The bigger your organization grows, the more people are added and the more devices are given access, whether within your physical office or for those working off-site. Protecting your company data while giving employees the freedom to work on whatever device is convenient for them (and where they want to work) is a delicate balancing act. Microsoft is now bringing mobile device management (MDM) capabilities for Office 365 business, enterprise, EDU and government plans.
MDM protects your corporate data in three general ways. First feature is conditional access, which allows you to apply security policies on devices that can access corporate email and documents. It will work on such apps as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and other business applications, giving the admin an easier time in managing all these devices and accounts. Meanwhile, another feature is device management where you can set up device level pin locks so you know that only authorized people can use the company-issued devices like smartphones, tablets, netbooks, etc. And in case any of these devices get stolen or lost, you can activate jailbreak detection so whoever stole/found it will not be able to access critical documents.
The third feature is useful for organizations that have a high turnover rate. The selective wipe feature allows you to remove Office 365 documents from an employee’s device, and leave their personal documents alone. Since a lot of companies have a BYOD (bring your own device) policy, this is crucial to make sure that they won’t have access to sensitive information even after they leave. If what you need is beyond these three features, you can subscribe to Microsoft Intune to give you more application management capabilities.
The MDM is free for organizations and companies that already have an Office 365 plan. The Microsoft Intune module will probably incur you additional fees, depending on the features that you choose.
SOURCE: Microsoft
