Mobile operators will need a new generation of mobile device management

Mobile operators want to move beyond just smart phones and cast a wider net in terms of the computing devices they can allow their customers to manage and control over their cellular networks (e.g., tablets, notebooks and laptops). To help operators make a bigger play with more devices, Mformation® Technologies (an MDM player that today announced it will combine its solution for managing and disabling mobile PCs over cellular networks with Intel’s Anti-Theft Technology), is looking at how computing devices will be the “next big wave” in what operators will have to manage.

According to Rob Dalgerty, director of strategy, the 5 billion or so mobile phone connections will be just part of the story. “When you look at tablets, notebooks and peripherals like USBs, you see more cell connectivity embedded [e.g., WiFi] in different devices. About 25% of the devices are shipping with cell connectivity today, but that will ramp up very rapidly to 100% in the not-too-distant future.”

As a result of newly embedded cell connectivity in all devices, operators will be presented with new management challenges. “These devices act very differently than mobile phones, which means some of the management capabilities on which operators rely today will be inadequate in managing more sophisticated computing devices, and new types of subscribers and contracts,” said Dalgerty.

In other words, solutions that were call-center- or IT-based were sufficient for managing phones will have to be enhanced to include a new range of management and diagnostic capabilities to manage computing devices, which bring much more complexity to operator networks and operations. For one, the demand on cell networks will be exponentially greater (even with WiFi offloads) once all computing devices have embedded cellular connectivity capabilities. That will make optimization, management and customer care all the more challenging. “Operators will have people calling their call center with a set of completely new questions and challenges. They will call to say ‘I don’t have the right driver to get the modem to work with my OS or my network.’ Or, you might have people saying their firewall software is blocking the connection to the network; or the connection manager on my notebook is out of date,” explained Dalgerty.

Because the “top-10” issues for troubleshooting computing devices will differ vastly from those with which CSRs are familiar today in call centers (as well as IT folks at help desks), operators will need new mindsets and expanded solutions to handle subscribers that want connected access for their computing devices. “Even with just security alone, computing devices require much more than the software that was adequate for cell phones,” said Dalgerty.

For that reason, Mformation’s partnership with Intel is supposed to be a starting point to helping customer-care and technical people manage and troubleshoot computing device issues, losses and thefts. “Operators should get to a point where they can access computing devices over their networks for management and disablement—whether to encrypt data when a laptop is stolen or to disable functions if a tablet is lost, or to help load a driver if someone can’t connect to their networks,” said Dalgerty.

This all draws into question what will happen as machine-to-machine capabilities increase—just who will a mobile operator’s customer call if a refrigerator won’t connect to a cell network—will it be Maytag or the likes of Sprint, Verizon or AT&T? It seems management and trouble shooting will have to evolve a lot more to accommodate all the connections and interconnections expected among not only smart phones and other computing devices like laptops, tablets and PCs, but also appliances, and even automobiles or anything else that can be thrown into the mix for possible control and monetization.