Businesses are powered by the devices their employees use: laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other mobile technology. Some of these are company-issued devices, but many are personal devices on which employees conduct their work — and in today’s remote environment, that work could happen anywhere.
-But how does an organization manage those devices? Do they know if their devices are compliant and secure? Do they have ways to query them to learn more about their status in real time? Or are organizations unprepared and overwhelmed with managing thousands or hundreds of thousands of endpoints?
-At Fleet, we help security teams, IT professionals, and DevOps engineers track and secure their organization’s laptops and servers. But outside of our users and customers, we wanted to know more about the current state of device management, in general, to understand better how security teams manage their endpoints. We found that organizations may not be managing devices as successfully and thoroughly as they should be to keep themselves safe.
+Businesses are taking device security more seriously than ever. Modern work environments pose many challenges for security teams, and it's becoming much more difficult for organizations to secure their devices: laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other mobile technology. Some of these devices are company-issued, but many are personal devices on which employees conduct their work — and in today's remote environment, that work could happen anywhere. So how does an organization manage its devices? Do they know if their devices are compliant and secure? Do they have ways to query them to learn more about their status in real time? Or are organizations unprepared and overwhelmed with managing thousands or hundreds of thousands of endpoints?
+At Fleet, we help security teams, IT professionals, and DevOps engineers track and secure their organization’s laptops and servers. But outside of our users and customers, we wanted to know more about the current state of device management, in general, to understand better how security teams manage their endpoints. We found that organizations may not be managing devices as successfully and thoroughly as they should to keep themselves safe.
We hope you consider these insights and findings as you build your device management strategy in 2022.
The largest segment of respondents (24.9% report having about 10,000 workstations in their organization, including laptops, desktops, or other devices. Other respondents report having 1,000 workstations (20.5%), 2,000 workstations (18.6%), 5,000 workstations (19%), and 25,000 or more workstations (17.6%).
+The largest segment of respondents (24.9%) report having about 10,000 workstations in their organization, including laptops, desktops, or other devices. Other respondents report having 1,000 workstations (20.5%), 2,000 workstations (18.6%), 5,000 workstations (19%), and 25,000 or more workstations (17.6%).
The majority (28.57%) reported that roughly half of their devices are running the latest operating system released by the manufacturer. 21% say about a quarter of their organization’s devices are running the latest OS, while 24.84% say three-quarters have the latest OS installed. Finally, 25.47% of the surveyed people say all, or nearly all, of their devices, have up-to-date operating systems installed.
+The majority (28.57%) reported that roughly half of their devices are running the latest operating system released by the manufacturer. 21% say about a quarter of their organization’s devices are running the latest OS, while 24.84% say three-quarters have the latest OS installed. Finally, 25.47% of the surveyed people say all, or nearly all, of their devices have up-to-date operating systems installed.
In a “choose all that apply” question, We asked respondents which platforms their organizations use but don’t currently manage with an MDM. They replied:
+In a “choose all that apply” question, we asked respondents which platforms their organizations use but don’t currently manage with an MDM. They replied:
Our survey found that the organizations behind our respondents need ways to manage a large number of endpoints. A quarter of respondents report managing 250,000 devices or more, and a quarter are in organizations with over 10,000 workstations.
-However, our respondents said that devices in their organization are at various stages of enrollment and upgrade. Some organizations report having enrolled nearly all devices in their MDM with the latest operating system. Yet, not even a quarter of devices are enrolled and upgraded for many others. Meaning organizations don’t know which devices are at risk.
+However, our respondents said that devices in their organization are at various stages of enrollment and upgrade. Some organizations report having enrolled nearly all devices in their MDM with the latest operating system. Yet, not even a quarter of devices are enrolled and upgraded for many others. This means organizations don't know which devices are at risk.
As for their MDMs, most (58%) use a vendor-issued, cloud-based solution, while the rest use a self-managed solution hosted by their organization. Devices commonly covered by their MDMs include their network switches and other infrastructure, followed by laptops, virtual desktops, smartphones, and servers. Respondents use Windows the most in their office, yet their MDM doesn’t cover it, and they struggle the most to manage disparate platforms, iOS, and Android.
In the next section, we’ll look deeper at what makes our respondent’s MDM approach successful and what daily challenges they face.
There are two key takeaways here. First, a working MDM strategy will monitor devices, verify compliance, and provide endpoint visibility in real time. Second, organizations must have devices enrolled in the first place to achieve those goals. That's why it's imperative to have a documented policy for personal device usage and why it's top of the best practices list for most of our respondents. It's also why getting every device across an organization enrolled in MDM is such a challenge.
+There are two key takeaways here. First, a working MDM strategy will monitor devices, verify compliance, and provide endpoint visibility in real time. Second, organizations must have devices enrolled in the first place to achieve those goals. That's why it's imperative to have a documented policy for personal device usage and why that's at the top of the best practices list for most of our respondents. It's also why getting every device across an organization enrolled in MDM is such a challenge.
In the next section, we'll take a step back and look at why organizations choose an MDM in the first place.
34.2% also discovered a lack of documentation to help them deploy their MDM, or the documentation was confusing.
+34.2% also discovered a lack of documentation to help them deploy their MDM, or found the documentation confusing.
@@ -388,8 +387,8 @@
54.2% say their MDM strategy allows them to automate customer security workflows, while 45.9% say it does not.
+54.2% say their MDM strategy allows them to automate custom security workflows, while 45.9% say it does not.