Quick Summary
Mobile Device Management sounds simple until you’re chasing an ex-employee for a laptop they “forgot” to return, or watching your MDM bill climb as headcount grows. This guide covers seven MDM challenges that trip up IT teams—particularly at startups and scaling businesses—and the practical fixes that actually work, including how Boomerang solves the device retrieval problem most MDM tools ignore.
Why Does Everyone Struggle With MDM?
A fintech company implemented Jamf to manage its 60 MacBooks. About six months after implementing the MDM solution, three employees left the company; however, two of them were still using their laptops at home.
Although the MDM allowed devices to be remotely locked down, it did not provide for the recovery of the laptops themselves. Therefore, thousands of dollars’ worth of assets were lost due to non-recovery.
A lot of companies can relate to this. MDM solutions are designed to manage devices in use, covering software deployment, security policy enforcement, and the monitoring of regulatory compliance. However, once a device leaves an employee’s possession (e.g., due to resignation, termination, or similar circumstances), the MDM typically stops working.
In this article, we’ll explore some MDM challenges and how you and your business can solve them. Let’s get into it.
Why Trust Us?
Thousands of UK businesses have trusted Devices for Teams with their IT hardware for more than 40 years. That trust is backed by a 4.9 Trustpilot rating based on more than 1,000 customer reviews. In addition to managing devices, we provide full lifecycle management—from procuring equipment to securely disposing of it.
What Is MDM?
Mobile Device Management (MDM) is the collection of software tools, policies, and procedures used by IT departments to centrally manage, track, and protect mobile devices from anywhere in the world. MDM is applied to all types of devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones) utilised by employees in their job functions.
Using an MDM platform, an administrator can deploy operating system updates, implement security features (e.g., encryption, passcode requirements), distribute applications, and remotely erase data on a device if it is lost or stolen. The MDM server serves as a centralised management tool, providing IT personnel with visibility into all devices across the organisation, regardless of their physical location.
Some of the most commonly used MDM solutions are Microsoft Intune for Windows-based systems, Jamf for Macs, and Shepherd MDM, which offers a cost-effective solution for small- to medium-size businesses that utilise MDM with their Apple devices.
Why Is MDM Important?
Three main reasons justify the cost of investing in MDM:
1. Security
MDM is used to protect against attacks by encrypting devices, requiring strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and allowing administrators to remotely wipe compromised devices.
2. Efficiency
Zero Touch Deployment and MDM eliminate the need for an administrator to manually configure each device (load apps, set up email, etc.) when an employee joins the organisation. The employee simply unpacks their laptop at home, and all necessary configurations are complete and ready to use. Sheppard Software claims organisations can onboard a new employee using MDM in less than five minutes.
3. Compliance
Organisations within regulated industries require records demonstrating their devices meet required security standards. MDM provides companies with real-time tracking and documentation that satisfy both internal organisational policy requirements and regulatory requirements, such as GDPR.
7 MDM Challenges and How to Solve Them
Challenge 1: Getting Devices Back From Leavers
MDM can lock a device and erase all data on it. However, MDM cannot recover the actual hardware from a former employee’s house in Bristol.
Since the pandemic began, this problem has worsened as many employees have started working remotely. As a result, when employees leave the organisation, they no longer drop off their laptops at reception, but instead take the laptop with them to their new location, often 200 miles away, with little or no incentive to pack the laptop and send it via mail.
As a result of the above issue, companies are losing valuable hardware. According to Kensington research, one in ten laptops is stolen during their lifecycle. This translates to a company with 100 computers at an average value of £1,000 per computer losing approximately £10,000 in hardware due to theft alone, before accounting for equipment lost due to employee resignations.
Solution
Boomerang and Shepherd MDM provide a solution to this problem. Boomerang will collect the mobile device on behalf of the company after the employee has been locked out of the company systems using Shepherd MDM.
Boomerang will arrange for a courier to visit the employee, collect the device in a protective crate, and return it to the company for secure erasure and redeployment.
Using both an MDM to prevent the employee from accessing the device and a retrieval service to physically collect it results in a much higher recovery rate than simply asking the employee to return the device.
Challenge 2: MDM Costs That Scale Faster Than Headcount
MDM pricing is in line with what you would expect for managing 20 devices. However, at 200 devices, the numbers look different. The cost of per-user or per-device pricing can grow exponentially, and the extra functions of an enterprise MDM are usually only available on a higher-tiered pricing structure.
For example, Jamf Fundamentals will cost you £2.70 per user per week. Therefore, for a business with 100 people, this equates to an annual cost of £14,040 before any additional IT Management Costs.
This is where the pain is most felt by Start-Ups & Scale-Up’s. To remain safe, you require an MDM solution; however, each pound spent on device management is a pound less to spend on growing your business.
Solution
Consider MDM solutions specifically designed for smaller businesses. Shepherd MDM costs £1.95 per user per week, approximately 28% lower than Jamf Fundamentals, which provides the same basic functions. Thus, over a year, the cost difference will save a 100-person business more than £3,900.
You need to find an MDM solution that fits your requirements. Most small/medium Businesses (SMB) do not have the requirement for Enterprise-class MDM Functions.
An MDM solution designed specifically for smaller device fleets can deliver greater value to the business than a stripped-down version of an Enterprise-class MDM solution.
Challenge 3: Supporting Distributed Teams Without On-Site IT
When an employee is unable to connect to the VPN, they cannot go down the hallway to the IT Department. They are stuck with a remote connection.
The traditional IT model has always been based on the assumption of physical proximity. The problem with that assumption is that remote teams are on the increase.
Solution
Remote management through MDM eliminates the need for physical intervention. Real-time monitoring identifies problems before an employee reports them.
You can eliminate screen sharing when using remote diagnostics to troubleshoot issues. When you enroll pre-configured devices into MDM on the first day, you’ll have significantly fewer issues with setting up the devices.
Zero-touch deployment will handle onboarding. Remote wipe will prevent the compromising of lost devices. The MDM push will handle maintenance.
Challenge 4: BYOD Security Risks
Your employees using personal devices is an efficient approach: no long waits for procurement, no upfront hardware costs, and they’re already comfortable with what they’re using.
However, the BYOD IT provisioning system has its own very significant challenges. Personal devices often lack proper encryption, may be running outdated operating systems, and are frequently shared with family members who are prone to clicking links they shouldn’t.
Solution
If you choose a BYOD system, make MDM enrolment a strict condition of use. Tools like Intune and Knox allow you to create a kind of “container” – work apps are locked away in a secure little bubble that IT has total control over, while the employee still has access to their own personal stuff.
Alternatively, there’s a much more straightforward approach: corporate devices supplied under a subscription model. Pay a fixed monthly fee, get decent hardware that’s properly set up, and give IT a clear line of sight—no more of the usual BYOD headaches.
Challenge 5: Onboarding and Offboarding Coordination
Onboarding and Offboarding suffer when departments operate in silos. The HR department knows who was hired, and the IT department knows how to set up a device; however, they don’t communicate well with each other, which causes problems.
Employees often begin work without a workstation prepared; when an employee leaves the company (offboards), IT discovers the employee resigned after experiencing issues accessing their system.
Solution
Create an automated HR Intake Form that allows new hires to provide the necessary information (Start Date, Job Title, Location, Equipment Needs) so IT can prepare in advance. For departing employees, use MDM for Asset Recovery. As soon as HR indicates an employee has left, the IT department receives the trigger to restrict all access and initiate a device collection process.
The Boomerang service also handles the physical recovery of devices, so there will be no chance for a piece of hardware to be lost in transit.
Challenge 6: Maintaining Compliance Across a Growing Fleet
Regulated environments, such as the health care and finance sectors, are subject to obligations to meet specific standards, including GDPR requirements and audit logs. These requirements serve to protect sensitive data.
As the number of devices grows, device management becomes more complex, increasing compliance risks from missed patches or unauthorised software.
Solution
Compliance monitoring through MDM enables companies to be notified when a device is out of compliance, helping address missing updates and/or security issues. The real-time dashboard—Shepherd MDM—helps track the status of all your devices and facilitates remote troubleshooting.
Regular auditing is key to identifying issues before they become problems. It identifies which devices have failed to check in, need to be updated, or have pending patches, helping maintain good data practices through routine checks.
Challenge 7: Device Visibility When Employees Leave
Suppose an employee leaves, and you implement a device return process for them to return any company-owned devices. Weeks later, you still cannot locate the laptop.
MDM shows the laptop’s last check-in was recent, but since the device is either powered off or disconnected from Wi-Fi, you cannot rely on this information to locate the laptop.
What if it’s still with your ex-employee? What if it’s been sold online?
Solution
Integrating MDM tracking to monitor physical assets can improve visibility by linking data from physical assets (e.g., device location) with that of digital assets, including whether the device has been collected and is in transit.
Combining the functionality of applications like Shepherd and Boomerang will provide comprehensive insight into an organisation’s overall compliance and allow IT to monitor the physical process of collecting devices.
How Boomerang Solves the Retrieval Problem
Boomerang streamlines the collection process, which makes it easier to recover company property from ex-employees. A courier brings a protective box to the departing employee, they place the device in the box, and the courier returns it to Boomerang, where it is securely wiped to ISO 27001 standards.
With the boomerang system, ex-employees do not have to package and ship the device themselves, reducing friction when returning company property. Once the device is collected, it can be easily added back to inventory.
Take the Headache Out of Device Management
MDM tools are effective; however, they face several obstacles, including logistics, scalability costs, departmental coordination, and bridging the divide between digital and physical assets.
To overcome these, you need management systems with integrated retrieval services; workflow coordination between HR and IT; and pricing models that support business growth.
Device for Teams provides an end-to-end solution that includes MDM, configuration, and life cycle management for devices, while Shepherd MDM provides device software management, and Boomerang handles employee data retrieval for departing employees, all under a single vendor, providing streamlined operations.
If you’re tired of chasing laptops and watching MDM costs skyrocket, book a call with the team.
Steve Hill has been a cornerstone of HardSoft since 2005, bringing two decades of experience in leasing Apple devices and delivering tailored tech solutions to businesses across the UK. As HardSoft’s go-to expert in cybersecurity, Steve specialises in Sophos and Barracuda software, helping clients safeguard their operations with confidence. Steve’s passion for tech, teamwork, and trusted solutions makes him a valued voice on the HardSoft blog.
LinkedIn: Steve Hill
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0204 566 8856