GUIDES

What is Managed Mobility Services (MMS)?

Managed Mobility Services (MMS) is an umbrella term covering an extensive range of technologies and activities related to managing mobile devices in a corporate or public sector setting. Mobile devices including smartphones, laptops, tablets, point-of-sale systems, and other IoT devices are essential to operations, business continuity, and revenue generation. MMS enables business productivity by keeping employees, remote workers, offices, and their critical equipment fully functional and secure. Providers of managed mobility services typically administer devices across all phases of their lifecycle focusing on functionality, support services, mobile device security, costs, and more.

To understand managed mobility services, it is useful to first understand what is meant by mobility. Mobility means having the ability to operate a business with people able to perform their work at the office, at home, and on the move. This might also mean allowing employees to deploy mobile computers in industrial or retail applications. Managed Mobility can also include provisioning devices, overseeing their operation, and securing them across their entire lifecycle.

Tangoe is a leading Managed Mobility Service provider. Our innovative solution, Tangoe One Mobile, has been named year-after-year a Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed Mobility Services. Our solutions, deep industry knowledge and access to comprehensive data has generated this level of success for us and our customers for over 20 years. You can learn more about our current thoughts in our 2024 IT Trends and Savings Recommendations.

Tangoe and its MMS solution manage and track more than 14 million devices in 200 countries. We have more assets under management globally than any other provider — by a long shot. Managing such large groups of devices gives us unparalleled experience, which benefits our clients with a wider range of innovative capabilities, proven processes, and recommendations to solve problems and achieve their goals. Learn why Tangoe won the 2023 mobile breakthrough award for innovation.

Here are 10 reasons Tangoe’s MMS solution stands above competitors:

  1. Global Capabilities: Sourcing warehouses located in the U.S. and Europe, Apple GSX integration globally, device recycling available globally, Help Desk service in 9 languages with five locations worldwide, bill pay in 129 currencies, DaaS program offering both domestic and international support
  2. Mobile Security: Centralized security and device wiping with Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)
  3. Up-to-Date Inventory: Integrations with UEM platforms, including Microsoft Intune®, VMWare Workspace ONE®, Ivanti Neurons®, and SOTI®, assure the integrity of device information, making accurate inventory management easy – 70% of business leaders state they have trouble with mobile device inventory management according to a recent study.
  4. Automation Engines: Automated workflows accelerating processes and cost savings specifically for mobile device management
  5. Lifecycle Management: Services across every phase, from ordering, provisioning, securing, and monitoring all the way through end-of-life
  6. Buyback and Recycling: Buybacks at leading prices and secure, eco-friendly device recycling
  7. Tangoe for Apple® and ServiceNow Integration: Solutions work with the tools you already use. Learn more about Tangoe for Apple® and our ServiceNow Integration.
  8. Live Chat Support & Integrated Help Desk: Technical support delivered virtually anywhere through AI-powered services and an integrated Help Desk tracking issues in a centralized platform with dashboard analytics
  9. Streamlined Ordering: Carrier integration makes placing device orders fast and easy with a configurable online catalog and ecommerce store experience
  10. Solution Flexibility: When no two businesses are alike, flexible solutions fit diverse needs

On average, companies overspend on their mobile phone calling plans and telecom services by 10-30%, and managing a fleet of mobile devices typically consumes 34% of the IT team’s time, according to a study by VansonBourne. This explains why mobility management services, like Tangoe’s, can save companies both time and money.

Tangoe One Mobile is the name of Tangoe’s MMS solution. It provides the services and features mobile device managers need to oversee a fleet of corporate-owned or employee-owned (BYOD) devices. Some of these features include cost tracking and cost optimization capabilities, as well as cost-effective procurement services, accurate inventory management services, device maintenance support, advanced analytics and more.

Cost Savings: Optimize Mobile & Telecom Expenditures with Tangoe

With Tangoe One Mobile, businesses gain immediate visibility into cost optimization opportunities. Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities can provide insights into device usage (including unused devices), performance and where expenses can be reduced. Organizations can leverage this data to reduce costs, making more informed purchasing decisions and optimizing their device usage and management.

Tangoe helps businesses stay on top of expenses by providing visibility into invoices, contract-to-invoice reconciliation, billing errors, and contract renewal schedules. This is helpful for cost validation as well as effective expense management and allocation. This ultimately leads to more efficient use of resources, better financial management and increased profitability.

Lost track of all your devices and need our team to audit all your assets? Tangoe’s mobile cost management consultants can put together a custom project to get you up to speed with an accurate list of devices, users, services, costs and suggestions for how to save money and make more efficient use of the assets you already own. Tracking tools assure potential savings opportunities turn into actual dollars saved. Our cost management consultants audit your devices to analyze overspending, manage RFPs and negotiate contracts. Learn about our free cost savings assessment, or check out our brochure on Tangoe Advisory Services for Mobile.

Productivity Gains: Tangoe’s Services and Simplified Management Tools Help You Save Time

Using a single platform to manage all types of devices (as well as their service providers, assigned users, and costs) clears complexities with a single source of truth for information management that saves time. Outsourced services also reduce the day-to-day management burdens, allowing IT departments and internal resources to focus on more strategic tasks. Additionally, Tangoe’s automation tools accelerate procurement and deployment processes, including device setup and authentication processes that are in compliance with corporate security policies and industry regulations.

Key benefits include:

Check out our 5 best practices for managing your mobile fleet.

Successfully managing the device lifecycle is no easy task for any business. From ordering devices to decommissioning them, mobile equipment must be supported at every phase of the lifecycle, and Tangoe offers services for every stage. Logistics Services include mobile fulfillment, so companies can also outsource device management including deployment, provisioning, configuring, kitting and shipping, repair, recovery and environmentally sustainable recycling, and more. With a trusted partner, you can take the burden off your internal teams.

Get a quick look at how Tangoe One Mobile helps companies handle their fleet of devices at every step, offering full lifecycle management services.

Provisioning: Fulfillment, Kitting, Deployment, and Inventory Management

  • Mobile Fulfillment: is the act of ordering and procuring mobile devices. It’s a primary step and key component in mobility management services like Tangoe’s. Eliminate supply chain headaches – full-service procurement services include a configurable online catalog that makes it easy to get quotes and let employees order devices, services, and accessories themselves.
  • Customized Kitting & Shipping: Offload the manual tasks of kitting and configuring devices with all the right security and applications according to your corporate policies. Tangoe has a team of mobile device experts that do it all for you, including testing tool functionality and shipping secure mobile devices anywhere in the world. Take a video tour of one of our mobile logistics facilities and see our team in action.
  • Inventory Management: Tangoe’s fulfillment and logistics services also track activity to maintain accurate an accurate catalog of all devices. You get visibility into what you have, how it’s being used, and ways to lower costs. Inventory management catalogs mobile devices and contracts in a centralized platform using automation, thereby reducing manual data entry. It provides a granular view of every device, user, and associated invoice thereby helping to keep track of all vendor costs. It also helps in understanding usage and identifying wasteful spending.

Learn more about the Logistics & Fulfillment capabilities of Tangoe One Mobile.

Ongoing Management: Security, Maintenance, and Support

Security: Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) Solutions

UEM is an advanced security approach for controlling and securing virtually all types of devices or endpoints. UEM is also a technology solution that simplifies mobile device security management from a single console or “pane of glass,” and it represents an evolution beyond earlier generations of endpoint and device management, where different types of devices would each have their own management process and solution. It enables endpoint provisioning, detection, monitoring, deployment, troubleshooting and updating. UEM encompasses all endpoints and all phases of operations, from monitoring to security.

Tangoe’s solution for UEM borrows the best elements and places them into a single, easy-to-use interface. Tangoe makes these functions available more flexibly than would be the case if they were used as singular solutions. Tangoe has a wide variety of integrations with Unified Endpoint Management and Mobile Device Management software providers and will design, implement, migrate, monitor, and administer your mobile security policies. We also have insurance against mobile data leaks.

Learn more about mobile Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) within Tangoe One Mobile.

Mobile Device Help Desk: Technical Support for Users All Over the Globe

Mobile help desk is our support service designed specifically to provide technical assistance and troubleshooting for mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, scanners, and other wireless business devices. With 24/7/365 availability and services in 9 languages, Tangoe resolves issues and provides assistance to employees quickly and efficiently, allowing them to get back to work with minimal downtime.

Tangoe’s help desk includes tools and resources such as knowledge bases, live chat support and remote assistance. By outsourcing support with Tangoe’s MMS solution, you can leverage the knowledge and resources of experts with specialized skills and experience in managing mobile devices, eliminating the need for you to invest in setting up and maintaining an in-house support system. Our mobile help desk allows you to provide personalized and effective support to employees regardless of where they are located. It speeds up issue resolution, whether by offering employees self-service options, chatbots or knowledgeable, or with device-agnostic support teams.

Learn more about the Help Desk capabilities of Tangoe One Mobile.

Tangoe for Apple: Tech Support and Certified Repairs

Tangoe for Apple is our proprietary MMS solution specifically for Apple devices, giving you a 360-degree view of your devices and all related users, expenses, and statuses. Included in this solution is AppleCare from Tangoe, which gives you all of the benefits of AppleCare for Enterprise, including convenient access to device support and repairs. Two- and three-year support plans are available for devices. Your employees can also access 24/7 technical support, with support in 13 languages, and on-site service is available globally. As an authorized reseller of AppleCare for Enterprise, Tangoe’s service also supports corporate-liable and bring-your-own-device models.

Learn more about Tangoe for Apple with Tangoe One Mobile.

End-of-Life Services: Refresh, Decommission, Recycle

As a provider offering full lifecycle MMS solutions, Tangoe handles end-of-life mobile logistics for our clients. This encompasses the wiping, disposal, and recycling of decommissioned devices like mobile phones but also tablets, scanners, and other IoT devices.

Whether you want to refresh your mobile fleet to the latest model, reclaim the value of your devices using a buyback program, or securely decommission and recycle devices using environmentally friendly processes that comply with regulations, Tangoe can help.

  • Mobile Tech Refresh Programs: Whether you’re looking to add new mobile devices or accessories or simply upgrading your current inventory, Tangoe’s Mobile Logistics Team can help you efficiently and effectively execute. Learn more about refreshing your mobile fleet with help from Tangoe.
  • Secure Decommissioning: We use National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certified data-wiping processes.
  • Buyback Programs: Buybacks at leading prices use real-time market pricing intelligence to estimate the value of recovered devices and replace retired ones. Learn more about mobile buyback services from Tangoe.
  • Eco-Friendly Recycling: All devices are accepted for recycling — regardless of their age or condition, and Tangoe’s secure, eco-friendly device recycling uses certified recycling partners. Additionally, our facilities are R2 certified and zero-waste-to-landfill certified, which means we use environmentally friendly methods to reduce the amount of waste in landfills. Learn more about Tangoe’s mobile device recycling program.

Unlike other providers in the industry, Tangoe’s MMS platform offers both mobile device management services as well as expense management services for mobility. Beyond full lifecycle management, Tangoe ensures companies are getting the most value out of their mobile fleet with expense management services designed to automate invoice processing, validation and bill pay while also identifying sources of waste and overspending.

The comprehensive solution allows companies to offload the work of the mobile fleet and optimize their mobility budgets. With broader coverage companies can govern their mobility spending while also handling the day-to-day logistics of administering an increasing number of devices.

Here are two key capabilities:

Invoice Management, Expense Management, Bill Pay

Get insights into all mobile expenses and understand how costs correspond with each provider and line of business. Reports are available in real-time and evaluate current and previous purchases. Notifications and spending thresholds can also alert you of unexpected expenses and budget overruns. This helps with mobility cost governance. Using bill pay services, multiple invoices can be paid in one transaction which saves time and manual work. The verification process is automated which prevents misapplied payments and reduces errors.

Device as a Service (DaaS)

Tangoe helps companies get one predictable price for all their mobile devices. Device as a Service (DaaS) is a subscription-based model that provides end-to-end outsourcing of device lifecycle management (both software and hardware) for assets such as desktops, laptops, smartphones, or tablets. Preconfigured software, services, and repair services are all handled by Tangoe. Small, mid-size, and large enterprises alike want to avoid the capital expenditure of purchasing fixed technology hardware and mobile devices, but they also need to ensure their budget is aligned with their business needs.

At the same time, they want to receive the best value for their IT financial outlay. DaaS makes it possible to refresh hardware and software for an entire fleet of corporate devices without exorbitant costs. Clients pay only for what they use, leveraging a cost-effectiveness analysis to calculate cost savings.

Learn more about Device as a Service (DaaS) with Tangoe One Mobile.

An MMS platform like Tangoe One Mobile helps organizations gain greater control over their business continuity, mobile security, and the cost of mobility. It allows them to protect and preserve productivity, ensuring services and access to critical business information is not disrupted or threatened by security attacks. Equally as important, it allows companies to outsource the day-to-day administrative and security management of the corporate fleet, effectively deploying and servicing devices without burdening internal IT teams and human resources. Last but not least, MMS services can help companies control the cost of their mobility programs.

Greater Efficiency and Productivity

The best way to manage a complicated fleet of devices is through a single MMS platform with a centralized management system addressing procurement, ongoing management, security, financial management and analytics. This way, you can access and evaluate all information quickly, spending less time split across siloed systems and information.

MMS solutions centralize management tasks and eliminate manual processes, automating workflows and monitoring to ensure:

  • Downtime is minimized, enhancing user productivity
  • Unused devices are reallocated, and usage is optimized based on real-time data
  • Security risks are minimized by updating applications, pinpointing threats quickly, and quarantining devices immediately
  • Costs are minimized through effective processes for financial management: cost optimization efforts, invoice processing and approvals, cost validation and billing errors, cost allocations, invoice payments, contract and budget management (to name a few)

Stronger Security

Mobile devices generate all sorts of potentially sensitive data, such as personally identifiable information, financial information and confidential business data. An effective MMS platform helps businesses protect the sensitive data generated and transmitted by devices while complying with relevant requirements around data privacy. Check out the highlights of this Vanson Bourne study that analyzed the results of security and ROI with MMS.

For instance, our MMS solution can provide businesses with a comprehensive security solution that covers the entire lifecycle of devices, including secure device provisioning and application installation, over-the-air updates and secure device decommissioning. It also helps businesses manage device security at scale, providing centralized security policy management and enforcement across multiple devices.

Cost Savings

Tangoe’s MMS solution improves visibility into all devices and their ongoing and new costs, enabling cost savings initiatives. Resource efficiency can also be improved, because MMS platforms identify unused and underused devices that can be reallocated. Providers like Tangoe offering comprehensive solutions offer ancillary cost management services, helping companies compare their costs to market price indexes, handle RFPs, negotiate contracts, and implement more cost-effective services and devices.

Don’t miss these five steps for implementing enterprise mobile device management.

Check out how a few other businesses have benefited from our MMS solution:

Tangoe’s MMS solution supports a variety of device types and brands, approaches to mobility, and is designed to serve both large and small companies.

From Phones and Watches to Laptops and More: Tangoe Supports a Variety of Device Types

Tangoe’s MMS platform supports a wide range of devices and is not limited to mobile phones:

  • Phones
  • Tablets
  • Watches
  • Laptops
  • IoT devices
  • Mobile broadband devices
  • Bluetooth compatible peripherals

Android, Apple, Mac & PC: Tangoe Supports a Variety of Device Brands and Operating Systems

Tangoe’s MMS solution supports platforms such as but not limited to: Android, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, Windows10, Apple Business Manager: DEP for devices, VPP for applications, Android for Enterprise and managed Google Play store, and integrates with O365, Exchange, Azure Active Directory/Active Directory/LDAP, IdP/IdM (e.g., MS, Okta, Ping), Certificate Authorities, API integrations and associated programming.

BYOD & Corporate: Tangoe Serves Corporate-Owned and Employee-Owned Devices

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has become a popular approach for companies wanting to ease the cost and burdens of procuring mobile devices for employees, and although there are risks to BYOD strategies, Tangoe’s MMS solution is built to support both employee-owned and corporate-owned devices, also known as corporate-liable devices.

In fact, we support companies even as they continue to shift between BYOD and corporate-liable approaches to mobility. Studies show most companies aren’t convinced their current approach is effective for the long term. Find out why and see if your BYOD mobile strategy is costing more than you think.

Tangoe’s MMS solution is uniquely designed to support BYOD programs, offering several different options for reimbursement and employee stipends. This way your team doesn’t need to worry about validating costs and handling repayments. See how Tangoe built a global BYOD management program for a Fortune 50 company.

Learn more about Tangoe’s MMS services for BYOD mobility models.

Large and Small Mobility Programs: Tangoe’s MMS Solution Supports Companies of All Sizes

Large enterprises have their own distinct mobility management challenges. Their labor forces tend to be large and diverse, often working in multiple regions or countries. They work with multiple telecom carriers and device makers. For these reasons, they need Tangoe’s global enterprise mobility management services, which can address their unique needs and help them throughout the complete lifecycle of their devices and services.

Mid-size companies also have unique needs, typically wanting a hands-off approach to mobile devices. For this reason, Tangoe commonly packages device management, security management, and cost management in one MMS solution for small and mid-size companies. Read the MMS brochure for mid-enterprises.

Regardless of your needs, Tangoe prides itself on solution flexibility. When no two businesses are alike, our flexible MMS solutions fit diverse needs and can be tailored to fit like a glove.