Zero Touch Deployment: What Is It, and Is It Right for Your Business?
Zero-touch deployment can make a big difference in how quickly your business can get new devices up and running and delivered to employees. It can also save you time, resources, and money, as it automates steps that used to take valuable time from your IT techs.
In this quick post, we’ll show you what zero-touch deployment is and why it’s right for most businesses — especially those with remote teams.
What Is Zero Touch Deployment?
Zero-touch deployment is an operational state where businesses can ship a brand-new device directly to an employee and have that device essentially configure itself for use within the company. IT techs don’t need to see, access, or touch the device at all prior to delivery. Everything happens over the company’s device management system after the user boots up for the first time.
It’s completely hands-off, automated, and infinitely scalable, plus it removes a time-consuming step from the device setup process and removes a critical chokepoint at the same time.
For Apple-centric businesses, zero-touch means that you can order up a raft of new MacBook Pros immediately after the next Apple event and ship them all straight to your remote team’s doorsteps. No IT personnel have to do anything to the devices first — everything is handled through a mobile device management platform (MDM) like Jamf or Intune.
Your team members then simply boot up, navigate to an easy-to-find location, and your MDM solution handles the rest.
What Is Mobile Device Management?
Mobile device management (MDM for short) is the mechanism that lets businesses get to a place where they can do zero-touch deployment. It’s a combination of software and already-established processes and security policies, plus branding and applications, all of which can be applied to a device remotely.
It’s a little more complicated than just imaging a device from a distance, but that’s a decent (if oversimplified) way to think about it.
Is Mobile Device Management Just for Mobile Devices?
Sort of, but not really. (Yes, the term is pretty confusing!)
MDM does include mobile devices (what we typically think of as phones and tablets), but it does much more than that. Really, the term means “device management that can be done remotely” or “device management on devices that are currently somewhere else.”
So computers (laptops and desktops) are certainly within the scope of MDM — especially those that live off-site (think remote or at-home employees) or that travel off-site (anything your employees might take home for work purposes). So are phones and tablets, of course.
What We Offer at Advisory
At Advisory Solutions, we believe that zero-touch deployment solutions are an ideal choice for many companies — especially those that operate remotely at scale.
These are the services we offer related to mobile device management and zero-touch deployment.
MDM Auditing Services
If you already have an MDM environment established, we’ll audit it regularly to make sure everything within it is coded securely and that no unauthorized data access has taken place. This task is related to intrusion detection and broader IT security protocols.
MDM Builds and Implementation
We build out mobile device management environments for clients, taking care of the myriad details that go into creating a workable and secure zero-touch deployment protocol. Then we guide clients as they implement their MDM environment, and we help troubleshoot as needed along the way.
Post Implementation MDM Management
As tempting as it may be to think of your MDM environment as a one-and-done, set-it-and-forget-it sort of thing, that’s not the reality we live in. New threats and vulnerabilities pop up all the time, and new technology opportunities continue to be developed, too.
As your MDM environment matures, we’ll keep everything running smoothly, securely, and using the latest tech developments. We’ll problem-solve issues as they occur over the life of your MDM environment and your Advisory SLA.
Got Questions? Advisory Can Help
If you have additional questions about either MDM or zero-touch deployment, our team is here to help! We’re also ready to partner with you so you can start enjoying these benefits as soon as possible.
Reach out now to get started!
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