Mobile Device Management Change Initiative Plan

Mobile Device Management Change Initiative Plan

With the growing volume of content, number of applications and information accessed via various devices, Mobile Device Management (MDM) initiative is vital in the management of the mobile enterprise. MDM is more than the ordinary management of devices because it includes system-centered functionality to manage and secure applications and data. MDM is a crucial element of the device life circle, encompassing the device software, hardware, and related services. It requires full cycle management: the IT department is fully responsible for devices owned by the company such as application support, OS standards, and enterprise liability. Although most employees use both smart phones and computers to access the company's IT services, MDM will enable them use more than two devices (Upadhyaya, 2012). This is because the diversity of these devices had been growing exponentially. As such, the company must embark on a long-term vision based on the principle of "any device." The objective will be to enable a greater choice in devices while enhancing global organizational competitiveness and maintaining common user experience. This study outlines a multi-dimensional mobile device management initiative that addresses techniques for mitigating the identified risk. The study includes the implementation schedule and plan for engaging senior management sponsorship of the initiative and communication throughout the organization.

Mobile devices

Over time, laptops and tablets will give employees mobility, and a more globalized workforce will create more flexible work patterns. The current work environment and the common office hours no longer restrict productivity because the more mobile workforce will access IT resources from any point like cafe, customer site, or home. Such dissolution of location border will enable employees to access resources from diverse sites with IT managed assets (Kapin & Ward, 2013). The introduction of laptops, Smartphones, and tablets, coupled with their outstanding features will result in employees seeking to use their devices to do everything ranging from accessing the internet using company applications to accessing company email. Workers who joined the company through acquisition have been using and already want to continue using their individual devices for work.

Many of the company's extranet partners also require access to some applications. Therefore, giving the company IT-managed endpoints will be a solution with high operating costs and capital. The company's IT department recognizes the need to adopt the instantaneous use of the next generation technologies: it will facilitate productivity. This approach is better than using the historical approaches of managing and limiting the deployment of emerging technologies as they penetrate the workplace. In addition, the rapid adoption of new client technologies will lead to the advent and implementation of other technologies, tools and approaches, which will create communities of users enabling employees to solve common customer issues (Hansmann, 2013).

The primary business reasons behind the MDM

Productivity: the company will enable tech-savvy workforce to employ their laptops, smart phones and tablets of their choice to do company work from different locations. This will improve productivity and job satisfaction.

Evolving workforce: the current business world is composed of technologically perceptive members. This generation of users entering the workforce tends to control their work environment and tools. They seek to choose the ways in which they can be most productive (Hansmann, 2013).

Innovation: enhanced productivity will be realized when a company allows employees to use new and upcoming generation tools immediately after they are released. Such early adopters always signal larger shifts in the marketplace that can positively influence the organization's IT adoption and its product strategy (Kapin & Ward, 2013).

Integration of acquisition: majority of the firm's corporate acquisitions will join with its pool of nonstandard devices. Diverse devices will help integrate new departments quickly and reduce related security risks.

Capital costs: the company has employed a number of consultants and contractors in jurisdictions across the world. It is financially unsustainable for the company to give Smartphones and laptops that it owns to its growing workforce. By migrating consultants and contractors to the company, it will realize significant annual savings per user, determined by its existing total cost of desktop ownership. There are other reasons such as increased mobility, data security and a collaborative work environment since employees can share access to real-time information (Upadhyaya, 2012). With the increase in available alternatives and endpoint devices, the company must consider the assets it will allow (or not allow) employees to use while accessing their data and applications.

Implementation steps

The first step involves conducting an impact assessment to establish the nature and degree of changes that workers in various departments will have to absorb. One approach will be to evaluate the relevance of mobile social networking applications and design principles in the context of enterprise collaboration. This step will involve the establishment of modalities to apply mobility in the departmental activities (Biafore & Stover, 2012).

The second step will be to tap early diopters to form a network of change agents throughout the business locations, levels, and functions. These agents will help the company to assess the relevance of policies and processes regularly thereby establishing the influence on employee engagement. A key consideration will be a reward structure on mobile devices, which motivate workers to provide feedback and suggest ideas, providing recognition and redeemable points from their peers (Biafore & Stover, 2012).

The final step will be to reassess the corporate learning strategy. The company's mobile solutions must be as intuitive as possible to reduce the need for employee training. For employees in need of help, the company will engage its change agents to help locate learning gaps and facilitate sharing and team learning (Biafore & Stover, 2012).

Communicating the initiative throughout the organization

Communicating this change requires a professional communicator, who knows how to use the principles in constructing messages. This includes linking messages to the workers' thinking routines. This approach will enable to discuss the pros and cons of the change. Even though people tend to communicate the positive side of change, in the end, it is also reasonable to discuss the downside. This highlights areas of employee input whilst providing appropriate solutions to any potential problem. In addition, sharing concerns will create an environment of trust (Hansmann, 2013). Regardless of how the change is persuasively communicated, employees have a tendency of developing doubts. Initiators of the change will be required to harness the dissent that involves proactively soliciting employee concerns regarding the change in a supportive setting.