Ford's MDM lessons indicative of industry as whole

Mobile device management can be challenging for businesses to integrate into their IT setups because the sector changes so quickly that it can be tough for IT to match the industry's pace.

Ford learned this lesson the hard way. Presenting at the recent IDC mobileNext Forum, Randy Nunez, a senior network engineer for Ford, said the company began planning for mobile device support in 2007, when the operating systems of choice were Windows, Palm and Symbian, according to a recent ZDNet report.

Since then, the company has implemented bring your own device policies and a number of other protocols that fit within the realm of mobile device management, the news source explained.

These shifts have led Nunez to one clear conclusion about mobile device management. He told audiences the mobile climate changes so quickly that needs often shift before a single project can be finished, ZDNet reported.

Gaining the elasticity necessary within a mobile device management program can be achieved by integrating that system with a company's ITSM and CMDB architectures. This allows mobile platforms to exist within the general IT configuration, creating more visibility on how MDM impacts the overall IT landscape.