With respect to mobility management, A.K.A. managed mobility services, there are six support areas related to mobile device logistics – a subset of support under MMS services – that we will be covering in this and future blog articles: (1) staging/kitting; (2) asset tagging; (3) device deployment; (4) hot spare/replacement programs; (5) device collection/wiping/storage; and (6) device recycling.
In this article, we will explore the value that staging and kitting support can provide for your enterprise, especially if you are of sufficient size (e.g., 500 devices or more).
The aim is to help you better understand these various enterprise mobility management areas so that you will be more effective in questioning and understanding these services during your next TEM/MMS provider discovery process.
So, how will this type of support help you and your expense management team?
Mobile Device Staging & Kitting Overview
The staging and kitting process is focused on setting up and configuring all your organization’s mobile devices (e.g., laptops, smartphones, tablets) to your organization’s requirements (e.g., policies, procedures, standards) before assignment to your organization’s employees.
Getting this right at the beginning of the mobility lifecycle will save your organization a great deal in terms of time and money down the line by minimizing potential costly mistakes or employee frustration (e.g., possible security procedure gaffes or user frustrations with installed applications).
To be clear, one security mishap alone could leave your organization open to potential costly legal exposure, so the value here is in proactive defensive expense management practices. It’s not just about what you do, it’s what can be avoided that also drives long-term value for expense management programs.
Let’s now look in more detail at some of the ways that enterprises benefit from mobile device staging and kitting support:
4 Ways that Mobile Device Staging and Kitting Help Enterprises
1. Mobile device deployment processes are optimized and accelerated
There are many moving parts and support areas within an MMS program, so starting off quickly and with a clear purpose helps to kick off the mobile device management process.
Staging and kitting will help to ensure that the mobile devices for your employees are set up properly – according to your organization’s standards and policies – so that employees are ready to easily use their devices upon receipt.
Mobile device pre-configuration also facilitates important associated mobile device management efforts such as:
Device monitoring capabilities enhanced: A TEM/MMS provider will assist your team with enabling key monitoring capabilities such as:
- Memory
- Connectivity
- Application performance
- Usage
Remote device management increases functionality: Current-day update capabilities are now expected to be leading-edge with respect to:
- Wireless updates from afar: Security patches, firmware, software updates, etc.
- Device configuration from afar: Think setting adjustments, application installations, VPN connectivity, etc.
Centralized device management increases control: A more centralized approach is the hallmark of all strong TEM/MMS programs and will help simplify other support areas such as:
- Mobile device maintenance
- Mobile help desk and support items
2. Mobile device security measures are strengthened and enforced
It’s important to be able to support established compliance policies and procedures as well as make sure that all appropriate security measures are implemented and practiced continuously.
Staging and kitting from a trusted third-party provider will ensure that best practices around security software and related activities such as the use of encryption software are applied correctly.
Protecting sensitive data and other digital information is critically important to protecting your organization from any potential outside predatory behavior and is also going to be relevant to compliance with many industry standards (e.g., GDPR regulations).
3. Mobile device lifecycle processes benefit from front-end process standardization
It’s much easier to do things right the first time and at the beginning of a process. The same holds true here.
A competent third-party provider will assist with many of the technical and mundane aspects of turning up devices the right way. This support will be in the service of setting up the device applications, pre-configuring settings as per your organization’s requirements, and simply putting in place all necessary guardrails to protect both the user and your organization for the long term.
The goal is to keep things simple for the user and protect all parties from common mistakes that could happen otherwise, with a more haphazard approach (e.g., not installing certain applications could impact data monitoring capabilities or worse, threaten security).
4. Mobile device lifecycle management scalability is increased, creating time and cost savings
Aside from all operational and security considerations, saving time and money is always a really important area for expense management teams.
A team of subject-matter experts from a reputable TEM/MMS provider will be able to drive these critical metrics in the right direction for your organization. Implementations can be performed in batches and to best-in-class specifications for your user base. (They will have the knowledge and experience to expedite the process and set up your organization for savings.)
This will include all necessary kitting touchpoints impacting the various areas covered above such as user profiles, security applications, settings, et cetera.
The process will allow your organization to scale effectively, getting your internal team out of the weeds of the turn-up process and more focused on the critical results needed from the process. Let your TEM/MMS partner implement the details they know all about; you simply need to be clear on your end-state requirements and assist with the mobility program oversight.
Mobile Device Staging and Kitting Closing Thoughts
There are many moving parts in any managed mobility services program. As noted above, this article is one of six that features mobile device logistics alone.
The primary aim here is to familiarize you and your team with how partnering with a reputable and competent 3rd-party TEM/MMS provider can assist in these various mobile device logistics areas and prepare you for the questions you will need to ask in your next TEM/MMS discovery process.
If you’d like to consider Tellennium in your TEM vendor comparisons, contact us to schedule a brief demo of our solution.
Explore More Articles
MDL Part 4 – Preventing Mobile Breakdowns: The Importance of Hot Spare Programs for Large Enterprises
We are not talking about tire replacements for a NASCAR race, although it’s certainly the case that hot spare mobile devices may be used in that environment as well. A hot spare replacement program is a mobile device backup process to ensure a replacement device is ready if a user’s mobile phone fails for whatever
MDL Part 3 – 4 Ways That Device Deployment Helps Enterprises
Our prior mobile device logistics articles discussed the importance of staging and kitting and how asset tagging helps enterprises with key mobile device logistical activities. In this article, we will review important ways that device deployment support is also a significant aspect of mobile device logistics and serve to strengthen your managed mobility services
MDL Part 2 – 4 Ways That Mobile Device Asset Tagging Helps Enterprises Strengthen Lifecycle Management & Save Money
Our initial article on mobile device logistics covered how mobile device staging and kitting can help add value to your expense management organization. In this article, we will address how the mobile device asset tagging process also adds value to your mobile device logistics management focus and, ultimately, to overall managed mobility services program management.