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Fiberlink MaaS360, Spiceworks Partner on BYOD and MDM
IT management platform provider Spiceworks is partnering with mobile device management platform provider Fiberlink (creator of the MaaS360 MDM platform) to provide free MDM services to organizations that leverage Spiceworks. Here are the details of the partnership, plus some insight into the disconnect between how organizations view bring-your-own-device policies and the need for MDM platforms.
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Spiceworks co-founder and CEO Scott Abel said the partnership with Fiberlink will reshape the MDM market.
Managed services providers (MSPs) on the Spiceworks network have a new mobile device management (MDM) product to look forward to with Spiceworks 7. A recent partnership with MDM software vendor Fiberlink (creator of the MaaS360 MDM platform) will enable Spiceworks users to manage and monitor mobile devices and applications from Spiceworks for free. Here's the scoop, along with details of additional premium features being offered to Spiceworks users.
Through the partnership, more than 2.5 million Spiceworks users will be able to leverage Fiberlink's mobile device inventory and monitoring capabilities for free, including mobile device and application discovery; simplified device enrollment; and custom alerting and monitoring.
"This partnership and the introduction of Spiceworks 7 will reshape the MDM market and how 2.5 million IT professionals manage the mobile devices on their network," said Spiceworks co-founder and CEO Scott Abel in a prepared statement. "MaaS360 is one of the highest rated, most popular MDM offerings in the Spiceworks Community so we’re excited to bring these capabilities to our users and a give them the tools they need to make their Spiceworks experience even better."
Spiceworks said its users will receive preferred pricing for additional MaaS360 functions. These premium functions include over-the-air configuration, manage and update policies, remote support, and distribute applications.
Fiberlink President Christopher Clark said in his prepared remarks that the partnership will "simplify how millions of IT professionals address a mobile workforce, BYOD, and other business challenges."
The companies made the announcement in conjunction with a new survey revealing that 61 percent of SMBs have implemented a BYOD policy, but only 37 percent are managing or plan to manage mobile devices using an MDM offering.
The following are some more data points from the study:
54 percent of SMBs support employee-owned smartphones and
42 percent support tablets through a BYOD initiative.
25 percent support employee-owned computers.
Of companies with BYOD policies, 91 percent and 92 percent of respondents support Apple iPhone and iPad devices respectively.
90 percent support Google Android-based smartphones
83 percent support Android-based tablets.
One-third of IT professionals note their BYOD policy works well for some devices and poorly for others, while
23 percent of IT pros say BYOD is a headache for their department.
Only 17 percent of IT fully embrace the trend.
Organizations with fewer than 250 employees that support BYOD, only 17 percent are actively managing mobile devices using a mobile device management offering
20 percent have plans to address the management of mobile devices in the next six months.
56 percent have no plans to implement a MDM solution at this time.
Companies with more than 250 employees have a higher adoption rate of MDM technologies, with 21 percent having already adopted or currently implementing and another 25 percent planning to do so within six months.
When asked why they had not deployed a MDM solution, 49 percent said they do not perceive big enough security threats to warrant the investment despite recognizing they do exist.
36 percent claim they lack the knowledge to proceed with the implementation of a MDM technology,
34 percent cite budgetary concerns.
Of those investing in MDM technologies, more than half (53 percent) selected cloud-based solutions.
To learn more about what Spiceworks can do for you, visit the Spiceworks website.
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