In order to put your new EMM system into operation in a structured and successful manner, follow these five super important tips.
1. Clearly Outline Your EMM Use Cases
The first step is so self-evident that it’s unfortunately often forgotten or neglected – the specification of the actual application scenario. It’s because of this after all that the entire EMM system is being introduced.
Why Is This Important?
An EMM project starting with the sole goal of making mobile devices “safe” is not a good idea. This unspecific approach is predestined for you to lose yourself hopelessly in the details later on. Security is a rather elastic term, more of a journey than a goal. Seemingly never-ending conflicts of interest, such as data protection, are waiting for you on that journey. Without precise goals there can be no implementation strategy, without an implementation strategy there can be no functioning project management and without functioning project management there can be no successful project.
What Can I Do?
Ask yourself why you are dealing with EMM. If security was the core motivation – what are the threat scenarios that you want to take action against? If mobile productivity is your core focus – what should become simpler? How do people currently work and how should the EMM solution optimize this? Don’t expect to be able to think through all the use cases on your own. Collect and discuss ideas with colleagues and supervisors. Write these down in a requirement specification, communicate this requirement specification to the EMM provider and colleagues and never lose sight of these goals.
If you have not thought about your goals from the beginning, then success is pure chance. That’s why you should lay the foundations for a successful project at this stage. You’ll also need a set of clear objectives in order to take full advantage of our other handy tips.
2. Keeping Stakeholders in the Loop
When introducing a complex system, communication is the key to a successful project. All those “affected” must be kept up to date with appropriate information in a timely manner. In the best case, you have already agreed the project goals with your colleagues and superiors. Now communicate progress, problems and need for clarification so that everyone knows where the project is at any particular stage.
Why Is This Important?
The experience from numerous projects shows us just how significant an impact absent project/change management can have. In the worst case, an embarrassing rollback occurs because an important stakeholder has not been sufficiently informed about the upcoming changes or implementation plans. Unnecessary purchases, time pressure due to the need for improvements or missed deadlines are among the more harmless consequences of a lack of communication in the course of the project.
What Can I Do?
Make yourself clear:
1) Who works with the EMM solution
2) Who is paying for it
3) Who has an interest in the correct functioning of the solution
You will quickly notice that the relevant stakeholders are often end users, management, data protection officers and IT administrators. What are the demands of these individual stakeholders on the EMM solution? How will it affect the day-to-day work of these groups? Who needs to be informed when and how, so that nobody is under pressure? Who is dependent on each other’s OK and when? It can make sense to convene a stakeholder meeting to clarify these questions. It’s particularly important for us to underline once again how essential the end user is in such meetings. An EMM project will either succeed or fail depending on their behavior.
3. Train End Users
Your end users should benefit from the EMM system, because without them, its successful (and secure!) implementation will be completely impossible. They should be prepared well in order to work successfully with the new system and to give qualified feedback.
Why Is This Important?
We’ve observed that customers who create clear instructions and train their staff have fewer operational problems and can roll out the system faster. There is more willingness on the part of the staff to participate in testing and end users have the ability to respond to issues themselves or to make far more precise support requests.
What Can I Do?
Not all employees in every company can be trained to use new tools on a regular basis. However, it can help to give end users the resources for self-help and self-learning.
To make it especially easy for our customers to inform their employees about Cortado, we have described our clients, rollout processes and the system from the end user point of view and created a number of “How To’s” for the most common tasks. You can find these instructions here.
4. Clarify Support Channels
You will probably agree with us when we say (from painful experience) that no project can be implemented without at least some minor or major difficulties. So, it’s important to clarify who can turn where for support.
Why Is This Important?
Many projects stall because you have to wait for feedback from a supplier, the right contact person is not there, your question ends up in the wrong mailbox, or suddenly business issues arise that were not really clear to anyone at the outset.
What Can I Do?
Make clear:
1) Who needs to be involved in your organization in order for the project to be successfully implemented
2) Which channels can you use at the EMM supplier to
a) Get support for the areas that are important to you
b) Obtain consulting services and what are the response times for both channels, and
3) Which of these are already included in the license price and where you still have to allocate additional budget.
5. Create and Maintain Structures
Scope creep is one of the biggest threats when introducing EMM systems, both for customers and suppliers. Therefore, clearly structure your internal project management without creating too much administrative overhead and unnecessary dependencies that will paralyze you in the course of the project.
Why Is This Important?
If new goals are constantly set during implementation and new requirements emerge, then you will never complete the project. This is not only annoying for you but is also a burden for the supplier who supports you. Many important projects suffer from scope creep, but preventing it is quite simple.
What Can I Do?
As a general rule of thumb, your goals should be clearly documented, agreed with all relevant stakeholders and, progress towards your goals should at best be measurable. Everyone who is involved in the implementation (either within your organization or at the supplier) should be known and their availability clear. The implementation should also have a start and end date. If further requirements become known during the course of the project (this is very often the case), then these can be addressed following completion of the agreed basic implementation.
If you stick to our 5 tips, you’ll already have done a lot right and you shouldn’t run into any insurmountable problems when implementing your EMM system. Taking a look at how other clients and organizations have used Cortado’s solutions in our case studies section can also help you a great deal!