Why Gartner Progressed From MDM to EMM

To explain the transition in simple terms: Gartner, Inc. (IT) changed its focus from mobile device management (MDM) to enterprise mobility management (EMM) because of market evolution.

Let me jog your memory a bit: The IT research firm’s report last year analyzed the MDM space, not the EMM market. This is one of the biggest differences in this year’s report, which reviewed the activity of EMM players since Gartner’s previous report.

The IT research firm made note of this adjustment in the beginning of its “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Mobility Management Suites” report by stating the following:

“The mobile device management market has evolved into the enterprise
mobility management suites market. EMM is growing quickly, and the
vendor landscape has changed significantly, which will impact IT leaders’
choices.”

In an interview with MSPmentor, Gartner Mobile and Client Computing Research Director Rob Smith, a co-author of this year’s report, said that “MDM has become a feature and is no longer a product.”

Click here for MSPmentor’s mid-year review of the EMM market

MDM, mobile application management (MAM) and mobile content management (MCM) are tools integrated into EMM solutions, the IT research firm said in the report.

Gartner’s shift from MDM to EMM “has been coming for some time now,” Smith said. “But with the addition of mobile content management, it was simply not enough to call products MDM when they are doing so much more.”

He added: “We as Gartner started making the transition to EMM towards the end of last year by writing everything MDM/EMM.”

How does the firm define EMM? Here’s what Gartner expressed in its report:

“EMM suites consist of policy and configuration management tools and a management overlay for applications and content intended for mobile devices based on smartphone OSs. They are an evolution from previous-generation MDM products that lacked application and content management. IT organizations and service providers use EMM suites to deliver IT support to mobile end users and to maintain security
policies.”

As far as specialization and the future of the EMM market, “Gartner doesn’t believe any one company can do everything perfectly,” Smith said.

“We feel that most of the EMM vendors can provide basic versions of what is EMM,” he said. “However, we feel that the companies with the best vision also have an open standardized platform where more advanced and new applications can be plugged into to be managed under the same console.”

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