Endpoint Management
Publication Date: 26 Aug 2020 | Product code: ENS001-000119 Adam Holtby
Summary
Catalyst
In this Market Radar report, Omdia analyzes the key trends and drivers for the unified endpoint management (UEM) market. The report compares the different UEM solutions on offer that support businesses in the management and security of the mobile workforce. This report will discuss the increased importance businesses are attaching to UEM solutions as they look to manage and secure a workforce that needs to work in a remote and mobile fashion. The report compares capabilities across nine vendors that provide UEM solutions, analyzing the functional strengths of these tools and examining the impact they have made on the UEM market.
This report examines the increased importance enterprises are attaching to UEM and managed mobility solutions in a post-pandemic world. The rapid and sudden shift to home working has accelerated the business need to ensure employees can work securely and productively from any location and across any device. This report explores the long-term implications of this trend and the important role that modern endpoint management technologies and approaches will play in helping businesses enable the mobile workforce. It also compares and ranks UEM solutions provided by leading technology vendors across seven categories: endpoint and application management, security and analytics capabilities, workplace productivity features, partner and integration ecosystem, maturity, strategy, and market impact.
Omdia view
It is no overstatement to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the world of work. Specifically, the tools people use to get work done and the locations from which they are undertaking this work have been subject to massive change. As data from Omdia’s 2020 Future of Work survey shows, for many employees the change to a more mobile and remote workstyle will be permanent, because many global businesses are looking to embrace home working over the long term.
Figure 1: How work styles changed during the pandemic
Source: Omdia Future of Work survey 2020
The accelerated rate at which businesses are looking to enable remote and mobile work styles in response to the pandemic has led to increased interest in UEM practices and technologies. Data from the same Omdia survey (Figure 2) shows that helping employees work in a more remote and mobile fashion is identified as being the most important driver of investment into new workplace
capabilities by global businesses.
Figure 2: Business driver influencing investment around new workplace capabilities
Being able to manage and secure the wide variety of different endpoints and applications
increasingly being used by employees is a valuable enterprise capability, especially as the locations people work from become more dispersed. Every vendor featured in this research has reported heightened interest in its mobility management and security solutions. Omdia’s own research also identifies mobility management as a digital initiative of increased importance to organizations, with 46% of global respondents to Omdia’s Future of Work 2020 survey saying they planned to invest in a mobility management solution within the next 24 months. Helping businesses to improve the management and security of the end-user-computing estate, supporting better employee
experiences, and heightening productivity are important business objectives that UEM tools support, so this comparative research has been developed around this broader value proposition. In
developing this research, Omdia assessed different UEM solutions and vendor capabilities across a range of different criteria, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: UEM Market Radar evaluation criteria
Source: Omdia
A key opportunity for UEM vendors is in effectively positioning and marketing the value of their offerings beyond just the traditional device management value proposition. Continuing to invest in capabilities that position UEM platforms as those that can help businesses improve employee productivity and employee experiences will be important.
Figure 4: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management
Source: Omdia
The heatmap is colored according to the Omdia assessment as follows:
Advanced capability: the solution demonstrates cutting-edge capabilities and full alignment with Omdia's ideal.
Broad capability: the solution offers better-than-expected capability well suited to the needs of most businesses.
Partial capability: the solution provides expected functionality but lacks extensive alignment with the capabilities outlined by Omdia.
The categorization of each vendor is as follows:
Market leader: this category represents the leading solutions that provide advanced
capabilities across multiple functional areas, have broad capabilities across most other areas, and which we believe are worthy of a place on most technology selection short lists.
Market challenger: the solutions in this category offer some advanced capabilities, have appropriate functionality across other areas, and should be considered as part of a technology selection process.
Market specialist: solutions in this category are typically aimed at meeting the requirements of a particular market or customer type. As a potential solution for some organizations, they should be explored as part of the technology selection process.
Key messages
Mobile and more remote workstyles are becoming more common in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many businesses plan to embrace this change in workstyles over the long term.
UEM solutions offer a range of capabilities extending across desktop and mobility
Mobile security and employee productivity are two themes driving the enhancement of UEM solutions. UEM vendors continue to make significant investments in new capabilities across both areas.
Vendor investment in mobile analytics capabilities is resulting in the emergence of some interesting capabilities that are helping businesses improve insights around mobile security and employee experiences.
Enabling the frontline workforce with capabilities that can help them work more efficiently and in a more collaborative fashion should be a major focus for UEM vendors.
Vendors differentiating in the UEM space are those that have made significant investments around app management and capabilities focused on improving employee productivity.
As core UEM capabilities become commoditized, vendors will need to focus on introducing new capabilities that can help businesses modernize other aspects of IT infrastructure and operations.
For communication service providers (CSPs), UEM tools are a vital element of the managed mobility services many offer. As business needs around mobile security, management, and employee productivity become more diverse and complex, service providers are in a good position to support large enterprises with these complexities.
Recommendations
Recommendations for enterprises
UEM solutions offer a range of capabilities that extend across desktop and mobility
management that have traditionally been offered by different point solutions. One of the key benefits of adopting a UEM solution is that enterprises can optimize costs by adopting a single unified platform that supports management and security activities across a diverse endpoint and application estate.
Since workstyles have changed in becoming more mobile and remote, businesses should prioritize investment in mobility management and security capabilities.
Frontline workers represent the majority of the workforce and occupy a variety of different roles that are often more closely tied to the customer experience. Empowering frontline workers with mobile technology and more efficient ways of working must be viewed as a priority.
The unifying of traditional PC management and mobility management tools and activities under a modern management approach must consider people and process in addition to technology.
Several UEM technology vendors now provide dedicated in-house customer success
functions that have been created to support customers in the adoption and ongoing use of a UEM solution. Enterprises should explore these initiatives because they help ensure
Recommendations for vendors
The recent pandemic resulted in more people working from home, many with personally owned devices. Because interest around bring your own device (BYOD) has increased over the past few months, UEM vendors should focus on increasing businesses’ awareness and understanding of how their solutions can support business efforts here.
Transparency and optimization of mobile-related costs and improving how the mobile workforce is supported are the most important enterprise mobility objectives identified by businesses. UEM vendors should continue to invest in offering capabilities that support these objectives.
Because businesses across multiple industries have different needs and use cases around UEM, vendors should look to develop verticalized solutions that cater specifically to these different needs.
As core UEM capabilities become more commoditized, vendors should invest in capabilities that help businesses not only in transforming the way endpoints are managed but in modernizing other aspects of IT. Employee experience, artificial intelligence (AI), workflow automation, mobile analytics, and advanced app management capabilities will all be important.
As more enterprises focus on improving the employee experience, they will need metrics and measurement capabilities that can help them judge success. When developing this capability, vendors should not focus exclusively on technology interaction and utilization: it is important that any metrics also incorporate sentiment analysis and, if possible, employee well-being factors.
Recommendations for service providers
As mobility becomes an even more important digital initiative, interest in mobility management services that combine UEM, expense management, connectivity, device lifecycle management, and service management will also increase.
CSPs with ambitions to be a mobility partner of choice for enterprises need to move away from a connectivity-led approach to a more strategic one built on delivering business value.
Enterprise mobility is an important element of the broader digital workspace services that many service providers offer. Delivering against this digital workspace opportunity requires service providers to offer not only best-of-breed technology but solutions that also help enterprises improve processes, people practices, and the physical places employees occupy.
Enterprise interest in 5G connectivity is high, but confusion around use cases is a barrier to adoption. The development of 5G services that also leverage modern management, security, and employee productivity capabilities offered by UEM tools is an opportunity for CSPs.
A focus on mobility (including 5G), Internet of Things (IoT) integration, and the needs of the frontline worker will play to the CSPs’ strengths, as will their managed services capability, particularly around security.
Defining the UEM market: Landscape and
participants
Definition and characteristics
UEM solutions enable enterprises to secure and manage the diverse range of devices and applications that are now used by employees. Traditional mobile devices such as laptops and smartphones, desktops and laptops running operating systems (OSs) such as Windows and macOS, and increasingly, other device types such as wearables, IoT devices, and even cars can be managed via these solutions. UEM is best thought of as an evolution of the enterprise mobility management (EMM) and mobile device management (MDM) tools that came before. The added value offered by UEM solutions is built around how the solutions support businesses looking to manage a broader estate of device and OS types, the enhanced endpoint security and analytics capabilities offered by these platforms, and features that help employees work in a more productive and engaging way. Additionally, and with businesses’ focus on security issues increasing, UEM technologies deliver attractive capabilities such as automated compliance.
The sudden shift to remote working that many businesses have needed to embrace as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated efforts around enabling employees with tools and applications that help them work in a more mobile and flexible way. UEM tools and services are an important piece of the remote-work puzzle, supporting more fluid workstyles and helping businesses secure sensitive work resources while also helping employees be productive regardless of their location and/or device preference.
UEM is more than just an integration of what have traditionally been point-based endpoint management technologies. It is important that the migration to a more unified endpoint
management approach considers more than just the technology. For years, the teams and means responsible for managing mobile devices and those responsible for managing traditional endpoints and client PCs have been separate. UEM should not only unify the capabilities these teams use in managing and securing the end-user-computing (EUC) estate; it should also act as a catalyst to developing better synergy and working practices between the mobility management and traditional endpoint/client management teams. Formally merging teams where separate is an approach that many businesses are now embracing, because this helps in delivering a more consistent approach to EUC. Improving employee productivity and experiences and supporting more modern, often mobile approaches to work should be the overarching business objectives guiding this integration effort.
Business value and applications
In the past, objectives relating to enterprise mobility predominantly centered around device management. Businesses were primarily concerned with improving visibility into the devices used within the business and in applying broad security policies that would govern how these devices could be used. Now, mobility is a much more important digital initiative for businesses, with enterprise mobility incorporating a range of different management, security, productivity, and connectivity elements. The growth in remote work, 5G connectivity and the new use cases it will give rise to, and the efforts being made by businesses from different verticals to become more mobile
centric all mean enterprise mobility has become a very important digital competence, not only from a security and management perspective but also from an employee experience perspective.
The growing range of possibilities around mobility in the world of work has inevitably led to it becoming a more complex digital agenda item for businesses. Organizations need help from competent and experienced partners across a range of different activities, including making
important business applications available and usable across mobile devices, adopting more granular and contextualized security methods and controls, accurately managing and optimizing mobile-related costs, evolving support processes and practices, accurately measuring the employee
experience, and implementing mobile analytics. For UEM vendors, partnerships will be important in broadening adoption of their solutions and in maximizing the ROI customers achieve, particularly among larger enterprises (5,000+ employees). CSPs will be important partners for UEM vendors going forward, especially as many are transforming their own enterprise mobility services with 5G connectivity as a foundation. Many new mobile work use cases will be ushered in by 5G, and technologies that help in that will support businesses in some new and exciting ways. For example, Omdia believes that 5G will enable the mobile worker in a similar way to how the wired local area network (LAN) enabled the traditional desk worker. The management, security, and productivity capabilities offered by UEM solutions make them an important element of any managed mobility service, so building these partnerships with CSPs will be an important route to market.
Market landscape and participants
Future market developments
The number and types of endpoints that businesses are looking to manage and gain visibility into are increasing. In future, and especially as the devices that employees rely on and interact with become smarter and more connected, UEM platforms will be tasked with managing and securing not only mobile devices and PCs but a more diverse range of endpoints including things such as cars, shipping containers, smart wearables and audio devices, healthcare appliances, and other network devices. UEM platforms that expand on the traditional definition of what an endpoint is and introduce features to accommodate management of these connected devices will be well positioned to differentiate in what is a very competitive market.
As we move beyond the traditional idea of endpoint management, verticalization and productization of UEM platforms around nontraditional use cases will be valuable in helping vendors reach new customers across multiple industries. One such opportunity here is around frontline workers. Frontline workers are those that are front and center in a business. They are best described as those workers that are very close to those consuming the services and/or products that the organization delivers. These workers often have close and direct interactions with customers and the general public and, as such, are important representatives of a business’s brand. They span a variety of different occupations and often undertake a well-defined and repeatable set of tasks and duties. Frontline workers have been largely underserved by new technology and services, with digital initiatives often focusing on knowledge/information workers. Mobility is a key feature of frontline work: these workers are often on the move and do not typically work at a single location. In retail, for example, the fashion retailer H&M is using Microsoft Surface hardware to enhance the in-store customer experience in one of its outlets. Via Surface, customers can request the help of a store
assistant. Via a wearable bracelet, H&M workers can receive real-time alerts about customers that need help and about their location in the store. The wearable displays can also be used by staff to view rotas and work schedules. In healthcare, patients are being provided with important healthcare information via self-service mobile kiosks in medical facilities or via their own personal devices. Mobile technologies have the potential to transform frontline work for many people, so demand for UEM platforms that can help manage these mobile technologies will increase as the trend
accelerates.
While strengthening security has always been an enterprise trend closely linked to enterprise mobility and now UEM solutions, it is an area that will drive even greater interest in these tools in future. The challenge for businesses is that security is very complex. Even where businesses are aware of new security capabilities such as zero-trust architectures and intelligence services, they are often unsure how to apply them. As security threats continue to change, businesses will require more from the solutions and vendors they rely on in securing operations. Because an increasing amount of work is now happening over mobile technologies, the mobile worker is a key target for attackers. Businesses are demanding a deeper and more sophisticated level of mobile security capabilities that go beyond just the blanket device-level policy features that many MDM solutions were historically built on. Examples of advanced security features that are increasingly being offered by UEM tools include security policies that dynamically adapt in real time based on elements such as geolocation, network status, employee risk score, and device posture. AI and machine learning capabilities are at the core of these next-generation mobile security capabilities. There have been some interesting acquisitions in the space around these advanced security needs over recent years, with BlackBerry’s acquisition of Cylance and VMware’s acquisition of Carbon Black being the most notable.
Other notable market developments include a focus from enterprises to better understand and be able to report on mobile-related costs, a surge in BYOD activity, and an intent from businesses to evolve IT support practices and approaches around the growing mobile workforce.
The UEM vendor landscape
While still very competitive, the UEM market looks quite different from how it did when the first iteration of this report was published in early 2019. At that time, a more unified endpoint
management approach was still quite nascent, and most vendors were still largely in the process of evolving their EMM solutions into more fully fledged UEM offerings. The endpoint and application management capabilities enterprises have come to expect from a UEM tool remain at the core of these solutions, but different vendors are focusing on slightly different areas that complement these core features. Supporting businesses in improving security and employee productivity are the two key themes driving platform enhancements and guiding the acquisitions made by different vendors over recent years. MobileIron, Sophos, VMware, Microsoft, and BlackBerry have made significant investments around enhancing their security capabilities, while other vendors including Cisco, Citrix, and IBM have focused on expanding their portfolio of productivity features by investing in AI and low/no-code capabilities. Ivanti has a strong heritage in PC management, something the vendor has built on with its mobile management capabilities. ManageEngine has also made an impact by offering a good set of UEM capabilities in support of its broad portfolio of enterprise solutions. Microsoft has experienced much success over the past 18 months with its UEM offering, largely as a
result of its licensing model and continued investment in new capabilities that support its cloud-based management approach and through leveraging its already strong presence in the enterprise. Tying the value of UEM capabilities to the broader digital workspace initiatives that many businesses are now looking to deliver against has become another trend driving adoption. Omdia has identified three important principles that should guide any digital workspace initiative—principles that mobility is important in helping to deliver. At its core, a digital workspace should encourage collaboration, promote productivity, and help drive innovation (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Defining the digital workspace
Source: Omdia
Vendors on the Omdia Market Radar in UEM
Cisco
Figure 6: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management: Cisco
Source: Omdia
Omdia view
Cisco offers a range of different software and hardware solutions that collectively help customers manage, secure, and enable the mobile workforce. These solutions include Cisco Meraki Systems Manager, its endpoint security platform SecureX, SD-WAN and wireless network offerings, and insights and analytics capabilities by way of Cisco Meraki Insights. Cisco Meraki Systems Manager is
the vendor’s endpoint management offering, a solution that offers a good range of capabilities across all the criteria Omdia assessed as part of this report. Beyond the base UEM capabilities provided by Systems Manager, deep integrations can also be created with Cisco Advanced Malware Protection (AMP), Cisco Umbrella for enterprise network security, and Cisco Duo for multifactor authentication capabilities. Cisco’s solution is not one that has the same market impact or recognition as some UEM solutions offered by other vendors in the space, but the company’s strong enterprise heritage and presence by way of its well-adopted network infrastructure and management products provide the vendor with an avenue from which it could further adoption of its mobility management capabilities. Closely integrating these capabilities around the broader digital workspace value proposition is beneficial in that it will help Cisco communicate the broader value of its collective offerings against a digital initiative that resonates with enterprises.
Key messages
Cisco has a strong heritage in the enterprise, especially around network technologies. This presents the vendor with an interesting opportunity around the digital workspace because it could combine hardware offerings that deliver next-generation wireless capabilities
important to the mobile worker (Wi-Fi 6, for example) with its endpoint security and management capabilities in helping businesses secure and manage mobile work.
Cisco offers a good set of UEM capabilities explored as part of this research, with the vendor delivering a particularly strong set of security and analytics features.
Omdia analyst inquiries and enterprise interactions indicate that Cisco Meraki Systems Manager is not a solution commonly front of mind among businesses looking to adopt a UEM tool.
Cisco advises that the average Systems Manager customer manages around 3,000 endpoints using its technology, with its largest customer managing around 250,000 endpoints.
Cisco offers a good range of UEM capabilities, and the vendor continues to invest in endpoint and user security solutions. Omdia feels that a more well-defined mobility management approach and story is needed if Cisco is to compete better with leaders in the UEM space.
Cisco has healthy routes to market, both direct and through partners such as systems integrators (SIs) and IT service providers.
Why put Cisco Meraki Systems Manager on your radar?
Strategy, functionality, and partnerships
Enterprise security is a theme at the heart of how Cisco wants to grow the appeal of its UEM offering. Helping businesses better detect and respond to events, supporting more intelligent and secure access to devices and work resources, and protecting users against an ever-changing threat landscape are the core principles guiding Cisco’s strategy around unified endpoint security and management.
Cisco Meraki Systems Manager delivers a good set of core endpoint and application management capabilities that help businesses support and secure a variety of different endpoints and operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows 10, Chrome OS, and macOS. The management of Apple and Android wearable devices is currently lacking, as is support for zero-touch, out-of-the-box device enrollment and onboarding, a feature that larger organizations and educational institutions value. The solution does offer a strong set of security and analytics features including AI-powered
app-based threat detection and data-leakage protection controls that can be used to control actions within the Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite. The solution also offers more advanced security capabilities such as conditional access features that make it possible for system admins to restrict and allow access to sensitive data and resources based on things such as geolocation and device health. Additionally, deep integrations with Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) for network administration in addition to that with Meraki hardware can provide capabilities such as Wi-Fi configuration, virtual private network (VPN) management, and dynamic network policy control. Cisco has a large customer experience team that is dedicated to helping businesses get the most from investments in Cisco products. Programs are focused on businesses objectives and are tailored specifically to a customer’s needs. Cisco advises that its customer experience program has a positive impact on customer retention.
Platform integrations are supported via the Cisco SecureX platform. SecureX is more an endpoint security offering so is not something analyzed in any detail as part of this research. It is worth noting, however, that Cisco SecureX enables customers to integrate with different MDMs should a business not be using Cisco’s own Service Manager offering, in addition to other popular enterprise solutions such as ServiceNow. Cisco has good relationships with CSPs, and engagement and interest from these partners in Cisco’s endpoint security and management offerings is growing, especially around the small and medium-sized business (SMB) opportunity. The company also has good partnerships with managed mobility service providers. Cisco is also seeing a growing trend of local government and education organizations develop their own managed services using Cisco technologies. These organizations deliver managed service capabilities to their local and international institutions in a fashion similar to how more traditional service providers deliver services to businesses.
Current position, challenges, and future developments
One of Cisco’s strengths is in the range of different hardware and software solutions it offers that can support organizations looking to secure and manage users and the devices, applications, and
networks they work across. The vendor should focus on developing a more succinct approach and message around how the different solutions it offers work together around the mobile-worker value proposition. Other UEM vendors that Cisco is competing with have a specific message and integrated set of capabilities that support UEM initiatives and how their mobility management capabilities tie into a broader security portfolio and/or proposition. From a UEM perspective at least, Cisco’s approach is quite fragmented. Encouragingly, however, Cisco is beginning to offer a more integrated and comprehensive proposition around endpoint security via the introduction of its SecureX solution, a platform introduced to integrate the different security capabilities Cisco offers, including its multifactor authentication and VPN solutions. SecureX has been introduced to provide customers with a more unified view of security and to deliver insights and security controls at the endpoint, user, application, and network level. Because UEM is an important technology from a productivity and security perspective, it may be that Cisco will look to integrate its Systems Manager solution into its SecureX platform in the future. Cisco has reported that interest and demand around its endpoint security capabilities has grown quite significantly recently, driven largely by the need of customers to better enable and secure mobile workers. Cisco offers a strong set of endpoint security solutions and a good story around remote workforce security; the vendor just needs to make UEM a more
Citrix
Figure 7: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management: Citrix
Source: Omdia
Omdia view
Citrix, like some other vendors in this report, has a strong presence and recognition within the enterprise. Citrix positions its UEM solution as one component of its broader digital workspace platform, a platform that includes app and desktop virtualization capabilities, content collaboration solutions, analytics tools, and workspace intelligence resource feeds designed to accelerate
productivity. In designing the digital workspace, it is important not to think about it as being
something delivered via a single technology; a digital workspace is better viewed as an ecosystem of complementary practices, places, technologies, and services that, when brought together, can help people work together more effectively, improve job satisfaction, improve security and management practices, engage staff, strengthen corporate culture, and help businesses to be more successful. This is a concept Citrix has grasped well, with the vendor integrating a set of different solutions (of which UEM is one) around the broader digital workspace value proposition and theme. This helps Citrix communicate the business value its set of solutions offers in helping businesses deliver against an important digital objective. The Citrix UEM solution is one that well meets the mobility management, security, and productivity needs of enterprises, evidenced by how the solution offers many of the capabilities explored as part of this market radar. Citrix UEM also has a good market impact, with strong adoption across different geographies and verticals.
Key messages
While a strong and capable solution in its own right, Citrix Endpoint Management is also an important component of Citrix’s broader digital workspace offering, which supports
enterprises with security, virtualization, collaboration, and app management capabilities.
Citrix Endpoint Management helps enterprises deliver and secure access to mobile, web, software-as-a-service (SaaS), local, and virtualized applications.
Citrix Endpoint Management offers strong integration with Microsoft Intune, enabling a rich level of app- and device-level controls. The integration enables Citrix customers to apply policies that help improve access and security to Office 365 apps, for example.
Citrix’s UEM solution helps enterprises manage a broad range of different devices and operating systems, but its support of wearable devices could be improved.
In supporting businesses looking to improve how employees work across different SaaS, web, and legacy applications, Citrix offers a low-code microapp builder solution as part of its digital workspace offering. This microapp builder makes it easy to display key app tasks within the digital workspace to accelerate productivity.
In addition to strong endpoint and application management capabilities, Citrix offers a strong set of mobile security and analytics capabilities.
Citrix’s commitment to and product rationalization around the digital workspace is a positive move. However, the vendor still has work to do in developing the appeal of its UEM offering among businesses that are not already Citrix customers.
Why put Citrix Endpoint Management on your radar?
Strategy, functionality, and market impact
While perhaps best known for its virtualization and other IT infrastructure solutions, Citrix has offered mobility management capabilities for many years now. The vendor continues to enhance and invest in its UEM approach and offering, not only in terms of the new features and capabilities delivered but also in the way that Citrix is marketing the value of these features, notably around the digital workspace value proposition. While the concept of a digital workspace is of growing interest to enterprises, understanding the technology components is important to delivering a digital workspace. Citrix’s clear messaging and approach around the digital workspace and the important role that UEM capabilities play in supporting it are good.
Figure 8: Citrix Endpoint Management
Source: Citrix
Citrix offers a comprehensive set of mobile security and analytics capabilities to complement a strong core of endpoint and application management features. Citrix Analytics for Security ingests user and application data and device signals from various Citrix services including Citrix Endpoint Management and third-party services such as Microsoft Graph APIs in delivering a more unified mobile security view and set of user-based insights. Machine learning can then be used to take actions based on this data; for example, users can be provided with a risk score that will increase based on different factors, such as if they were to use a jailbroken device. Automated and manual actions can then be undertaken using this insight to strengthen enterprise security. Different levels of access to apps, systems, and data based on factors such as user identity, network connection, and geolocation are also possible.
Citrix has also invested in a range of employee productivity capabilities, including mobile workflow and microapp development functionality, that help integrate and improve the way employees work across different businesses applications. The solution also includes a suite of productivity
applications including a secure mail app that integrates with Microsoft Exchange servers and Exchange Online (system of record for mail) and supports two-way integration. Citrix Files also integrates with multiple third-party systems of record for mobile content.
Helping businesses better understand and measure the employee experience is also an area that Citrix is investing in through introducing metrics and reporting approaches that deliver these insights. Integration with a wide range of Citrix and third-party enterprise applications is also possible,
including with identity management solutions, file sync-and-share solutions, IT service management (ITSM) tools, and other endpoint management solutions if required.
Current position, challenges, and future developments
Citrix’s UEM offering can be deployed either on-premises or via the cloud, with the SaaS deployment method being the most popular. Citrix reports adoption by a good split of customers across small, medium, and large enterprises, which is positive because it demonstrates how the solution scales well in meeting the needs of different businesses with different requirements. Geographically, Citrix has a good split of North American and European customers, and the vendor reports that interest and traction among customers in Asia Pacific is also growing. There is good adoption of the solution across a range of different industries too, with healthcare, financial services, and government being particularly strong industries for Citrix. While Citrix does not deliver productized offerings aimed at specific industries, its sales organization and partner community are trained to provide guidance on policies and configuration for different verticals.
Although the two companies have worked quite closely for some time, Citrix recently announced a new strategic partnership with Microsoft. The partnership will see Microsoft selecting Citrix Workspace as its preferred digital workspace solution, while Citrix will select Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform when moving on-premises Citrix customers to the cloud. The partnership is interesting because mobility is a key element of any digital workspace. It will be especially interesting to see what new joint offerings and improved integrations between Citrix’s workspace solutions and Microsoft’s own cloud endpoint management, security, and employee productivity capabilities are developed through the partnership.
Citrix has more than 10,000 partners worldwide, some of which are IT service providers. Citrix also works with system integrators: one of these is IBM, which delivers Citrix’s Workspace solutions along with its multihybrid cloud strategy. Customers also have the option to leverage telecoms operators for the resale of Citrix Endpoint Management. Examples include Telstra in Australia and T-Mobile in the US.
Omdia client inquiries and conversations with enterprises indicate that interest in Citrix’s UEM solution is not at the level of that in some other competitor offerings. Where Citrix already has a presence within an organization this is different, but developing and marketing a UEM solution that appeals to both current Citrix customers and those businesses new to Citrix is an opportunity. The commitment by Citrix to the digital workspace is certainly a step in the right direction, because it helps to improve understanding around the collective value delivered through a combination of different mobile management, collaboration, and security technologies. Other areas of opportunity for Citrix to develop its UEM solution should be in offering mobile app analytics capabilities that
deliver greater understanding around how employees are using applications and in developing integrations with other third-party security solutions that can automatically undertake actions (patching, incident remediation, etc.) based on third-party threat intelligence and insights. Citrix Endpoint Management partially supports the management of wearable devices. When paired with managed devices, wearables support the policies that are pushed to the managed device. For example, if a password policy is deployed to a device, the wearable will also require a password. Direct support for wearable devices would be something for Citrix to explore in the future, especially since wearables will be technology important to frontline worker use cases.
IBM
Figure 9: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management: IBM
Source: Omdia
Omdia view
IBM is an established enterprise technology and service provider that has been delivering some form of mobility management solution for many years now. Over recent years, IBM has enhanced its IBM Security MaaS360 UEM solution by introducing a range of new automation, security, and cognitive capabilities. The rich integration between MaaS360 and IBM Watson has been a positive move from a marketing perspective because recognition of Watson is high, but it has also helped IBM establish a level of differentiation from the competition around its cognitive capabilities. IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson is an important product in IBM’s broader ecosystem of security solutions, a portfolio of security offerings that extend across identity management, mobile threat detection and
management, and security strategy and planning services to name but a few. IBM also boasts a strong partner network in addition to offering a range of in-house services designed to help customers get maximum value from its solutions.
Figure 10: IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson UI
Source: IBM
Key messages
IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson offers a comprehensive set of capabilities that can support enterprises in managing and securing mobile devices and apps and in helping people work more productively when mobile.
The MaaS360 pricing structure is competitive and simple but still offers flexibility in matching the needs of different-sized businesses that have varying needs around mobility.
IBM positions its UEM offering as an important product in its broader portfolio of enterprise security solutions and services that help enterprises secure remote and mobile workstyles.
Beyond device management and security, MaaS360 offers a range of advanced features including mobile threat management, identity and access management, business dashboarding, a mobile policy recommendation engine, and expense management capabilities.
IBM has recently enhanced its mobile security capabilities by way of its new user risk management feature, which delivers risk-based user scoring and enforcement actions through gathering insights on current and past user behaviors and device and app security posture.
IBM’s client management migration Tool (CMT) enables enterprises to easily migrate from traditional CMTs, such as Microsoft SCCM or BigFix, to modern UEM management with MaaS360.
MaaS360 has a strong market impact and is adopted by a good distribution of businesses across different verticals.
Strengthening adoption of MaaS360 in Europe and Asia Pacific is an important opportunity for IBM.
The lack of on-premises deployment for MaaS360 may limit the appeal of the solution among businesses in heavily regulated industries.
Why put IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson on your radar?
Strategy, functionality, and market impact
With MaaS360 and other digital trust security products and services, IBM aims to support businesses in better protecting and enabling the mobile workforce, supporting them in being able to detect and respond to new cyberthreats and in delivering the security expertise and support businesses
increasingly need. IBM’s strategy is to provide not just technological capabilities but also a range of services that can help businesses navigate the many complexities associated with enterprise mobility and security. In addition to UEM, IBM’s integrated approach to security combines solutions that span data discovery and protection, cloud-based access management, authentication, risk management, fraud detection, and global threat intelligence. IBM has developed a digital trust framework intended to guide customers on its digital trust proposition, providing insight and best practices on the
important considerations they need to be making and around the solutions that can support their security objectives.
MaaS360 has a good reputation and positioning in the UEM market, with strong revenue and a healthy adoption growth rate. The solution is sold directly and via IBM’s channel partners, with a good number of sales being made via telco partners. In total, IBM works with more than 6,000 partners across 82 countries, including global carrier partners and managed service providers (MSPs) that resell MaaS360. IBM is also an Apple Strategic Partner, an Android Enterprise Recommended (AER) partner, a Samsung Knox Gold Partner, and a founding member of AppConfig. IBM makes major new updates to its UEM platform once every quarter but also continually introduces small fixes and enhancements.
IBM offers a strong set of UEM capabilities on top of its core endpoint and application management features. Highlights here include a tool dedicated to helping businesses migrate from a traditional client management platform to MaaS360, advanced security capabilities such as user risk scoring and conditional access, mobile app management and analytics, and the ability to integrate the solution with a large variety of other third-party enterprise systems.
Current position, challenges, and future developments
IBM offers a very capable and well-established UEM solution in MaaS360. The vendor has developed an attractive offering by complementing core UEM capabilities such as endpoint and application management with more advanced cognitive and security features. IBM’s service programs that support businesses in getting maximum value from its product portfolio will also be attractive to organizations looking to navigate the complexities associated with enterprise mobility and security. In addition to IBM’s own service offerings, MaaS360 is a solution that Omdia has identified as being popular with CSPs and other providers offering managed mobility services.
While IBM offers a very capable UEM offering that should be on the short list of enterprises looking for a solution to help secure and enable the mobile workforce, there are some opportunities that the vendor should explore to further improve its proposition. First, the majority of MaaS360 customers are currently based in North America, so IBM should focus on growing interest and traction across other geographies, especially in Europe and Asia Pacific. As mobility becomes more complex, and as the needs of businesses from different industries start to diversify as mobility needs become more specified and advanced, there is an opportunity for UEM providers such as IBM to better tailor and productize their solutions around the needs and challenges of specific industries. Within MaaS360 there are components such as policy templates that are customized to different verticals, but these
are offered as part of the base offering. While this type of solution verticalization has traditionally been done via service providers, Omdia believes there is an opportunity for technology vendors here too. While security and cognitive capabilities are very much at the core of IBM Security MaaS360 with Watson, the solution also offers a good set of productivity features aimed at helping employees work better across mobile devices. As more employees embrace more mobile workstyles, UEM capabilities that support employee productivity across the different devices they use will be even more important. Further strengthening features focused on mobile productivity and refining its marketing activities to better communicate how MaaS360 supports businesses looking to better enable remote and mobile workers represent a good opportunity for IBM.
Ivanti
Figure 11: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management: Ivanti
Source: Omdia
Omdia view
Ivanti is perhaps best known for its service management and desktop and server management tools, but the company also has good experience in mobility management. Ivanti brought together its mobility management offering and its PC configuration management tools in developing its UEM solution. Ivanti Unified Endpoint Management offers a good set of configuration and management capabilities across both traditional and modern devices. Ivanti UEM comprises a set of different capabilities including desktop configuration by way of Ivanti User Workspace Manager, endpoint security and management, application and endpoint patching, and application and security controls. Ivanti UEM consolidates endpoint management and security into one place and console that
supports businesses in controlling application and device deployment, ensuring patch compliance, improving software licensing, and securing end-user-computing environments.
Figure 12: Ivanti UEM features
Source: Ivanti
While not one of the most well-recognized or widely adopted UEM solutions in the space, Ivanti UEM does offer a good set of core capabilities. The opportunity around integrating the UEM product technology with other solutions such as Ivanti service management will be attractive for existing Ivanti customers and those looking to improve overall IT support.
Key messages
Ivanti offers an integrated set of UEM, service management, asset management, and security capabilities that can be bundled via a simple and cost-effective enterprise licensing
agreement.
Ivanti UEM offers a good set of core endpoint and application management capabilities.
Ivanti’s heritage and recognition in ITSM provides the vendor with an interesting opportunity to develop UEM features aimed at helping businesses to better support the mobile
workforce.
Ivanti UEM is not a solution as widely adopted or recognized as other solutions in the space.
Ivanti can also support businesses with a useful set of strategic professional services and resources aimed at helping customers maximize adoption and ROI.
Continuing to invest and grow adoption of its cloud offerings represents a good opportunity for Ivanti.
Developing partnerships with CSPs will help Ivanti raise awareness and the appeal of its UEM solution in large enterprises.
Why put Ivanti Unified Endpoint Management on your radar?
Strategy, functionality, and market impact
Ivanti offers a range of different enterprise products, of which its UEM solution is a key component. The vendor has offered some form of mobile device management solution for many years now, with Ivanti’s UEM offering being an evolution of the vendor’s previous MDM and EMM products. In addition to providing just the technology, Ivanti also supports customers with a compelling set of
professional services and resources. Deployment and design services, a technical relationship manager that engages with customers at a strategic level in ensuring maximum ROI, OS migration services, and process design and automation services are some of the highlights from Ivanti’s professional services portfolio.
Ivanti UEM offers a good set of core endpoint and application management capabilities including functionality that supports businesses in managing devices running Android, Windows 10, iOS, macOS, and Chrome OS. There is an opportunity for Ivanti to further develop the security and analytics functionality offered by the solution and to introduce features that can support workplace productivity. Most notably, user security risk scoring, mobile app analytics, and native mobile workflow development and automation capabilities that make it possible to integrate tasks and actions across different backend systems for easy user interaction via a single mobile interface would be good additions.
Ivanti offers an attractive licensing arrangement for businesses looking to adopt its integrated enterprise IT capabilities, including UEM, service management, security, and identity and asset management. Enterprises that choose the Ivanti Unified IT Enterprise License Agreement receive all the major Ivanti products at a competitive price point.
Ivanti has a good partner ecosystem encompassing system integrators and IT service providers; however, establishing partnerships with CSPs has the potential to help further adoption of its offerings, especially among larger enterprises. Ivanti has good presence in North America and Europe, with Asia Pacific representing a good area for future growth. Ivanti’s UEM solution is well adopted by financial services, retail, and manufacturing firms.
Current position, challenges, and future developments
Ivanti aims to differentiate its UEM solution through integrating it closely with its service management and asset management capabilities. The vendor is also committed to supporting businesses looking to comanage modern mobility management with legacy PC configuration management in a single solution and via a single console. Capability that helps automate the remediation of performance and configuration issues with Ivanti Assistants can also help in the proactive support of the mobile workforce, an area and business need that UEM vendors need to be attentive to. As the number of mobile workers continues to grow, the technologies and business approaches that help support them will need to evolve. Given the company’s rich heritage in ITSM, introducing features that can help businesses better support the mobile workforce is an interesting opportunity that Ivanti should look to explore. Ivanti UEM also supports the distribution of software packages and apps in a configurable, bandwidth-friendly way. Ivanti UEM can be deployed in the cloud, on-premises, or via a hybrid model depending on customer need. Ivanti advises that the majority of its current UEM deployments are on-premises, so growing its SaaS UEM business is certainly an opportunity that Ivanti should continue to act upon.
Ivanti UEM is not a solution that is front of mind for many enterprises Omdia engages with, nor is the solution as widely adopted as some competitor offerings. Growing interest and adoption in its UEM solutions, both in a direct fashion and via an ecosystem of different partners, certainly represents a good opportunity for Ivanti.
ManageEngine
Figure 13: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management: ManageEngine
Source: Omdia
Omdia view
ManageEngine is the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, a company that offers a range of business software solutions. The ManageEngine division delivers a set of different enterprise technologies aimed at supporting businesses in managing their entire IT ecosystem: the vendor’s Desktop Central solution is an important product in this ecosystem. ManageEngine offers multiple editions of its Desktop Central solution, including a UEM edition that offers modern Windows 10 management and mobile device management as the value-add capabilities. In addition to UEM, the ManageEngine portfolio includes identity and access management, privileged identity management, security information and event management (SIEM), IT service management, endpoint security, IT operations management and ManageEngine’s in-house business intelligence (BI) tool.
Figure 14: ManageEngine Desktop Central UEM
Source: ManageEngine
ManageEngine Desktop Central offers a good set of capabilities that support business efforts around endpoint management, software and operating system deployment, asset management, and patch management, in addition to features such as remote desktop sharing and chat that can help improve mobile worker support. ManageEngine’s UEM offering was historically a PC client management tool used to support business efforts around desktop management. ManageEngine would go on to include MDM as a module within this solution, one that later evolved into a more comprehensive EMM solution. As has been the case with other EMM offerings, ManageEngine would then evolve this solution further into a fully fledged UEM tool offering capabilities that support businesses looking to comanage mobile and PC OSs via a single platform and approach.
Key messages
ManageEngine and Zoho Corporation offer a diverse range of IT solutions that can be richly integrated.
ManageEngine Desktop Central UEM offers a good set of core endpoint and application management capabilities.
PC management has historically been at the core of the Desktop Central offering, but mobility management has become a more important focus for ManageEngine over recent years, evidenced by the development of the dedicated UEM edition of Desktop Central.
ManageEngine Desktop Central UEM is currently more commonly adopted among small to medium-sized organizations than among large enterprises.
A good set of application management capabilities provide admins with control over the entire lifecycle of the app, irrespective of whether it is a public store app available for download over the internet, a legacy app, or an internally developed in-house app.
Developing its partner ecosystem would help ManageEngine to further improve awareness and adoption of its UEM offering.
ManageEngine Desktop Central has a simple licensing structure and comes in different editions suited to the needs of small to large enterprises, including a free version.
ManageEngine Desktop Central UEM does not have the same market impact or awareness as other solutions in the space.
Mobile app analytics and advanced mobile security features powered by AI and machine learning are capabilities ManageEngine should look to build into its UEM offering going forward.
Why put ManageEngine Desktop Central UEM on your radar?
Strategy, functionality, and market impact
ManageEngine Desktop Central UEM offers a strong set of endpoint and application management capabilities. The solution supports the management of a broad variety of different device types including Android, iOS, Windows (legacy XP and Window 10 support possible), Chrome OS, and macOS in addition to Apple Watch, Android Knox, and IoT devices including tvOS and rugged devices. The solution offers a good set of app management and software and asset management capabilities, including features that support asset scans that track all network-connected hardware and software, delivering details on installed security certificates and apps and software license compliance details. Using this capability, administrators can also restrict the installation of executable files, uninstall prohibited software, and analyze software usage.
ManageEngine’s solution integrates with Apple Volume Purchase Program (VPP), Google Play for Work (PfW), and Windows Business Store for purchase and approval of business-sanctioned apps. IT admins can also preconfigure app settings and app permissions, ensuring apps are ready to use by employees in the way intended immediately upon installation. Legacy application management and deployment is also supported by-way of precreated software templates for commonly used
.MSI/.EXE/.DMG applications.
ManageEngine’s UEM solution has good adoption among small and midsize organizations. While it is not a solution with the same market recognition as some competitor offerings, it does deliver a good set of core UEM features capable of helping businesses manage endpoints across the lifecycle from
imaging and deployment through retirement. ManageEngine reports strong adoption growth of its solution over the last financial year, suggesting the vendor’s commitment to UEM is having a positive impact. The single license model offered is simple, covers all forms of endpoints, and delivers mobile management and traditional PC lifecycle management features via a unified platform. Additionally, ManageEngine does not add additional fees to manage PCs separately. When it comes to enhancing its platform, Zoho and ManageEngine make few acquisitions but look to develop new capabilities by way of the company’s dedicated R&D and product management teams. While it does not offer vertical-specific productized offerings, ManageEngine does support prospects and customers from different verticals with any customizations needed based on their unique requirements.
Current position, challenges, and future developments
As businesses become more mobile centric and work transitions to being more mobile, UEM solutions will become a more important element of the IT infrastructure and operations ecosystem while also being a tool that businesses will increasingly rely on to help them improve the employee experience. ManageEngine should look to capitalize on this opportunity through continually
developing and marketing its modern management proposition. The vendor should look to improve awareness of its UEM capabilities, because at present, it is not a solution front of mind for businesses looking to adopt UEM tool.
Endpoint security challenges are driving a lot of business interest in UEM solutions, and ManageEngine is acting to support enterprises by investing in new capabilities that can help
strengthen mobile security. ManageEngine offers a good set of core capabilities here, but continuing to develop its mobile security capabilities and improving integration with third-party security solutions will be important if the vendor is to compete with leaders in the UEM space that have invested heavily in security over recent years. Encouragingly, this is an improvement opportunity that ManageEngine is looking to deliver against, both by strengthening its own endpoint security
capabilities and by improving integrations with other security solutions including mobile threat defense, identity and access management (IAM), and SIEM tools. The vendor has developed dedicated solutions for vulnerability management, application control with privilege management, and enterprise browser security within the last 18 months. ManageEngine is also developing its own endpoint-based data-loss protection (DLP) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. ManageEngine’s suite of productivity apps is currently available via another separately licensed personal information management (PIM) solution in Zoho Workplace, a workspace management solution. Customers will need to integrate Desktop Central UEM with Zoho Workplace to leverage capabilities that can help improve employee productivity. Desktop Central UEM can integrate with popular productivity suites such as Office 365 and G Suite if required.
Developing its partner ecosystem represents a good opportunity for ManageEngine that will help broaden awareness of its UEM capabilities and provide more routes to market for its solution. CSPs that offer managed mobility and digital workspace services are one example of a partner that ManageEngine should look to work with. Other opportunities ManageEngine should look to develop into its UEM offering include rich mobile app and device analytics capabilities and employee
Microsoft
Figure 15: Omdia Market Radar 2020: Unified endpoint management: Microsoft
Source: Omdia
Omdia view
Microsoft Endpoint Manager combines different capabilities into a single integrated solution that supports businesses looking to manage and secure the broad set of mobile and more traditional endpoints that employees rely on. Microsoft Endpoint Management brings together Intune,
Microsoft Configuration Manager, Azure Active Directory, and Microsoft Defender Threat Protection with desktop analytics and device deployment capabilities. The endpoint management capabilities are licensed via Microsoft’s Enterprise Mobility + Security E3 and E5 offerings. Microsoft has invested heavily over recent years in delivering a solution that supports a modern management approach, one developed around the idea that businesses should have a unified management, security approach, and platform from which all endpoints can be managed.
Figure 16: Microsoft’s modern management approach
Source: Microsoft
The combination and integration under the new Endpoint Manager brand of Intune capabilities traditionally adopted by teams responsible for managing mobile devices with Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr, traditionally used to manage PCs) is an output of
Microsoft’s strategy here. Microsoft’s approach to UEM and the solutions it offers to support it have yielded a lot of recent success for the company in this area, evidenced by its strong revenue growth rates and the many inquiries Omdia receives relating to Microsoft’s solution. Microsoft’s UEM strategy, its continued investment in its Enterprise Mobility + Security suite of capabilities, and the strong presence the vendor has in the enterprise have all helped make its offering one of the most
widely adopted solutions in the UEM space. Microsoft Endpoint Manager is a solution that should be short-listed by businesses looking to modernize and improve end-user computing and security.
Key messages
Microsoft Endpoint Manager, announced in late 2019, is a single solution that brings together SCCM and Intune with the goal of making it simpler for businesses to take advantage of cloud endpoint management.
Microsoft’s comanagement approach supports the gradual migration of on-premises
management capabilities to the cloud, meaning businesses with legacy workloads supported by SCCM can transition to the cloud at a pace that is comfortable.
Omdia interactions with enterprises and our analysis into the market impact of UEM tools suggest that adoption of and interest in Microsoft’s UEM solution is high.
Microsoft Productivity Score has great potential to help businesses better understand and be able to actively improve employee experiences. It provides insights and visibility into how people are working and issues with the technologies they are using as well as suggestions on how user productivity could be improved.
Microsoft supports data protection across all devices, whether personal or corporate owned, and the vendor’s insights and analytics features give customers visibility and intelligence across endpoints, applications, users, and the network.
Microsoft’s UEM offering and modern management proposition comprise multiple capabilities with different branding (Intune, ConfigMgr, Microsoft EMS, etc.) that some companies Omdia engages with find confusing. The recently announced Microsoft Endpoint Manager integrated offering is a big step toward overcoming this challenge.
Microsoft has a very strong ecosystem of partners extending across CSPs, IT system integrators, and other technology vendors.
Microsoft’s offering supports the management of Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS devices; however, support for Chrome OS is currently lacking.
Why put Microsoft Endpoint Manager on your radar?
Strategy, functionality, and market impact
Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security is part of the broader Microsoft 365 offering that also brings together Office 365 and Windows 10. This combination of capabilities supports the management, security, and productivity needs of employees working across a diverse estate of mobile and more traditional device types. Microsoft’s modern management approach was launched a few years ago and is focused on helping businesses better unify how a traditional set of endpoints and operating systems can be managed alongside a more modern estate of mobile devices and OSs. One of the key values in Microsoft’s combined endpoint management approach is in how it supports businesses looking to make a more gradual transition from traditional client management approaches and workloads to a more modern approach supported by Intune. EMS offers identity and access management, information protection, and identity-driven security capabilities alongside the endpoint management features. Microsoft’s licensing approach around modern management also simplified with the introduction of the Microsoft Endpoint Manager brand. Customers licensing ConfigMgr are now eligible to use Intune for comanaging Windows PCs. Likewise, those businesses with an Intune license are automatically licensed to use ConfigMgr. To manage iOS, Android, and
macOS devices, customers require a standalone Intune license or an Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) or Microsoft 365 subscription.
Microsoft’s UEM offering supports the management of most popular operating systems, including Android, iOS, Windows 10, and macOS. Support for Chrome OS is currently lacking, something Microsoft might look to address in the future given the recently growing adoption by enterprises of devices running Google’s OS. Microsoft also supports zero-touch device enrollment and provisioning and functionality that enables the distribution and encryption of Windows 10, Android, and iOS apps. Intune delivers a strong set of app and device security features, and through integration with
Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, mobile security can be further enhanced. Intune can also be integrated with data delivered via third-party mobile threat defense solutions to further improve security and compliance policies. Integration between Microsoft EMS and Office 365 helps improve employee productivity by enabling employees with a set of popular applications available across a range of different devices and by providing IT admins with features that help in managing and securing these apps and the work conducted across them. Microsoft Intune can also be integrated with other UEM solutions.
In late 2019, Microsoft launched Productivity Score, new functionality that delivers visibility,
measurements, and insights into how users are working and how the employee experience could be improved. Additionally, new Endpoint Analytics insights delivered via this feature help IT admins and support personnel to identify and remediate endpoint- and technology-related issues such as startup and performance errors. As the mobile workforce grows, tools such as this that can help improve how they are supported will be important.
Current position, challenges, and future development
Microsoft offers a strong suite of UEM features capable of supporting businesses of all sizes in managing and securing the end-user-computing environment. Additionally, Office 365 integration and Microsoft’s focus on employee experience and productivity highlight the vendor’s recognition that the modern management opportunity is not only focused on modernizing security but is also centered around helping people work in more innovative and mobile-centric ways.
Microsoft has established multiple partnerships and strategic alliances with CSPs over recent years that have interesting implications from a mobile workforce perspective. While not directly linked to endpoint management, the strategic alliances the vendor is forming around the 5G opportunity— particularly with the likes of AT&T, Telefónica, Vodafone, and Telstra—have some interesting potential from a mobile workforce perspective. Omdia believes that 5G has the potential to enable the mobile workforce in a fashion similar to the way the wired LAN enabled information workers some 30+ years ago. Microsoft’s intent, investments, and collaborations around 5G are interesting from an enterprise mobility perspective because new ways of mobile working will emerge, supported by new technologies. UEM capabilities will play an important role in securing and enabling these new workstyles.
There are different brands and solutions associated with Microsoft’s UEM and modern management propositions. These include the likes of Intune, Enterprise Mobility + Security, Microsoft 365, and ConfigMgr. Enterprises that Omdia engages with are often confused by the different solutions on offer and how they work together. Microsoft Endpoint Manager certainly has the potential to resolve this issue in becoming and being thought of as the single integrated solution supporting UEM and modern management.
