How UEM is Used by Delta, Rinnai Australia, Howard Kennedy, Leeds Library Service, and the Hartley School District: Case Studies

It’s increasingly common for companies to adopt bring your own device (BYOD) mobile polices. And even if employees only use items provided by an employer, they often switch between multiple products depending on their needs.

These realities highlight the need for decision makers to use a unified endpoint management (UEM) tool. It allows the IT team to manage all the devices used within an organization by accessing a single interface. 

See below to learn how five organizations solved mobile issues and enjoyed successes by deploying unified endpoint management products:

1. Delta Airlines

Decision-makers at Delta Airlines had three primary objectives that encouraged them to research UEM solutions:

• Swap out legacy gadgets for those with smart capabilities 
• Offer services that required real-time credit card processing and validation
• Improve communications between flight crews and other Delta entities

The company chose VMware AirWatch to accomplish these three goals. The UEM solution enabled Delta to provide flight attendants with cellular-connected devices that allowed them to take immediate card payments from passengers. Relatedly, they could sell things that were impossible to offer before, such as seat upgrades to people already on the plane. That change helped Delta’s bottom line and offered more options for passengers.

Delta used the UEM product to improve communication between flight crews and company personnel on the ground, too. Users could access their corporate email accounts on the same smart devices used for taking payments. That made it easier for them to stay connected and get updated information regardless of their schedules or locations.

Industry: Commercial air travel

Use case: Manage mobile devices and the associated communication methods used during flights and launch a cashless initiative for cabin purchases

Outcome: Increased sales opportunities between flight crews and passengers and improved communication options for staff during plane journeys

2. Leeds Library Service

The Leeds City Council oversees an initiative called 100% Digital Leeds, which increases digital accessibility and inclusivity for residents in West Yorkshire, England. The Leeds Library Service trained people to use tablets and let them borrow them. However, it was a time-consuming endeavor due to the need to erase personal data before lending a tablet to someone new.

Using IBM MaaS360 with Watson Unified Endpoint Management helped overcome those challenges.

Jason Tutin, the digital and learning development manager for Leeds Library Service, explained the process before using unified endpoint management.

“Every time a customer would give back a tablet, we would do a factory reset to erase any personal data,” said Tutin. “But that also erased anything useful that we had preloaded onto the iPad, such as the link to our online catalog to help the customers borrow books.”

Staff members had to manually reload the necessary content, which took far too long with 20 tablets to manage. The Library Service began looking for UEM options after making plans to scale up to 150 devices.

Now, they can erase user data without getting rid of the preloaded content. The unified endpoint management also allows tracking, locking, and wiping the data after device loss or theft. Moreover, the organization can access tablet usage metrics that help gauge the program’s effectiveness.

Industry: Government services

Use case: Streamline tablet distribution and management for library users while retaining the necessary data protection

Outcome: Significant reduction in tablet turnaround time between users without sacrificing privacy

3. Rinnai Australia

Manufacturers and retailers often explore many ways to stay competitive, such as automated inventory solutions and a UEM product that can improve workflows by helping team members remain productive while working remotely. 

Rinnai Australia is one of Australia’s leading heating and cooling systems manufacturers. One of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic was the need to manage endpoints as the work environment shifted from on site to remote. Rinnai’s chosen UEM solution let the company create a software library that allowed workers to access and download the necessary packages to put them on their home computers. 

Additionally, despite the newly distributed work environment, these enhanced endpoint management processes accelerated patching and kept the company’s infrastructure safer from potential cyberattacks. The IT team could remotely perform software patches every month, reducing overall risks. 

Industry: Manufacturing

Use case: Improving the management of remote devices during the pandemic

Outcome: Efficiency improvements associated with endpoint management and giving employees the software they needed at home

4. Howard Kennedy

Howard Kennedy is a law firm based in the United Kingdom which offers legal advice to various industries, including media, retail, and sport. A poll within the organization revealed that employees no longer wanted to use separate devices for their work and personal needs.

However, meeting that request required finding a way to keep information secure on the products and a way to maintain a private connection between internal and external infrastructure.

After researching several UEM options, the company opted to go with BlackBerry Secure Connect Plus. That proved a beneficial decision.

“We’ve equipped our users with devices that they can use for just about anything, business or personal,” said Clive Knott, the IT director at Howard Kennedy. “More importantly, we’ve got those devices locked down in such a way that we’ve full control over most of what we do.”

The UEM also simplifies requests from people in various departments to get new applications on their devices. The tool allows IT team members to select, purchase, and add the apps to selected gadgets.

Industry: Legal

Use case: Changing the device deployment approach for the organization’s lawyers while migrating away from older products

Outcome: Letting law firm employees use one device for business and personal use without compromising data security

5. Hartley Independent School District

The Hartley Independent School District serves K-12 students in Northwest Texas. Larry Franks, theIT administrator and a social studies teacher within the system, needed a way to help teachers self-manage the tablets given to them to facilitate classroom learning.

That was particularly important since the organization does not have a large IT department. Franks wanted a solution to help him manage and deploy content to the tablets.

After trying many options, Franks went with Hexnode UEM. For five years before that, he had manually updated the tablets or had the teachers attempt to do it. But, that became increasingly complicated, especially because specific grades used different apps.

However, Hexnode UEM allowed sending certain apps to preset groups, such as classrooms, teachers, or grade levels. Doing that helped teachers get the apps faster while eliminating administrative headaches.

“The product has performed as advertised,” said Franks. “I think that the most important area that I have to deal with is the support. The tech help has been stellar. I have never had a negative experience with Hexnode.”

Industry: K-12 education

Use case: Enhancing the management of teacher-provided tablets

Outcome: Faster, hassle-free deployments of apps to educators’ devices