Established mobile software categories such as mobile device management (MDM) and telecom expense management (TEM) have not only matured, but are being blended with “new” mobile categories such as mobile application, security and content management. These formerly adjacent enterprise mobility solution areas are being integrated by an increasingly broad range of vendors, and are marketed as enterprise mobility management or EMM.
While point solutions for mobile management have proven to be adequate for many deployment environments, they are beginning to give way to more sophisticated solutions that have emerged in the market as integrated end-to-end enterprise-grade mobility management. However, the diversity and variability of mobile requirements in enterprise environments make an a la carte “enterprise mobility bundle” approach viable and often desirable. We identifed and wrote about this trend earlier this year, as carriers and systems integrators continued to demostrate their channel strength in reselling mobility solutions. Both integrated EMM solutions and point solutions will see success in the market as vendors continue to architect solutions that can integrate well with existing technology infrastructures as well as with complimentary (and often competing) mobile solutions – additionally, larger organizations with more sophisticated/mature mobile strategies will demand an integrated mobility approach due to these solutions ability to reduce support and maintenance costs.
The roster of vendors offering EMM solutions has expanded well beyond the mobile-first MDM vendors like AirWatch, Boxtone, MobileIron and Zenprise, who began expanding their solution range in 2010. Prominent participants cross the entire spectrum of technology-oriented vendors, including: mobile OS vendors, hardware OEMs, large ISVs, carriers, systems integrators, and mobile first ISVs. The solution range being offered is wide, with competing paths to secure mobile applications and platforms – indeed; EMM is shaping up to be one of the most competitively fought software markets in enterprise mobility.