
trends

Forrester’s
Hewitt
says
the
costs
of
mobility
management
platforms
has
remained
relatively
stable,
with
some
decline
for
commodity
mobility
management
features,
especially
as
these
platforms
continue
to
embrace
Android
Enterprise
as
a
standard.
At
the
same
time,
“vendors
have
been
increasing
prices
for
UEM-like
features
[such
as
Windows
10
management]
and
other
items
like
analytics,”
he
says.

In
terms
of
expanding
mobile
platform
capabilities,
feature
additions
at
this
point
are
largely
minor
“fit
and
finish”
enhancements
to
handle
specific
capabilities
or
use
cases
for
particular
customer
groups,”
Silva
says.

Gartner
is
seeing
renewed
interest
from
the
endpoint
management
vendors
on
workplace
Internet
of
Things
(IoT),
adding
support
for
managing
Raspberry
Pi
devices
that
might
do
anything
from
running
a
lightweight
desktop
thin
client
to
acting
as
a
DNS
server
or
a
smart
appliance,
Silva
says.

Apple’s
tvOS
has
also
seen
broader
support
among
the
platform
vendors
over
the
past
year,
and
many
might
be
looking
to
Amazon
Alexa-enabled
devices
as
the
next
frontier
for
workplace
IoT,
Silva
says.

One
expanding
area
of
focus
for
mobility
management
platforms
is
analytics
for
functions
such
as
app
usage
and
security,
Hewitt
says.
“Companies
are
looking
for
greater
analytics
to
help
guide
mobility
management
decisions,”
he
says.

There’s
a
big
focus
on
behavioral
analytics
for
security
reasons,
Hewitt
says.
“Being
able
to
baseline
user
behavior
and
track
it
for
potential
anomalies
is
a
big
target
area,”
he
says.
“Citrix
has
been
doing
this.
There’s
also
a
focus
on
end-user
experience,
usually
on
application
usage
and
adoption.
VMware
has
been
doing
this.”

Another
area
for
analytics
is
coming
from
third
parties
such
as
Nexthink
and
Lakeside.
“They
do
end-user
experience
analytics,
looking
at
performance
of
devices
and
apps
with
the
goal
of
quantifying
and
tracking
end-user
experience
over
time,”
Hewitt
says.

Another
trend
is
toward
browser-isolation
technologies,
which
enable
unmanaged
devices
to
access
software-as-a-service
(SaaS)
or
other
enterprise
cloud
services,
Hewitt
says.
“We’ve
also
seen
companies
looking
to
use
MDM-managed
phones
as
a
second
[authentication]
factor
for
[logging
into]
PCs
and
Macs,”
he
says.

As
for
what’s
coming
down
the
pipeline,
“we’re
starting
to
see
more
integration
of
dedicated

threat
detection
capabilities
for
both
mobile
and
desktop,”
Hewitt
says.
“Mobile
is
farther
along,
but
some
vendors
are
starting
to
embed
this
for
[desktop]
client
security
too.”

2018:
UEM
is
the
next
step

Get
ready
for
some
significant
changes
in
the
way
enterprises
manage
their
growing
fleets
of
mobile
devices
—
and
in
the
technologies
they
use
to
provide
that
management.

A
number
of
trends
are
impacting
the
market
and
vendors’
enterprise
mobility
management
(EMM)
platforms,
according
to
experts
who
follow
the
latest
mobile
developments.

“Enterprise
mobility
is
at
an
interesting
inflection
point,”
says
Adam
Holtby,
a
research
analyst
at
Ovum.
Device
management
capabilities,
specifically
those
that
help
organizations
secure
devices
running
mobile
operating
systems,
have
been
the
core
driver
of
interest
in
enterprise
mobility
products
up
to
this
point.

“However,
new
capabilities
are
set
to
further
increase
the
value
of
enterprise
mobility
solutions,”
Holtby
says.
“App
management
and
development,
next-generation
policy
management,
data
and
identity
protection,
security,
machine
learning,
and
mobile
analytics
are
all
examples
of
capabilities
that
are
driving
interest
in
enterprise
mobility
solutions.”

Moving
toward
UEM

The
most
compelling
advancement
is
that
of
unified
endpoint
management
(UEM),
a
strategic
approach
that
unifies
and
centralizes
how
enterprises
manage
an
estate
of
deployed
devices.
Experts
say
EMM
is
gradually
evolving
into
UEM.

“We
are
a
still
a
way
off
from
UEM
becoming
mainstream,
but
it
will
certainly
have
big
appeal
to
organizations,”
Holtby
says.
Mobility
is
transformative
when
the
data
and
insight
that
can
be
gathered
from
the
mobile
workforce
are
used
to
optimize
the
way
that
people
work,
improving
workflows
and
helping
make
tasks
more
efficient,
Holtby
says.
“The
single,
unified
view
of
the
devices
and
apps
being
utilized
by
a
workforce
provided
by
UEM
platforms
enables
organizations
to
reimagine
working
practices,”
he
says.

UEM
is
most
valuable
when
it’s
used
not
only
to
provide
a
unified
view
into
devices
and
apps,
but
when
cross-functional
workflows
that
extend
across
different
endpoints
are
improved
because
of
the
insights
and
data
the
unified
environment
provides.

It
delivers
a
consolidated
and
more
reliable
level
of
data
into
the
state
of
devices
and
apps
used
by
employees,
as
well
as
insight
into
identity
and
how
hardware
and
apps
are
being
used.
“This
is
in
some
contrast
to
the
more
fragmented
approach
businesses
have
been
used
to
that
involves
different
tools
and
disconnected
workflows,”
Holtby
says.

One
of
the
biggest
benefits
of
UEM
is
that
the
added
visibility
around
mobile
use
leads
to
better
reporting
and
analytics.
Workflows
can
be
enhanced
by
factoring
in
this
information.
“For
example,
using
real-time
geolocation
information
to
deliver
contextualized
services
or
notifications
to
employees
can
have
a
positive
impact
on
the
user
experience,”
Holtby
says.

When
evaluating
EMM
platforms,
it’s
important
to
note
the
ability
of
the
product
to
support
the
eventual
move
to
UEM,
says
Chris
Silva,
research
vice
president
at
Gartner.
“There
are
some
products
out
there
that
are
pure
PC
or
pure
mobile
and
will
not
scale,”
he
says.

Many
of
the
market
leaders
including
VMware,
BlackBerry,
MobileIron,
IBM,
Microsoft,
and
Citrix
are
actively
pushing
this
goal
for
clients,
Silva
says.
“Anyone
using
a
tool
that
doesn’t
have
a
roadmap
toward
UEM
at
this
point
is
likely
going
to
need
to
go
shopping
for
a
new
tool
in
a
couple
years,”
he
says.

Data
analytics,
security
and
privacy
take
center
stage

More
powerful
data
analytics
and
proactive
problem
remediation
are
among
the
biggest
recent
developments
in
EMM,
Silva
says.

Some
vendors
are
building
dashboard
capabilities
that
enable
administrators
to
see
not
only
how
many
devices
have
not
updated
to
a
particular
operating
system
version,
but
which
are
susceptible
to
certain
vulnerabilities
as
a
result,
Silva
says.
There’s
nothing
available
yet
in
terms
of
automated
actions
based
on
these
analytical
findings,
he
says,
but
that’s
coming.

An
emerging
feature
is
the
ability
to
do
risk-based
analysis
to
grant
access
to
applications,
says
Andrew
Hewitt,
an
analyst
at
Forrester
Research.
“Some
of
the
vendors
in
the
space
are
able
to
assign
risk
scores
to
users
and
grant
them
access
—
or
block
access
—
based
on
certain
attributes,”
he
says.
“This
risk-based
approach
has
the
ability
to
greatly
improve
the
experience
for
the
user.”

Another
key
trend
is
the
need
for
better
mobile
security
and
privacy.

“Enterprises
are
increasingly
becoming
aware
of
the
necessity
of
mobility
for
business
success,
but
still
are
weighing
the
compliance
and
risk
factors
related
to
more
open
access,”
Hewitt
says.

The
emergence
of
new
regulatory
requirements
such
as
the
European
Union’s

General
Data
Protection
Regulation
(GDPR)
and
the

California
Consumer
Privacy
Act
of
2018
will
help
drive
the
appeal
of
mobility
management
platforms.
While
security
has
always
been
a
key
theme
driving
adoption
of
EMM,
initiatives
such
as
the
GDPR
and
the
CCPA
will
make
this
an
even
greater
priority
for
organizations.

“A
lack
of
data
protection
and
security
will
place
organizations
at
risk
of
serious
financial
penalties
and
reputational
damage,”
Holtby
says.
“At
worst,
the
repercussions
of
a
data
breach
could
see
businesses
risk
their
very
existence.”
EMM
can
help
organizations
standardize
and
audit
how
they
secure
and
govern
mobile
devices,
apps,
and
the
content
and
data
on
them.

While
the
market
is
seeing
shifts
in
the
focus
of
EMM
technology,
product
pricing
has
been
fairly
steady,
Hewitt
says.
“There’s
definitely
a
decrease
in
price
for
commoditized
features
of
EMM,
like
MDM
[mobile
device
management]
and
anything
else
that
is
now
available
in
an
OEM
API,”
he
says.
But
the
influx
of
new
features
such
as
analytics
keeps
the
price
about
even.

What’s
next:
AI,
ML,
AR
and
more

In
the
coming
months
and
years,
mobile
technologies
will
continue
to
evolve.
New
capabilities,
such
as
on-device
artificial
intelligence
(AI)
and
machine
learning
(ML),
augmented
reality,
and
advanced
biometric
capabilities,
are
beginning
to
deliver
new
ways
for
workers
to
leverage
mobile
devices
and
apps.

“It’s
hard
to
have
a
conversation
around
enterprise
technology
without
the
subject
of
artificial
intelligence
being
a
focal
point,”
Holtby
says.
Ovum
research
shows
that
71%
of
enterprises
are
either
considering
or
planning
to
use
AI,
bots,
and
machine
learning
over
the
next
12
months,
and
65%
of
organizations
think
AI
will
have
an
impact
on
their
workplace
over
the
next
three
to
five
years.

“In
the
realms
of
enterprise
mobility
—
a
vital
digital
workplace
element
—
AI
provides
many
opportunities
and
challenges
that
organizations
need
to
be
aware
of,”
Holtby
says.
“Increasingly,
providers
of
enterprise
mobility
solutions
are
introducing
AI
capabilities
to
support
organizations
in
optimizing
mobile
workflows
and
in
improving
mobile
reporting
and
analytics.”

2017:
EMM
suites
go
beyond
MDM,
add
sophisticated
capabilities

The
global
workforce
is
more
mobile
than
ever.
And
for
many
organizations
that
are
trying
to
control
the
burgeoning
mobile
device
and
app
environment,
deploying
enterprise
mobility
management
(EMM)
systems
has
become
standard
operating
procedure.

“Mobility
continues
to
transform
how
employees
undertake
work,
and
EMM
technology
is
an
important
component
in
the
successful
execution
of
digital
transformation
initiatives,”
says
Adam
Holtby,
research
analyst
for
enterprise
mobility
and
productivity
at
Ovum.

Originally
called
mobile
device
management
(MDM)
software,
EMM
products
continue
to
evolve
and
now
offer
features
that
go
well
beyond
device
management,
Holtby
says.
“Being
able
to
manage
a
broad
device
estate
via
EMM
is
a
compelling
proposition
for
organizations,”
he
says.
“Next-generation
policy-management
capabilities
and
the
ability
to
derive
meaningful
context
about
not
only
the
devices
being
used
by
an
employee
base,
but
also
about
the
employees
themselves,
can
be
transformative
for
organizations.”

As
smartphones
and
tablets
did
previously,
a
new
wave
of
connected
devices
is
set
to
disrupt
the
enterprise
technology
landscape
with
the
growth
of
the
internet
of
things
(IoT).

“EMM
solutions
are
well-positioned
to
support
organizations
in
managing
many
of
these
connected
things,”
Holtby
says.
“This
should
help
organizations
in
adopting
a
more
strategic,
less
chaotic,
proactive
approach
to
how
[IoT]
can
be
effectively
leveraged
within
the
business
environment.”

EMM
vendors
are
investing
heavily
in
expanding
their
products
into
more
functional
platforms
that
can
support
organizations
as
they
try
to
manage
a
more
diverse
endpoint
environment,
Holtby
says.
Supported
by
increased
use
cases
and
improved
capabilities,
these
unified
endpoint
management
(UEM)
tools
will
gain
in
popularity,
he
says.

The
move
toward
UEM
will
not
happen
overnight,
notes
Andrew
Hewitt,
an
analyst
at
Forrester.

“Vendors
like
AirWatch
are
pushing
for
unified
endpoint
management
to
allow
organizations
to
manage
mobile
devices,
PCs
and
even
IoT
devices,”
Hewitt
says.
“For
now,
we’re
seeing
this
as
a
mostly
vendor-
and
analyst-driven
movement,
though,
as
the
complexity
of
managing
legacy
Windows
applications
and
[operating
systems]
remains
a
significant
challenge.”

New
areas
of
focus:
Mobile
identity,
analytics,
Office
365

The
expansion
of
EMM
capabilities
will
come
with
challenges
associated
with
security.
Specifically,
there
will
be
a
heightened
demand
for
capabilities
that
can
help
organizations
manage
mobile
threats
along
with
other
endpoint
threats,
Holtby
says.

Indeed,
one
of
the
more
notable
trends
in
the
market
is
a
greater
focus
on
mobile
identity.

“Employees
today
use
multiple
devices
and
are
always
on
the
go,
connecting
to
company
resources
from
different
locations
throughout
the
day,”
Hewitt
says.
“As
a
result,
we’re
seeing
the
EMM
vendors
provide
more
contextually
relevant
identity
tools,”
to
either
allow
or
restrict
access
to
corporate
resources
based
on
the
network
the
employee
is
using.

There
is
also
more
sophisticated
use
of
analytics
with
EMM
systems,
helped
by
advances
in
machine
learning
and
artificial
intelligence
technologies.

“The
data
and
information
that
EMM
solutions
can
gather
and
present
provide
organizations
with
an
opportunity
to
realize
new
workflow
efficiencies,
react
more
quickly
and
relevantly
to
employee
behaviors
and
demands,
and
make
better
business
decisions
armed
with
data,”
Holtby
says.

Another
trend
in
the
market
involves
Microsoft
Office
365
(O365).
“As
O365
becomes
more
commonplace,
many
of
the
users
we
talk
to
are
struggling
to
figure
out
how
to
best
optimize
that
experience
with
their
current
EMM
of
choice,”
Hewitt
says.

“Employees
want
a
seamless,
native
experience
with
O365,
and
so
far
that
has
been
hard
to
come
by
in
the
EMM
market,”
Hewitt
says.
“We
expect
vendors
to
continue
to
integrate
O365
into
their
portfolios,
expand
their
ability
to
manage
Windows
10
PCs,
and
offer
better
support
for
Windows
Store.”

The
outlook
for
EMM

All
of
this
is
happening
as
prices
are
rising
for
EMM
products.
Prices
will
continue
to
go
up
as
the
variety
of
devices
increases
and
becomes
more
complex
and
the
threat
landscape
grows
larger,
Hewitt
says.
“I
don’t
see
the
increase
as
being
price
prohibitive,
though,”
he
says.
“The
risks
of
not
managing
your
enterprise
mobility
efforts
are
too
great.”

The
rise
in
prices
“is
in
response
to
a
greater
number
of
organizations
embarking
on
enterprise
mobility
strategies,
and
they
need
technology
to
support
their
efforts,”
Holtby
says.
“Demand
is
strong
and
the
need
for
capabilities
that
extend
beyond
solely
device
management
is
increasing.
Additionally,
EMM
solutions
are
evolving
far
beyond
their
modest
MDM
roots
in
offering
capabilities
that
can
help
organizations
deliver
against
broader
digital
initiatives.”

Just
prior
to
the
spate
of
acquisitions
that
took
place
in
the
market
in
the
2012-2013
timeframe,
prices
were
in
a
downward
spiral
due
to
intense
competition
for
market
share,
but
prices
at
that
level
were
not
sustainable,
says
Bryan
Taylor,
research
director
at
Gartner.
“Though
prices
did
rise
over
the
last
year
and
a
half
to
two
years,
we
don’t
expect
this
to
continue,”
Taylor
says.
“Already,
some
leading
vendors
are
restructuring
list
prices
across
all
of
their
SKUs,
and
we’ve
seen
a
slight
downward
trend
for
street
prices
in
the
last
quarter
or
so,”
Taylor
says.

Looking
ahead
over
the
next
few
months,
Taylor
expects
to
see
EMM
technology
vendors
increasingly
focus
on
analytics
capabilities,
as
well
as
PC/Mac
management
capabilities
and,
for
some
vendors,
forays
into
IoT.

Short
term,
there
will
be
relatively
small
changes
in
what
EMM
software
offers,
Hewitt
says.
These
include:
Updated
dashboards
to
make
them
more
user-friendly
and
to
offer
more
dashboarding
capabilities;
expanded
support
for
Android
for
Work;
and
better
analytics
on
device
usage.

“Long
term,
I
do
think
EMM
will
evolve
in
a
number
of
ways,”
Hewitt
says.
“First,
it
will
manage
an
increasing
array
of
devices
as
the
market
goes
towards
[unified
endpoint
management].
It
will
be
a
key
ecosystem
player
for
the
IoT
eventually.”