The race for top player in mobile device management is on. With the field starting to get crowded, BlackBerry is betting much of its future on MDM growth. BlackBerry is betting that enterprises will care primarily about security. Other things like ease of management and features are also addressed. Google is now entering the market. Did you know that Microsoft’s a player in MDM too?
BlackBerry bundling
Let’s start with BlackBerry’s BES12. At Mobile World Congress, the firm said it was expanding EMM (enterprise mobile management) into the small and medium sized business market. This simply means BES12 will be available on the cloud. As enterprise firms are now aware, BES12 supports not only BlackBerry, but Windows, Android, and iOS devices.
Google unveils MDM program
Google announced Android for Work in the last week of February, 2015. This simply means that the Android MDM platform will support Android applications. Google will promote consistency for these programs through standardized management API. Like on BlackBerry 10, the platform will include Work Profiles security, along with built-in support for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Notes. As redmondmag.com noted, Microsoft is not an Android for Work partner.
Microsoft offers bundles in MDM
Through its Intune product, Microsoft will embed a subset of Intune MDM into Office 365. The move is fairly significant, because Office 365 is a killer productivity app that enterprises value. In combining Office 365 with its Enterprise Mobility Suite of products, Microsoft is offering multiple layers of security. Through this architecture, Android and iOS devices may use Office 365 through containers.
The MDM manages protection at the file level through Azure Rights Management Service.  The system verifies the user’s identity with Active Directory. Similar to solutions offered by Google and BlackBerry (but implemented differently), Microsoft’s solution separates corporate data from personal items.
The company may show the many enhanced functions of the MDM when Windows 10 is released. In this operating environment, there are dual profiles for apps. By storing a personal profile and a corporate one, organizations may selectively wipe the corporate information without losing the personal data.
So many options
With many MDM options available for corporations, IT departments have lots to choose from. For top-notch security, BlackBerry might still appeal to corporations. Its MDM already has the support of Samsung. It also won praise from media for its cross-platform cloud solution.
Companies running on mostly Microsoft solutions might like the deep integration of Office365.
Firms that have their IT solutions strictly running on the cloud might like Google’s offering, where Android for Work runs specifically in the cloud.
