Mobile Device Management Problems Without Central Control

Mobile device management problems are what a firm lives with when its devices have no management or only patchy management. Five show up: devices set up by hand, updates that miss devices, settings that differ from one device to the next, no single count of devices, and remote fixes that take days.

When you want the full definition, our entry on how mobile device management works has it. In short, mobile device management means controlling company laptops, phones and tablets from one place. Here we cover what goes wrong when devices have no management, how to tell, and where it hurts. If you want the aim itself, see managing company devices from one platform. We do not cover the fix, what to buy, or how devices get compromised.

Which Mobile Device Management Problems Are There, and What Are the Signs?

Five problems cost IT time and audit effort when devices have no or patchy management. The mobile device management problems below differ in cost, but each leaves a sign IT can check today.

Later sections take each problem in turn, with its cost and its signs.

What Goes Wrong When Every Device Is Set Up by Hand?

When an engineer sets up every device by hand, each setup takes engineer time and holds up a new starter. An engineer images each laptop before delivery, and remote starters need setup calls. Then finished devices wait in a cupboard until an engineer has an hour to spare.

In our reading, the cost lands in two places, the help desk and the starter’s first days. The help desk carries the setup calls, but the starter also loses working time. We have no figure for either, although the pattern is easy to see in a hiring month.

A firm in Pune or Dubai that hires in batches feels this sharply. For example, ten new laptops mean ten separate setups.

Microsoft Learn’s Windows Autopilot overview says that cloud-based setup of Windows devices reduces the time IT spends on deploying, managing and retiring them.

What Happens When Updates Miss Devices?

When devices rarely connect, they fall behind on updates, and nobody can say how many. Some devices sit weeks behind on system updates. Old iOS or Android versions still run in the fleet, and no report shows update status. A device that has not connected for weeks is a good place to look.

Device management challenges of this kind can grow when more staff work remotely.

Poor connections can also let devices drift out of compliance. Likewise, a system upgrade can leave a device out of step with its rules until someone steps in. This is our reading, but we have no figure.

Why Do Device Settings Differ From One Device to the Next?

Settings follow whoever set up the device and when they did it. Screen-lock rules differ between devices of the same kind. After setup, admin rights are still on for some machines.

A mixed fleet widens the gaps when Windows, macOS, iOS and Android can each take settings in their own way. For example, one laptop has disk encryption on and the next does not. The difference surfaces only when someone asks.

The cost shows at an audit or after an incident. Then IT has to open devices one by one to see each setting.

Problems of this kind can feed shadow IT. Rules written in a hurry can also push staff towards unapproved apps and personal devices.

Why Can’t IT Say How Many Devices the Firm Has?

Laptops, phones and tablets sit in different tools, or in none, and no one holds a single count. Each device type has its own tool or sheet, and counts from two systems differ when you compare them. Tablets sit in drawers with nobody managing them.

Tablets that nobody manages count as unmanaged devices in the plainest sense. They appear in no count unless someone walks round and looks.

The cost is a manual count before every risk question gets an answer. When a director asks how many devices carry company email, the answer becomes a spreadsheet exercise.

Contractor devices add a real limit. A contractor’s own device may not be enrollable at all, and any count then has a blind spot.

Why Are Remote Fixes So Slow Without Management?

When a device has no management, IT has no view of it, and support turns into calls and guesswork. Simple faults need long calls, and devices travel back by courier or by hand. IT has no view of device health until the user reports a fault.

Distance makes it worse. A branch in another city, or a site in another emirate, may wait days for a device to return. Meanwhile, the user works on a spare machine or loses the time.

The cost falls on remote staff, who can lose working days. The help desk load can also grow with the device count. This is our reading, but we have no figure for it.

When Do Mobile Device Management Problems Hurt Most?

They hurt at three moments: a hiring wave, an urgent patch and an auditor’s request. Mobile device management problems stay quiet until one of these moments turns a weakness into a visible delay.

When an auditor asks about device state, that is a device posture assessment question.

How Can You Tell Which Mobile Device Management Problems Are Yours?

If the answer to any question below is yes, that problem is yours. Read the five questions with your own fleet in mind, then answer each yes or no.

• Does an engineer touch every new laptop before a starter gets it?
• Are some devices still weeks behind on system updates?
• When you compare two devices of the same kind, do their screen-lock or admin settings differ?
• Would two systems give different device counts if you asked them both?
• Is a long call or a courier still needed for a simple fault on a remote device?

One yes is a reason to look closer. It does not prove a failure. When several answers are yes, or when nobody knows the answer, a specialist can help. This article does not cover threat defence, product choice or rollout steps.

If you want an outside look, a Signisys specialist can review how you set up, update and support devices today.

Signisys provides device management services through its Digital Workplace and Endpoint Management solution and its End-User Computing services.

Mobile Device Management Problems FAQ: Questions Answered