Keeping Touch Screens Healthy: Managing Single Purpose Mobile Devices

Mobile touch screen devices are everywhere these days. It’s become an $8.4 billion market and expected to grow to $22.3 billion by 2025. As more and more industries incorporate this technology, managing these mobile devices effectively is imperative to success and optimal use.

Often times, consumers only think of touch screens like smartphones, tablets, laptops, or TVs. However, there’s an entirely different category of touchscreens also being used: single-purpose devices. These include kiosks of point of sale (POS) devices at restaurants, supermarkets, drug stores, medical centers, and retail establishments. You’ll find them at airports when you want to check-in for a flight, or public transportation centers when you need a ticket.

The Challenges of Managing Single-Purpose Mobile Devices

One of the biggest challenges of managing these single-purpose mobile devices is that they’re typically spread out across different locations. They may be in different locations within a single facility or across multiple geographically-diverse facilities. Having to handle updates, upgrades, or troubleshooting can be a challenge when you can’t physically get your hands on these devices easily.

That’s where MDM (Mobile Device Management) software comes in.

What Is Mobile Device Management (MDM)?

MDM is a software solution that lets IT teams, managers, and administrators manage, regulate, and secure portable devices regardless of where they are being used.

• Mobile application management
• Mobile content management
• Conditional exchange access

MDM can provide a secure environment to protect company networks, guard against data leakage from lost or stolen devices, manage what employees have access to, and keep devices running smoothly.

An integrated and comprehensive MDM can greatly improve managing mobile devices either individually or collectively for admins.  Apps can be installed, removed, or updates remotely.  It also allows for remote monitoring to assess performance and adoption, as well as remote troubleshooting to fix problems that may arise.

The Benefits of MDM for Touch Screen Devices

MDM software, such as Radix VISO Single-Purpose Device Management, can remotely manage all of your devices to ensure devices are used for their intended purpose.

• Remotely manage apps, OS settings, and updates of all devices
• Apply and enforce policies and regulations
• Install applications and updates on all devices remotely
• Simplify batch tasks and simultaneous workflows
• Take remote control over devices for assistance
• Group and tag devices according to predefined criteria
• Create Geo-fences and device location perimeters
• Lock, track, and wipe lost or stolen devices
• Broadcast alerts and notices to all or selected devices

Another benefit is the ability to analyze device, web, and app usage. This allows you to ensure devices are being used and being used properly. All of these capabilities enable administrators make fact-based decisions and effectively continue managing mobile devices.

Managing Security with Mobile Device Management Software

One big advantage of using an MDM is the ability to quickly update all devices. For example, if hackers uncover a way to breach security for a particular software build, a universal patch can be applied to prevent threat actors from accessing your systems. This also helps with compliance in industries that have strict regulations for applying software patches. This includes compliance regulations for industries such as healthcare (HIPPA patch management) and financial (GLBA Safeguards Rule).

An MDM also allows you to block the installation of unapproved apps or software that might create safety concerns. It also facilitates the segmentation of data to separate company data from personal information. Sensitive company data can be encrypted to protect it from prying eyes.

Geofencing constraints can be applied on devices so if a touch screen is moved or removed from its approved area, you’ll get an instant notification. If someone walks off with a company device, this allows you to quickly take the appropriate steps to minimize any potential compromise.

If a device is lost or stolen, devices can be locked and/or wiped so that proprietary information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. That’s particularly important when you consider that, on average, a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds and 97% of them are never recovered. Lost or stolen devices are one of the leading causes of data breaches and leakage. It has become so common that a Verizon survey of IT professionals concluded that nearly a third of all organizations reported a security compromise due to a mobile device.

If someone is using a personal device and they no longer need access to organizational resources, no longer work for the company, or change roles, data and access can be restricted, removed, or changed easily.

Managing Touch Screens in Educational Facilities

Touch screens in the educational setting have a specific set of needs.

Students and devices may be dispersed across classrooms, schools, and districts. In 2020, COVID-19 has sent many students home with laptops connecting remotely. This can create challenges for IT teams if they don’t have the proper MDM solution. To make things even more complex, some students are using their personal computers or smartphones to complete assignments and access school resources.

VISO MDM for Education allows IT teams to monitor, manage, and control all devices from one interface via the cloud. It allows the management of school-owned or BYOD devices, provides 1:1 remote assistance for tech support, and remotely manages the software, patches, and updates.

IT teams will have the ability to group and tag devices, simplify batch tasks and initiate simultaneous workflows, and manage compliance with school regulations and policies. Devices can be tracked with location-tracking and geo-fences can alert if devices go outside approved perimeters. If a device is lost or stolen, it can be remotely locked and wiped to avoid data leaks or breaches.

Quite simply. VISO MDM for Education lets you centrally manage, monitor, and secure your entire fleet of devices in educational facilities.

Enhancing the Classroom Experience

When it comes to managing the actual classroom or remote learning experience, Radix VISO TeacherView provides educators with the tools they need to facilitate efficient collaborative learning. This enables students to experience a relatively traditional classroom feel regardless of where they are.

Radix VISO TeacherView gives educators total control over the student experience. That’s crucial to learning development as a recent study by McKinsey showed: the best results come when teachers control the experience instead of leaving it up to students.

Keeping Your Touch Screens Healthy

Keeping your touch screen healthy and performing optimally does not have to be difficult. Managing your single-purpose mobile devices with Radix VISO Single-Purpose or Radix VISO TeacherView enables admins to remotely manage your touchscreen devices in real-time.

Contact Radix for more information and let us show you how easy it can be to manage all your touchscreen devices.