Why Mobile Device Management (MDM) is Essential for Hybrid Workforces

Your employees are accessing company data from coffee shops, home offices, and airport lounges. They use a variety of mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and personal laptops, to connect to your network. While this flexibility drives productivity, it can also cause significant security risks. 

Recent Microsoft data shows that more than 90% of ransomware incidents now begin with an unmanaged device on the organization’s network, either to gain initial access or to remotely encrypt organizational assets. 

To further explain how serious the situation is, consider this. Ivanti’s 2025 State of Cybersecurity research found that more than 1 in 3 IT professionals (38%) say they have insufficient data about devices accessing the network. And 45% say they lack sufficient data about shadow IT. 

Hence, every unmanaged device that connects to your organization’s network is a potential entry point that cybercriminals use to infiltrate your corporate networks. That’s why companies must implement a strong mobile device management (MDM) system. Without MDM, your organization's sensitive data could be one stolen phone or compromised app away from a costly breach.

In this article, we share why mobile device management is vital, key MDM tools, and much more.  

What MDM Solves: The Hidden Risks in Your Mobile Environment

Before buying anything, the first question you ask yourself is “Why do I need it?” or “What problems will it solve?”. The same is true for mobile device management. 

Before you start purchasing MDM platforms or get help from MDM service providers, you must know how they help and why they are essential. To put it briefly, mobile device management addresses the following four critical security challenges.

1. Unmanaged Devices Accessing Sensitive Data 

Employees routinely access corporate email, cloud applications, and confidential files from personal devices that lack basic security controls. Without MDM, you have no visibility into device security posture or the ability to enforce compliance standards.

2. BYOD Risks and Inconsistent Policy Enforcement 

Companies across all industries are pushing for hybrid work arrangements, which are driving the adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies. These policies promise administrative cost savings but also create cybersecurity risks. Personal devices often run outdated operating systems, lack encryption, or have compromised apps installed. MDM services provide a framework for enforcing consistent security policies across all device types.

3. Compliance Gaps

Regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, and ISO 27001 require organizations to demonstrate control over data access and device security. Without proper mobile technology management, audit failures and regulatory fines become inevitable.

4. Lack Of Visibility into Mobile App Usage 

The most troublesome and challenging issue in mobile device management is the lack of visibility into how employees use their devices. Employees download random apps online, share files on unsanctioned platforms, and store company data in their own cloud accounts. You can imagine how this creates a huge data leakage problem. Traditional network control tools cannot handle these complex scenarios. 

Five Mobile Device Management Platforms

Many mobile device management tools are available on the market. Some provide a holistic solution to mobile management and endpoint security, while others target specific aspects. The following are some of the widely used MDM solutions: 

Microsoft Intune

Being a product of Microsoft, Intune (now rebranded as Microsoft Intune) excels in Windows and Office 365 integration. It provides a strong base for policy enforcement for hybrid work environments. It offers rich app configuration and app protection policies (especially for Microsoft 365 apps on mobile). 

However, many IT admins report a steep learning curve, a complex policy model, and confusing overlaps (e.g., legacy Group Policy vs. Intune policies). Many teams say platform differences make Intune harder to master, particularly when managing diverse non-Windows devices or niche application scenarios.

VMware Workspace ONE

This platform provides a unified endpoint management solution with strong analytic capabilities. The platform can be overwhelming for smaller organizations and requires significant expertise to optimize effectively. 

Jamf

If your company works on Apple devices, Jamf can be a good choice. It is the gold standard for Apple device management and offers unmatched control over macOS and iOS. The limitation is that it is primarily suitable for just Apple ecosystems. So, you will have to invest in additional systems for Windows and Android devices.  

IBM MaaS360

Delivers robust enterprise-grade security with AI-powered threat detection. The platform's complexity and cost structure can be prohibitive for mid-market organizations. 

Cisco Meraki Systems Manager

Integrates well with Cisco networking infrastructure and provides intuitive cloud-based management. Limited advanced security features compared to dedicated MDM solutions.

As you can see, selecting and then encouraging adoption of an MDM solution requires matching it with your organization’s IT environment. That’s why you need to prioritize your goals and make a decision based on them.

Even after purchasing an off-the-shelf solution, you need policy customization, reporting readiness for compliance audits, and integrating it with existing security tools. 

This is where outsourced mobile device management services can help. A cybersecurity consulting partner can assess your company’s current infrastructure, spot strengths and weaknesses, and create the most effective MDM strategy based on it.  

How X-Centric’s MDM Services Help Organizations

Choosing the right MDM platform for your company is only half the battle. The real challenge is implementation, policy creation, and ongoing management. This is where X-Centric's cybersecurity advisory services help.

We take an approach that is beyond tool selection. Rather than promoting tools, our experts focus on driving measurable business outcomes. We understand that a successful MDM deployment must unify governance across all platforms and teams. Here’s how we deal with mobile device management: 

• Policy Optimization: Our team of cybersecurity experts translates complex regulatory requirements (HIPAA, GDPR) and security frameworks (NIST, CIS Critical Security Controls®) into actionable, platform-specific MDM policies. 

• Platform Unification: Integration of different MDM platforms is key to network security. And that is where we specialize. For instance, we help companies integrate solutions like Microsoft Intune and Jamf to create a single, cohesive security baseline, which eliminates the gaps that occur when managing multiple, siloed MDM vendors.  

• Audit-Readiness Scoring: We provide clear, quantifiable metrics on your mobile fleet’s compliance posture, ensuring you are always ready for an audit.  

Takeaway 

Mobile device management is no longer optional. If your people work from anywhere on a mix of company and personal devices, you need one clear way to see, secure, and manage those endpoints.

If you remember nothing else, focus on three things:

1. Make sure every device that touches company data is enrolled, compliant, and encrypted. 

2. Integrate access to identity, with strong MFA and clear policies for lost, stolen, or non-compliant devices. 

3. Standardize MDM across platforms, so IT is not juggling one-off tools and exceptions. 

From there, your security and IT teams can decide whether to refine existing tooling or evaluate new MDM options that better align with how your workforce operates. 

Related Resources

• For a deeper dive into endpoint security, read our guide “Building a Resilient Endpoint Defense for Modern Workforces”. 

• If you want to go beyond MDM into broader endpoint security practices for remote and hybrid users, read “6 Important Tenets of Endpoint Security”.  

• Practical next step for organizations that already have MDM in place and want to validate that their endpoint threat detection and response is actually working.