Mobile application management (MAM) has put MDM in its place

05.06.2012
This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.

The debate about the best tool set for enterprise mobility continues to rage between the (MAM) and (MDM) camps.

MDM zealots ridicule MAM as a glorified app catalog and a sieve, while MAM proponents say MDM's rigid and centralized control of all policies, user access, hardware/software and content sabotages the revolutionary benefits of .

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We firmly believe that MAM is a superior approach for the management of a vast majority of , that it has leapfrogged MDM as a systems management best practice for mobility, and -- importantly -- incorporated its most useful security capabilities.

Still, there are shades of gray in the MAM/MDM debate. MDM may still be preferred for environments where security and device control trumps all other criteria, and where company-issued devices are exclusively used. MDM and MAM can even work together as adjacent, complementary approaches in organizations where the highest levels of security and the strategic enablement of mobile workers through high-value apps are equal considerations.