Endpoint Management Selection Guide

Streamline your organizational approach to selecting a right-sized endpoint management platform.

Endpoint Management Selection Guide

Streamline your organizational approach toward the selection of a right-sized endpoint management platform.

EXECUTIVE BRIEF

Analyst Perspective

Revolutionize your endpoint management with a proper tool selection approach

The endpoint management market has an ever-expanding and highly competitive landscape. The market has undergone tremendous evolution in past years, from device management to application deployments and security management. The COVID-19 pandemic forced organizations to service employees and end users remotely while making sure corporate data is safe and user satisfaction doesn't get negatively affected. In the meantime, vendors were forced to leverage technology enhancements to satisfy such requirements.

That being said, endpoint management solutions have become more complex, with many options to manage operating systems and run applications for relevant user groups. With the work-from-anywhere model, customer support is even more important than before, as a remote workforce may face more issues than before, or enterprises may want to ensure more compliance with policies.

Moreover, the market has become more complex, with lots of added capabilities. Some features may not be beneficial to corporations, and with a poor market validation, businesses may end up paying for some capabilities that are not useful.

In this blueprint, we help you quickly define your requirements for endpoint management and narrow down a list to find the solutions that fulfill your use cases.

Mahmoud Ramin, PhD
Senior Research Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations
Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Your Challenge

Endpoint management solutions are becoming increasingly essential – deploying the right devices and applications to the right users and zero-touch provisioning are indispensable parts of a holistic strategy for improving customers' experience. However, selecting the right-sized platform that aligns with your requirements is a big challenge.

Following improvements in end-user computation strategies, selection of the right endpoint management solution is a crucial next step in delivering concrete business value.

Common Obstacles

Despite the importance of selecting the right endpoint management platform, many organizations struggle to define an approach to picking the most appropriate vendor and rolling out the solution in an effective and cost-efficient manner. There are many options available, which can cause business and IT leaders to feel lost.

The endpoint management market is evolving quickly, making the selection process tedious. On top of that, IT has a hard time defining their needs and aligning solution features with their requirements.

Info-Tech's Approach

Determine what you require from an endpoint management solution.

Review the market space and product offerings, and compare the capabilities of key players.

Create a use case – use top-level requirements to determine use cases and short-list vendors.

Conduct a formal process for interviewing vendors, using Info-Tech's templates to select the best platform for your requirements.

Info-Tech Insight

Investigate vendors' roadmaps to figure out which of the candidate platforms can fulfill your long-term requirements without any unnecessary investment in features that are not currently useful for you. Make sure you don't purchase capabilities that you will never use.

What are endpoint management platforms?

Our definition: Endpoint management solutions are platforms that enable IT with appropriate provisioning, security, monitoring, and updating endpoints to ensure that they are in good health. Typical examples of endpoints are laptops, computers, wearable devices, tablets, smart phones, servers, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

First, understand differences between mobile management solutions

• Endpoint management solutions monitor and control the status of endpoints. They help IT manage and control their environment and provide top-notch customer service.
• These solutions ensure a seamless and efficient problem management, software updates and remediations in a secure environment.
• Endpoint management solutions have evolved very quickly to satisfy IT and user needs:
• Mobile Device Management (MDM) helps with controlling features of a device.
• Enterprise Mobile Management (EMM) controls everything in a device.
• Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) manages all endpoints.

Endpoint management includes:

• Device management
• Device configuration
• Device monitoring
• Device security

Info-Tech Insight

As endpoint management encompasses a broad range of solution categories including MDM, EMM, and UEM, look for your real requirements. Don't pay for something that you won't end up using.

As UEM covers all of MDM and EMM capabilities, we overview market trends of UEM in this blueprint to give you an overall view of market in this space.

Your challenge: Endpoint management has evolved significantly over the past few years, which makes software selection overwhelming

Additional challenges occur in securing endpoints

A rise in the number of attacks on cloud services creates a need to leverage endpoint management solutions

MarketsandMarkets predicted that global cloud infrastructure services would increase from US$73 billion in 2019 to US$166.6 billion in 2024 (2019).

A study by the Ponemon Institute showed that 68% of respondents believe that security attacks increased over the past 12 months (2020).

The study reveals that over half of IT security professionals who participated in the survey believe that organizations are not very efficient in securing their endpoints, mainly because they're not efficient in detecting attacks.

IT professionals would like to link endpoint management and security platforms to unify visibility and control, to determine potential risks to endpoints, and to manage them in a single solution.

Businesses will continue to be compromised by the vulnerabilities of cloud services, which pose a challenge to organizations trying to maintain control of their data.

Trends in endpoint management have been undergoing a tremendous change

In 2020, about 5.2 million users subscribed to mobile services, and smartphones accounted for 65% of connections. This will increase to 80% by 2025.
Source: Fortune Business Insights, 2021

Info-Tech's methodology for selecting a right-sized endpoint management platform

Guided Implementation

What does a typical GI on this topic look like?

A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization.

The endpoint management purchase process should be broken into segments:

1. Endpoint management vendor shortlisting with this buyer's guide
2. Structured approach to selection
3. Contract review

Info-Tech's approach

Complementary research:

Create a quick business case and requirements document to align stakeholders to your vision with Info-Tech's Rapid Application Selection Framework.
See what your peers are saying about these vendors at SoftwareReviews.com.

Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs

DIY Toolkit

“Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”

Guided Implementation

“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”

Workshop

“We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”

Consulting

“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”

Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

Phase 1

Understand core features and build your business case

This phase will walk you through the following activity:

Define use cases and core features for meeting business and technical goals

This phase involves the following participants:

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors

MDM solutions function at the level of corporate devices. Something else was needed to enable personal device management.

Major components of EMM solutions

Mobile Application Management (MAM)

Allows organizations to control individual applications and their associated data. It restricts malicious apps and enables in-depth application management, configuration, and removal.

Containerization

Enables separation of work-related data from private data. It provides encrypted containers on personal devices to separate the data, providing security on personal devices while maintaining users' personal data.

Mobile Content Management (MCM)

Helps remote distribution, control, management, and access to corporate data.

Mobile Security Management (MSM)

Provides application and data security on devices. It enables application analysis and auditing. IT can use MSM to provide strong passwords to applications, restrict unwanted applications, and protect devices from unsecure websites by blacklisting them.

Mobile Expense Management (MEM)

Enables mobile data communication expenses auditing. It can also set data limits and restrict network connections on devices.

Identity Management

Sets role-based access to corporate data. It also controls how different roles can use data, improving application and data security. Multifactor authentication can be enforced through the identity management featured of an EMM solution.

Unified endpoint management: Control all endpoints in a single pane of glass

IT admins used to provide customer service such as installation, upgrades, patches, and account administration via desktop support. IT support is not on physical assistance over end users' desktops anymore.

The rise of BYOD enhanced the need to be able to control sensitive data outside corporate network connection on all endpoints, which was beyond the capability of MDM and EMM solutions.

• It's now almost impossible for IT to be everywhere to support customers.
• This created a need to conduct tasks simultaneously from one single place.
• UEM enables IT to run, manage, and control endpoints from one place, while ensuring that device health and security remain uncompromised.
• UEM combines features of MDM and EMM while extending EMM's capabilities to all endpoints, including computers, laptops, tablets, phones, printers, wearables, and IoT.

Info-Tech Insight

Organizations once needed to worry about company connectivity assets such as computers and laptops. To manage them, traditional client management tools like Microsoft Configuration Manager would be enough.

With the increase in the work-from-anywhere model, it is very hard to control, manage, and monitor devices that are not connected to a VPN. UEM solutions enable IT to tackle this challenge and have full visibility into and management of any device.

UEM platforms help with saving costs and increasing efficiency

UEM helps corporates save on their investments as it consolidates use-case management in a single console. Businesses don't need to invest in different device and application management solutions.

From the employee perspective, UEM enables them to work on their own devices while enforcing security on their personal data.

• Security and privacy are very important criteria for organizations. With the rapid growth of the work-from-anywhere model, corporate security is a huge concern for companies.
• Working from home has forced companies to invest a lot in data security, which has led to high UEM demand. UEM solutions streamline security management by consolidating device management in a single platform.
• With the fourth-generation industrial revolution, we're experiencing a significant rise in the use of IoT devices. UEM solutions are very critical for managing, configuring, and securing these devices.
• There will be a huge increase in cyber threats due to automation, IoT, and cloud services. The pandemic has sped up the adoption of such services, forcing businesses to rethink their enterprise mobility strategies. They are now more cautious about security risks and remediations. Businesses need UEM to simplify device management on multiple endpoints.
• With UEM, IT environment management gets more granular, while giving IT better visibility on devices and applications.

UEM streamlines mundane admin tasks and simplifies user issues.

Even with a COPE or COBO provisioning model, without any IT intervention, users can decide on when to install relevant updates. It also may lead to shadow IT.

Endpoint management, and UEM more specifically, enables IT to enforce administration over user devices, whether they are corporate or personally owned. This is enabled without interfering with private/personal data.

Where it's going: The future state of UEM

Despite the fast evolution of the UEM market, many organizations do not move as fast as technological capabilities. Although over half of all organizations have at least one UEM solution, they may not have a good strategy or policies to maximize the value of technology (Tech Orchard, 2022). As opposed to such organizations, there are others that use UEM to transform their endpoint management strategy and move service management to the next level. That integration between endpoint management and service management is a developing trend (Ivanti, 2021).

• SaaS tools like Office 365 are built to be used on multiple devices, including multiple computers. Further, the pandemic saw 47% of organizations significantly increase their use of BYOD (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2021).
• Over 2022, 78% of people worked remotely for at least some amount of time during the week (Tech Orchard, 2022).
• 84% of organizations believe that cybersecurity threat alarms are becoming very overwhelming, and almost half of companies believe that the best way to tackle this is through consolidating platforms so that everything will be visible and manageable through a single pane of glass (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2022).
• The UEM market was worth $3.39 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach $53.65 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 31.7% (Datamation, 2022). This demonstrates how dependent IT is becoming on endpoint management solutions.

Only 27% of organizations have "fully deployed" UEM "with easy management across all endpoints"
Source: IT Pro Today, 2018.

Endpoint Management Key Trends

• Commoditization of endpoint management features. Although their focus is the same, some UEM solutions have unique features.
• New endpoint management paradigms have emerged. Endpoint management has evolved from client management tools (CMT) and MDM into UEM, also known as "modern management" (Ivanti, 2022).
• One pane of glass for the entire end-user experience. Endpoint management vendors are integrating their solution into their ITSM, ITOM, digital workspace, and security products.
• AI-powered insights. UEM tools collect data on endpoints and user behavior. Vendors are using their data to differentiate themselves: Products offer threat reports, automated compliance workflows, and user experience insights. The UEM market is ultimately working toward autonomous endpoint management (Microsoft, 2022).
• Web apps and cloud storage are the new normal. Less data is stored locally. Fewer apps need to be patched on the device. Apps can be accessed on different devices more easily. However, data can more easily be accessed on BYOD and on new operating systems like Chrome OS.
• Lighter device provisioning tools. Instead of managing thick images, UEM tools use lighter provisioning packages. Once set up, Autopilot and UEM device enrollment should take less time to manage than thick images.
• UEM controls built around SaaS. Web apps and the cloud allow access from any device, even unmanaged BYOD. UEM tools allow IT to apply the right level of control for the situation – mobile application management, mobile content management, or mobile device management.
• Work-from-anywhere and 5G result in more devices outside of your firewalls. Cloud-based management tools are not limited by your VPN connection and can scale up more easily than traditional, on-prem tools.

Understand endpoint management table stakes features

Determine high-level use cases to help you narrow down to specific features

Support the organization's operating systems:
Many UEM vendors support the most dominant operating systems, Windows and Mac; however, they are usually stronger in one particular OS than the other. For instance, Intune supports both Windows and Mac, although there are some drawbacks with MacOS management by Intune. Conversely, Jamf is mainly for MacOS and iOS management. Enterprises look to satisfy their end users' needs. The more UEM vendors support different systems, the more likely enterprises will pick them. Although, as mentioned, in some instances, enterprises may need to select more than one option, depending on their requirements.

Support BYOD and remote environments:
With the impact of the pandemic on work model, 60-70% of workforce would like to have more flexibility for working remotely (Ivanti, 2022). BYOD is becoming the default, and SaaS tools like Office 365 are built to be used on multiple devices, including multiple computers. As BYOD can boost productivity (Samsung Insights, 2016), you may be interested in how your prospective UEM solution will enable this capability with remote wipe (corporate wipe capability vs. wiping the whole device), data and device tracking, and user activity auditing.

Understand endpoint management table stakes features

Determine high-level use cases to help you narrow down to specific features

Integration with the enterprise's IT products:
To get everything in a single platform and to generate better metrics and dashboards, vendors provide integrations with ticketing and monitoring solutions. Many large vendors have strong integrations with multiple ITSM and ITAM platforms to streamline incident management, request management, asset management, and patch management.

Support security and compliance policies:
With the significant boost in work-from-anywhere, companies would like to enable endpoint security more than ever. This includes device threat detection, malware detection, anti-phishing, and more. All UEMs provide these, although the big difference between them is how well they enable security and compliance, and how flexible they are when it comes to giving conditional access to certain data.

Provide a fully automated vs manual deployment:
Employees want to get their devices faster, IT wants to deploy devices faster, and businesses want to enable employees faster to get them onboard sooner. UEMs have the capability to provide automated and manual deployment. However, the choice of solution depends on enterprise's infrastructure and policies. Full automation of deployment is very applicable for corporate devices, while it may not be a good option for personally owned devices. Define your user groups and provisioning models, and make sure your candidate vendors satisfy requirements.

Plan a proper UEM selection according to your requirements

1. Identify IT governance, policy, and process maturity
   Tools cannot compensate for your bad processes. You should improve deploying and provisioning processes before rolling out a UEM. Automation of a bad process only wraps the process in a nicer package – it does not fix the problem.
   Refer to InfoTech's Modernize and Transform Your End-User Computing Strategy for more information on improving endpoint management procedures.
2. Consider supported operating systems, cloud services, and network infrastructure in your organization
   Most UEMs support all dominant operating systems, but some solutions have stronger capability for managing a certain OS over the other.
3. Define enterprise security requirements
   Investigate security levels, policies, and requirements to align with the security features you're expecting in a UEM.
4. Selection and implementation of a UEM depends on use case. Select a vendor that supports your use cases
   Identify use cases specific to your industry.
   For example, UEM use cases in Healthcare:
   • Secure EMR
   • Enforce HIPAA compliance
   • Secure communications
   • Enable shared device deployment

Activity: Define use cases and core features for meeting business and technical goals

1-2 hours

1. Brainstorm with your colleagues to discuss your challenges with endpoint management.
2. Identify how these challenges are impacting your ability to meet your goals for managing and controlling endpoints.
3. Define high-level goals you wish to achieve in the first year and in the longer term.
4. Identify the use cases that will support your overall goals.
5. Document use cases in the UEM Requirements Workbook.

Input

• List of challenges and goals

Output

• Use cases to be used for determining requirements

Materials

• Whiteboard/flip charts
• Laptop to record output

Participants

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors

Download the UEM Requirements Workbook

Phase 2

Discover the endpoint management market space and select the right vendor

This phase will walk you through the following activity:
Define top-level features for meeting business and technical goals
This phase involves the following participants:

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors
• Project managers

Elicit and prioritize granular requirements for your endpoint management platform

Understanding business needs through requirements gathering is the key to defining everything about what is
being purchased. However, it is an area where people often make critical mistakes.

Risks of poorly scoped requirements

• Fail to be comprehensive and miss certain areas of scope.
• Focus on how the solution should work instead of what it must accomplish.
• Have multiple levels of confusing and inconsistent detail in the requirements.
• Drill down all the way to system-level detail.
• Add unnecessary constraints based on what is done today rather than focusing on what is needed for tomorrow.
• Omit constraints or preferences that buyers think are "obvious."

Best practices

• Get a clear understanding of what the system needs to do and what it is expected to produce.
• Test against the principle of MECE – requirements should be "mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive."
• Explicitly state the obvious and assume nothing.
• Investigate what is sold on the market and how it is sold. Use language that is consistent with that of the market and focus on key differentiators – not table stakes.
• Contain the appropriate level of detail – the level should be suitable for procurement and sufficient for differentiating vendors.

Review Info-Tech's blueprint Improve Requirements Gathering to improve your requirements gathering process.

Consider the perspective of each stakeholder to ensure functionality needs are met

Best of breed vs. "good enough" is an important discussion and will feed your success

Costs can be high when customizing an ill-fitting module or creating workarounds to solve business problems, including loss of functionality, productivity, and credibility.

• Start with use cases to drive the initial discussion, then determine which features are mandatory and which are nice-to-haves. Mandatory features will help determine high success for critical functionality and identify where "good enough" is an acceptable state.
• Consider the implications of implementation and all use cases of:
• Buying an all-in-one solution.
• Integration of multiple best-of-breed solutions.
• Customizing features that were not built into a solution.
• Be prepared to shelve a use case for this solution and look to alternatives for integration where mandatory features cannot meet highly specialized needs that are outside of traditional endpoint management solutions.

Pros and Cons

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Speak with category experts to dive deeper into the vendor landscape

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• Fact-based reviews of business software from IT professionals.
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• Top-tier data quality backed by a rigorous quality assurance process.
• User-experience insight that reveals the intangibles of working with a vendor.

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Get to Know the Key Players in the Endpoint Management Landscape

The following slides provide a top-level overview of the popular players you will encounter in the endpoint management shortlisting process in alphabetical order.

Vendor scores are driven by real-world practitioner reviews via SoftwareReviews. Composite, CX, EF, and NPS scores are pulled from live data as of January 2023.

Secure business units and enhance connection by simplifying the digital workplace

A good option for enterprises that want a single-pane-of-glass UEM that is easy to use, with a modern-looking dashboard, high threat-management capability, and high-quality customer support.

CISCO Meraki

Est. 1984 | CA, USA | NASDAQ: CSCO

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of CISCO Meraki's dashboard. Source: Cisco

Transform work experience and support every endpoint with a unified view to ensure users are productive

A tool that enables you to access corporate resources on personal devices. It is adaptable to your budget. SoftwareReviews reports that 75% of organizations have received a discount at initial purchase or renewal, which makes it a good candidate if looking for a negotiable option.

Citrix Endpoint Management

Est. 1989 | TX, USA | Private

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Citrix Endpoint Management's dashboard. Source: Citrix

Scale remote users, enable BYOD, and drive a zero-trust strategy with IBM's modern UEM solution

A perfect option to boost cybersecurity. Remote administration and installation are made very easy and intuitive on the platform. It is very user friendly, making implementation straightforward. It comes with four licensing options: Essential, Deluxe, Premier, and Enterprise. Check IBM's website for information on pricing and offerings.

IBM MaaS360

Est. 1911 | NY, USA | NYSE: IBM

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of IBM MaaS360's dashboard. Source: IBM

Get complete device visibility from asset discovery to lifecycle management and remediation

A powerful tool for patch management with a great user interface. You can automate patching and improve cybersecurity, while having complete visibility into devices. According to SoftwareReviews, 100% of survey participants plan to renew their contract with Ivanti.

Ivanti Neurons

Est. 1985 | CA, USA | Private

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Ivanti Neurons UEM's dashboard. Source: Ivanti

Improve your end-user productivity and transform enterprise Apple devices

An Apple-focused UEM with a great interface. Jamf can manage and control macOS and iOS, and it is one of the best options for Apple products, according to users' sentiments. However, it may not be a one-stop solution if you want to manage non-Apple products as well. In this case, you can use Jamf in addition to another UEM. Jamf has some integrations with Microsoft, but it may not be sufficient if you want to fully manage Windows endpoints.

Jamf PRO

Est. 2002 | MN, USA | NASDAQ: JAMF

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Jamf PRO's dashboard. Source: Jamf

Apply automation of traditional desktop management, software deployment, endpoint security, and patch management

A strong choice for patch management, software deployment, asset management, and security management. There is a free version of the tool available to try get an understanding of the platform before purchasing a higher tier of the product.

ManageEngine Endpoint Central

Est. 1996 | India | Private

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of ME Endpoint Central's dashboard. Source: ManageEngine

Get device management and security in a single platform with a combination of Microsoft Intune and Configuration Manager

A solution that combines Intune and ConfigMgr's capabilities into a single endpoint management suite for enrolling, managing, monitoring, and securing endpoints. It's a very cost-effective solution for enterprises in the Microsoft ecosystem, but it also supports other operating systems.

Microsoft Endpoint Manager

Est. 1975 | NM, USA | NASDAQ: MSFT

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of MS Endpoint Manager's dashboard. Source: Microsoft

Simplify and consolidate endpoint management into a single solution and secure all devices with real-time, "over-the-air" modern management across all use cases

A strong tool for managing and controlling mobile devices. It can access all profiles through Google and Apple, and it integrates with various IT management solutions.

VMware Workspace ONE

Est. 1998 | CA, USA | NYSE: VMW

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Screenshot of Workspace ONE's dashboard. Source: VMware

Review your use cases to start your shortlist

Your Info-Tech analysts can help you narrow down the list of vendors that will meet your requirements.

Next steps will include:

1. Reviewing your requirements
2. Checking out SoftwareReviews
3. Shortlisting your vendors
4. Conducting demos and detailed proposal reviews
5. Selecting and contracting with a finalist!

Activity: Define high-level features for meeting business and technical goals

Input

• List of endpoint management use cases
• List of prioritized features

Output

• Vendor evaluation
• Final list of candidate vendors

Materials

• Whiteboard/flip charts
• Laptop
• UEM Requirements Workbook

Participants

• CIO
• IT manager
• Infrastructure & Applications directors
• Project managers

Activity: Define top-level features for meeting business and technical goals

As there are many solutions in the market that share capabilities, it is imperative to closely evaluate how well they fulfill your endpoint management requirements.
Use the UEM Requirements Workbook to identify your desired endpoint solution features and compare vendor solution functionality based on your desired features.

1. Refer to the output of the previous activity, the identified use cases in the spreadsheet.
2. List the features you want in an endpoint solution for your devices that will fulfill these use cases. Record those features in the second column ("Detailed Feature").
3. Prioritize each feature (must have, should have, nice to have, not required).
4. Send this list to candidate vendors.
5. When you finish your investigation, review the spreadsheet to compare the various offerings and pros and cons of each solution.

Info-Tech Insight

The output of this activity can be used for a detailed evaluation of UEM vendors. The next steps will be vendor briefing and having further discussion on technical capabilities and conducting demos of solutions. Info-Tech's blueprint, The Rapid Application Selection Framework, takes you to these next steps.

Download the UEM Requirements Workbook

Leverage Info-Tech's research to plan and execute your endpoint management selection and implementation

Use Info-Tech Research Group's blueprints for selection and implementation processes to guide your own planning.

• Assess
• Prepare
• Govern & Course Correct

Ensure your implementation team has a high degree of trust and communication

If external partners are needed, dedicate an internal resource to managing the vendor and partner relationships.

Communication

Teams must have some type of communication strategy. This can be broken into:

• Regularity: Having a set time each day to communicate progress and a set day to conduct retrospectives.
• Ceremonies: Injecting awards and continually emphasizing delivery of value can encourage relationship building and constructive motivation.
• Escalation: Voicing any concerns and having someone responsible for addressing those concerns.

Proximity

Distributed teams create complexity because communication can break down more easily. This can be mitigated by:

• Location: Placing teams in proximity can close the barrier of geographical distance and time zone differences.
• Inclusion: Making a deliberate attempt to pull remote team members into discussions and ceremonies.
• Communication Tools: Having the right technology (e.g. video conference) can help bring teams closer together virtually.

Trust

Members should trust other members are contributing to the project and completing their required tasks on time. Trust can be developed and maintained by:

Accountability: Having frequent quality reviews and feedback sessions. As work becomes more transparent, people become more accountable.

• Role Clarity: Having a clear definition of what everyone's role is.

Implementation with a partner typically results in higher satisfaction

Align your implementation plans with both the complexity of the solution and internal skill levels

Be clear and realistic in your requirements to the vendor about the level of involvement you need to be successful.

Primary reasons to use a vendor:

• Lack of skilled resources: For solutions with little configuration change happening after the initial installation, the ramp-up time for an individual to build skills for a single event is not practical.
• Complexity of solution: Multiple integrations, configurations, modules, and even acquisitions that haven't been fully integrated in the solution you choose can make it difficult to complete the installation and rollout on time and on budget. Troubleshooting becomes even more complex if multiple vendors are involved.
• Data migration: Decide what information will be valuable to transfer to the new solution and which will not benefit your organization. Data structure and residency can both be factors in the complexity of this exercise.

Source: SoftwareReviews, January 2020 to January 2023, N= 20,024 unique reviews

To ensure your SOW is mutually beneficial, download the blueprint Improve Your Statements of Work to Hold Your Vendors Accountable.

Consider running a proof of concept if concerns are expressed about the feasibility of the chosen solution

Proofs of concept (PoCs) can be time consuming, so make good choices on where to spend the effort

Create a PoC charter that will enable a quick evaluation of the defined use cases and functions. These key dimensions should form the PoC.

1. Objective – Giving an overview of the planned PoC will help to focus and clarify the rest of this section. What must the PoC achieve? Objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. Outline and track key performance indicators.
2. Key Success Factors – These are conditions that will positively impact the PoC's success.
3. Scope – High-level statement of scope. More specifically, state what is in scope and what is out of scope.
4. Project Team – Identify the team's structure, e.g. sponsors, subject matter experts.
5. Resource Estimation – Identify what resources (time, materials, space, tools, expertise, etc.) will be needed to build and socialize your prototype. How will they be secured?

To create a full proof of concept plan, download the Proof of Concept Template and see the instructions in Phase 3 of the blueprint Exploit Disruptive Infrastructure Technology.

Selecting a right-sized endpoint management platform

This selection guide allows organizations to execute a structured methodology for picking a UEM platform that aligns with their needs. This includes:

• Identifying and prioritizing key business and technology drivers for an endpoint management selection business case.
• Defining key use cases and requirements for a right-sized UEM platform.
• Reviewing a comprehensive market scan of key players in the UEM marketspace.

This formal UEM selection initiative will map out requirements and identify technology capabilities to fill the gap for better endpoint management. It also allows a formal roll-out of a UEM platform that is highly likely to satisfy all stakeholder needs.

If you would like additional support, have our analysts guide you through other phases as part of an Info-Tech Workshop.

Contact your account representative for more information

workshops@infotech.com
1-888-670-8889

Summary of Accomplishment

Knowledge Gained

• What endpoint management is
• Historical origins and evolution of endpoint management platforms
• Current trends and future state of endpoint management platforms

Processes Optimized

• Identifying use cases
• Gathering requirements
• Reviewing market key players and their capabilities
• Selecting a UEM tool that fulfills your requirements

UEM Solutions Analyzed

• CISCO Meraki
• Citrix Endpoint Management
• IBM MaaS360
• Ivanti Neurons UEM
• Jamf Pro
• ManageEngine Endpoint Central
• Microsoft Endpoint Manager
• VMware Workspace ONE

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Modernize and Transform Your End-User Computing Strategy

This project helps support the workforce of the future by answering the following questions: What types of computing devices, provisioning models, and operating systems should be offered to end users? How will IT support devices? What are the policies and governance surrounding how devices are used? What actions are we taking and when? How do end-user devices support larger corporate priorities and strategies?

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