MDM 101: What Device Management Actually Means (and Why It’s a Great First Security Control)

For many teams, device management starts as a series of manual workarounds. A new hire joins and someone scrambles to assemble a laptop. An employee leaves and you hope company data didn’t go with them. Security tools eventually get installed. It’s an informal system built on good intentions and duct tape.

That kind of approach works, until it doesn’t.

Eventually, something forces the issue: the company grows, a customer asks for a security review, a device gets lost, leadership wants visibility. Suddenly, the stakes are higher and the gaps become obvious.

While highly-experienced security professionals may know to invest in mature MDM offerings from the outset, we usually see this shift happen at one of two inflection points:

• Incident Response: A security incident, audit failure, or offboarding gone wrong exposes a lack of control.
• Compliance Certification: The company requires an industry certification - whether it’s SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, or something else - and needs to prove that devices are secure and policies are consistently enforced.

In all cases, the core need is the same: you can’t secure what you can’t control.

MDM enables positive control

Mobile device management (MDM) gives teams positive control over their device fleet - the ability to configure, monitor, and secure endpoints before anything goes wrong.

With MDM in place, you no longer have to guess which devices are in use, who is using them, whether they're secure, or if security policies are being followed. Every laptop, desktop, and mobile device is accounted for, configured to your standards, and continuously compliant. 

Specifically, the right MDM solution enables you to:

• Maintain a real-time inventory of all devices in your environment
• Enforce baseline protections like disk encryption, firewalls, and device hardening
• Automate software installs, patches, and updates to reduce security vulnerabilities 
• Detect and alert when devices drift from policy or fall out of compliance
• Remotely lock or wipe devices if they’re lost, stolen, or offboarded

Proactivity is at the heart of positive control – you’re able to move from reacting to problems after the fact to managing with full visibility and the power to take action instantly.

What MDM is (and what it is not)

Despite its growing adoption, MDM is still often misunderstood.

MDM is a lightweight, policy-driven control layer. It automates device setup, enforces security standards, and enables remote troubleshooting - all without getting in the way of users.

MDM isn’t employee monitoring software. It doesn’t track keystrokes or collect personal data. It’s not a rigid lockdown system that restricts productivity.

In short, MDM is infrastructure, not surveillance. It exists to secure the device, without shackling the person behind it.

Security frameworks require MDM (even if they don’t say it)

Most compliance frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and NIST do not name MDM as an explicit requirement, but the criteria and outcomes expected make it a functional necessity. For example:

• Change management and change control aren’t just about documenting updates. These requirements ask how you push and validate configuration changes across your fleet. In practice, they are telling you that you need positive control over your devices.
• Access revocation means you must be able to instantly and remotely cut off access when someone leaves the company or a device is lost. That level of control is nearly impossible without MDM.
• Evidence of control requires you to show that policies like encryption, patching, and agent enforcement are active and verifiable. Screenshots and spreadsheets may be enough for a lightweight audit, but not for real security assurance.

These aren’t theoretical checkboxes - they are operational expectations. Without MDM, meeting them reliably is difficult to impossible. With MDM, they become routine.

How MDM powers the rest of your stack

Once MDM is in place, it becomes the foundation for other tools to execute and orchestrate their core functions. Security frameworks expect organizations to control and monitor devices, but most security tools can’t do that on their own.

Take Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), for example. EDR solutions like CrowdStrike and SentinelOne are designed to monitor devices for threats, but they assume the device is already configured properly. If the agent fails to install, loses a critical permission, or is removed entirely, it often happens silently. Without MDM, these gaps go unnoticed, leaving you with a false sense of coverage.

MDM closes that gap. It provides the reach, permission structure, and orchestration layer for agents to deploy and run. It gives security teams visibility into which devices are protected, which aren’t, and why. 

This same principle applies to other controls like identity enforcement, Zero Trust policies, or automated patching. These tools rely on real-time device data to make decisions. If that data is missing, outdated, or incomplete, those decisions can’t be trusted. MDM provides the source of truth that makes them work reliably.

How MDM streamlines IT operations

Beyond security, MDM allows new hires to receive preconfigured devices out of the box, lets teams deploy apps remotely, and reduces time spent troubleshooting configuration issues. It ensures that departing employees can be offboarded quickly and securely, with access revoked and data wiped if needed.

These capabilities reduce overhead, improve consistency, and give IT teams the tools they need to manage devices at scale - whether they’re supporting 20 endpoints or 2,000.

Ready to get MDM right?

The right MDM tool sets the foundation for good security – aligning with your environment today while supporting where you’re headed next. When vetting partners, start with your operating systems: your MDM should match the devices your team actually uses. For Mac-heavy fleets, Jamf offers deep platform control. For Microsoft environments, Intune is a strong native option.

Beyond that, look for:

• Granular policy enforcement across encryption, firewall settings, and secure configurations
• Automated deployment and updates to reduce manual lift and enforce consistency
• Real-time visibility and drift detection so you can catch issues early
• Integrations with identity providers and EDR tools to connect device health with access and threat coverage
• Scalability to support your fleet and workflows as the company grows

Teams that start with overly lightweight or low-cost tools often find themselves redoing the work later - spending valuable time and resources migrating to a platform that can actually meet their needs. Planning for scale early can save months of rework down the line.

Finally, your MDM is only as effective as its configuration. Even the best platform won’t help if policies aren’t applied, devices aren’t enrolled, or alerts go unmonitored. A solid rollout ensures you get the visibility and control you’re counting on from day one.

Zip Security is an all-in-one IT and cybersecurity platform. We automate the deployment, configuration, and management of best-in-class security tools like MDM and EDR. Our opinionated software helps you get and stay compliant by enforcing best practices, automating remediation, and providing full visibility across your fleet.