Mobile Device Management Corrals Smartphone Problems

“One of the features we’re going to offer is turning cameras and GPS systems on and off and turning the phone on and off to help with the troubleshooting process,” said Yong. “This would allow hundreds of settings to be remotely checked by the CSR, compared against a database and fixed remotely over the air.”

Again, although the end user benefits by having a device that’s up and running quickly and efficiently, the carrier benefits more by making that device work properly and preventing a return or a costly trip to the store.

InnoPath’s capabilities “are all based on something that a CSR would want to do” said Yong – although they have nothing to do with a smoke or coffee break, something a CSR can do without MDM.

CSRs can fix the device by: reading information from the phone; correcting the settings remotely; and, perhaps one that will get more attention as more people actually use their smartphones, lock and wipe the data from a lost or stolen device.

Smartphones, as Dalgety puts it, “are a huge opportunity for service providers. They support more advanced services, drive more wireless usage, but, if there is an issue in a smart device from a support perspective it’s significantly more complex.”

Complexity translates into money and even in the best of times carriers don’t like spending money on other people’s problems.

“Our models [show] the cost of supporting configuration-type problems or return-type problems and even firmware updates can probably be a $25 billion problem globally,” said Yong. “Operators realize they need to do something about it quickly and that’s why they’re deploying mobile device management solutions.”

MDM has, as with most things mobile, been first used outside of North America in markets where cell phones are inherently smarter. However, Dalgety said the market for it here will be growing as a new wave of interoperable or open devices comes to market. In fact, he said, it’s happening now across GSM and CSMA operators.

When a retailer sells a phone with the promise that it will work on a carrier’s network, it better. If not, there will be a storm that rains down on the store, the carrier and the device maker. Even if it connects to the network, if all the services and applications continue to lay dormant, it won’t be a moneymaker.

That, said Dalgety, is where MDM will really start to earn its way this year. An automatic system can reach into the device and help prevent the ultimate problem: a bad user experience, he said. “At that point if you don’t have the right toolset to diagnose and solve the issue, that’s just op ex going out the door.”

An upset customer is annoying; money going out the door is flat-out scary and probably the reason why MDM will become a big part of a mobile carrier’s operations this year.