Difference Between MDM, EMM & UEM - Know It All

With technology evolving and expanding immeasurably, mobility management has also expanded its horizons with it. Mobility management progressed from MDM to EMM to UEM but the technical acronyms are mostly confusing and used interchangeably although they hold key significant differences. It is crucial for businesses to thoroughly understand the categories of mobile management technologies to implement the best strategies suited for their business model. Failure to do so not only costs the business a hefty amount of time and money but endangers the privacy and data security that is most valuable to any business.

In this article, we will break down the acronyms and go over the prominent differences between MDM, EMM, and UEM so you can make an informed decision about which mobility approach is effective for your business model. 

• MDM 

MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution is a tool used to manage, secure, control, monitor and track mobile devices, either corporate issued or personally owned via the cloud or on-premise models. Its coverage is limited to smartphones and tablets, predominantly iOS and Android operating systems. It provides a rich set of features that encapsulates bulk enrollment, full device deployment, location tracking, management, and configuration along with security controls. Devices can be remotely configured to apply company policies and requirements through the centralized MDM dashboard. Other major features supported by MDM software are as follows:

1. Quick enrollment (QR code/URL-based enrollment, Zero-touch enrollment, and IMEI-based enrollment).
2. Policy management for a full device, dedicated device, and work profile management.
3. Factory Reset Protection (FRP), remote wipe out, and encryption security system.
4. Single app mode and multi-app mode kiosk.
5. Real-time monitoring and reporting 

With the development of remote working culture and the spike in employees’ demand for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), MDM’s insufficiency was fulfilled by the creation of EMM that supported BYOD with more comprehensive technology. 

• EMM

EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) is the extension of MDM. . It offers a complete security solution for BYOD and Dedicated Devices that provided the employees the flexibility to work from anywhere, at any time. MDM solutions operated at the device level while EMM solution basically encompasses all the functionalities of MDM with additional components such as:

1. MAM (Mobile Application Management): MAM is limited to the management and control of specific business applications. It is designed to target in-depth management, deployment, and configuration of apps.
2. MCM (Mobile Content Management): MCM specializes in the protection and management of content and data that is shared and distributed with encryption, passcode policies that prevent unauthorized access and preserve data.
3. MSM (Mobile Security Management): MSM is similar to MDM but provides better security where kiosk mode can be enabled, device settings and apps can be restricted from unwanted use enforcing stronger security of data for businesses.
4. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): To fill in the growing needs of data security while incorporating personal devices for corporate use, EMM solution offered containerization where personal and corporate data can be segregated in a single device. This allowed employees the flexibility and ease of using their personal devices at work while ensuring that the corporate apps and data are secured.  

• UEM

With the world accelerating towards modern office spaces, businesses are now looking for an extensive EMM solution known as UEM (Unified Endpoint Management) that protects their data and network. The main objective of UEM is to manage all endpoints used for business purposes such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, PCs, printers, wearables, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices through a single console. UEM tools are far more advanced in terms of features and have the broadest set of devices supported.

UEM solutions is an umbrella term that holds all the features of its predecessor from mobile device management, mobile application management, mobile security management to kiosk management. 

In a nutshell, MDM, EMM, and UEM are different evolutionary stages of mobility management and the main difference lies in the management and privacy capabilities.. MDM focuses on device-level management and deals with security and policies on devices, EMM has a broader scope that includes MAM, MCM, MSM, etc. and UEM is a comprehensive mechanism to secure and control all endpoints through a single platform. Once you have an idea about each, it is easy to determine which mobility management approach reaps the most benefits for your business. Regardless of your business needs and specifications, CubiLock is a one stop solution that caters to your mobility management efficiently.