MDM High Availability for the Remote Workforce

By Ryan Cherkala, Patricia Ross
Topics: Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) Mobile Device Management (MDM) Remote Workforce

The way we work, especially where and how, has changed. The remote workforce is the new norm, as employees are forced to work from home, depending more heavily on their mobile devices as their new digital workspaces, mobile device management (MDM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM) are playing larger roles in helping businesses transform to something new and overcome disruption disorder.

 

In another time, most businesses would have to shut down. Even though many businesses are still up and running, business isn’t “as usual” with increased web traffic slowing down systems and overwhelmed VPN services making it hard for people to connect and retrieve the data and tools they need to work. As these issues compound, systems are faltering, making people, especially business owners, who are already stressed even more frustrated with the consistent chaos of downtime.

 

If you don’t have built-in automatic redundancies to support your remote workforce, you’re setting yourself up for interruptions of service, or worse. All it takes is a single point of failure to bring productivity to a stand-still.

 

Single Points of Failure

Single points of failure occur when a component of your technology stack becomes unavailable, causing a service interruption. Any component that is required to maintain proper functionality of your applications that does not have a redundancy is considered to be a single point of failure. Even if currently you can sustain your present digital work environment, but don’t have redundancies in place to address expected and unexpected chaotic mobile connection circumstances, you have single points of failure. To eliminate single points of failure, each layer of your stack must be prepared for redundancy.

 

On the other hand, imagine you have an infrastructure consisting of two identical, redundant web servers behind a load balancer. The mobile device traffic will be equally distributed between the web servers, but if one of the servers goes down, the load balancer will redirect all traffic to the remaining online server. It can also split traffic between the servers when the volume is high, like when all your employees are working from home.

 

High Availability Overcomes Interruptions

High Availability (HA) helps you be prepared for planned and unplanned outages—especially when you need it most—ensuring all mobile users can connect when they need to and with zero disruption.

 

As we discussed above, having a load balancer prevents system access from being interrupted by eliminating single points of failure—whether it’s a redundant server or configured as part of your EMM solution.

 

Some key benefits of high availability, include:

 

Mitigates Downtime

With a built-in redundancy, you don’t have to worry about planned or unplanned outages interrupting service. Mobile device users can continue working in a way they’re familiar with, without traffic backups hindering accessibility. Redundancy also helps you seamlessly migrate, removing crippling downtime and keeping critical business functions running.

 

Reduces Lost Revenue

Every minute of downtime or hindered employee productivity can cost you. This adds up and can become a liability to your business growth and success. Avoid traffic bottlenecks when sharing documents, connecting to email, or teleconferencing and relieve undue stress on your employees and your bottom line.

 

Simplifies Device Management

Pushing updates and upgrades can slow the system and even create planned, but costly downtime. However avoiding regular mobile device maintenance can leave your business vulnerable. HA minimizes planned downtime and ensures users always have the most timely app updates to enhance your security footprint.

 

Increases Workforce Flexibility

Remote workers need 24/7 access, since most will continue to be productive outside of normal working hours. Having redundant systems gives them the ability to work when they need to with uninterrupted access to services. It also enables your IT team to wait until morning should a system go down overnight.

 

Maximizes Agility

Your business’s ability to be resilient during times of crisis and uncertainty instead of reacting to chaos is a measure for long-term success. HA solutions enable you to seamlessly transition and keep your business moving.

 

Vox Mobile Professional Services

Vox Mobile understands what it takes to empower your remote workforce and enhance your business’s resiliency. We help you mitigate vulnerability in your MDM/EMM environment, because we know your challenges and are committed to ensuring you get the most out of your HA solution.

 

If you have any points of failure, we can help you create an HA environment to help you quickly roll over, saving you time, money, and headaches. We can configure your system to ensure business stability without service interruption, for anyone, anywhere.

 

You have enough challenges right now. Single points of failure don’t have to be one of them. We can help.

 

Let us help you drive mobility success.