Tablet, iPad and Mobile Device Management: Can You Help?

Demand for mobile device management (MDM) — for tablets, smartphones, iPads, iPhones and more — is starting to flood some IT help desks and service desks. Indeed, 86 percent of IT service desks have seen an increase in the number of mobile devices they’re being asked to support, according to a study by LANDesk Software and the Service Desk Institute. Plus, 76 percent of respondents said growing demand for mobile device management has had a negative impact on their businesses. The obvious question: Can MSPs step in to help customers with their mobile management needs?

Apparently, more mobile device management demand has led to an overload in support calls. Service desks also need time to accumulate the knowledge, expertise and staff to manage multiple tablet and smartphone platforms — everything from Apple iOS to Google Android, Windows Phone 7, RIM BlackBerry and more. Making matters worse: Only 57 percent of service desks say they were consulted before end-users began using mobile devices.

Perhaps MSPs can answer the call for help. Organizations like HTG Peer Groups are taking steps to ensure MSPs are properly trained and prepared to manage customers’ mobile devices. Whether a business keeps mobile device management in-house or outsources to an MSP, there have to be clear communications between the end-user base and the IT service desk.

LANDesk notes that IT service desks often have “little involvement” in the corporate IT decisions that directly affect the services they can provide. To correct the situation, LANDesk recommends that mobile device management include specific policies, integrated solutions and training systems in place to keep end-users and IT service desks marching forward in coordinated fashion.

Despite all the other hype in the IT market at the moment, strengthening IT service desk strategies seems to be a growing trend among MSPs.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.