One of the universal features of Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions is that they all work from within a centralized console. That console is usually a web site that a company MDM manager can log into to and manage all enrolled devices. What said manager can do with enrolled devices will depend completely on the solution being used.

Most MDM solutions allow you to deny and allow the installation of certain applications onto company mobile devices. For those that may be assuming this an overly challenging (if not impossible) task, I want to show you just how easy it can be. To do this, I will demonstrate the process of creating and deploying a blacklist of apps from the Miradore MDM Dashboard to all registered Android devices. Miradore is just one of many MDM solutions to choose from and does a great job of showing you how easy MDM can be.

Do note that every MDM dashboard will offer a different array of options and steps to handle the same task. Let’s see how Miradore handles this.

SEE: Securing Your Mobile Enterprise (ZDNet/TechRepublic special feature)

Creating the blacklist

I will assume you’ve already signed up for a Miradore account (they do offer a free account so you can check

out their feature set). With your account credentials in hand, log in and head over to the Miradore Dashboard (Figure A).

Figure A

The Miradore Dashboard offers plenty of mobile management options.

We’re going to create an application blacklist for all enrolled Samsung devices (NOTE: This feature requires an Enterprise subscription). To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Miradore MDM Dashboard
  2. Under Mobile Management, click Configuration Profiles
  3. From the Actions sidebar (on the right pane), click Create configuration profile
  4. Select Android and click Next
  5. From the list (Figure B), select Application blacklist (Samsung) and click Next
  6. Type the application you want to blacklist and click Add
  7. Continue adding apps until you’ve completed your blacklist
  8. Click Next
  9. Give the blacklist a name and description
  10. Click Create

Figure B

Creating a configuration policy on Miradore.

Deploying the blacklist

Once you’ve created the policy, you can then click Deploy configuration profile by following these steps:

  1. Click Configuration profiles from the left navigation (under MOBILE MANAGEMENT)
  2. Select the profile you want to deploy from the list
  3. Click on Deploy configuration profile from the right Actions navigation
  4. Select all of the devices to receive the configuration profile and click Next
  5. Click Deploy

The policy should start deploying immediately and take effect on the devices. Congratulations, you’ve just successfully deployed a configuration policy to all selected devices.

MDM made easy

And you thought Mobile Device Management would be a challenge. As you can see, managing multiple company mobile devices is actually quite easy. Thanks to companies like Miradore, you can be making MDM magic quickly and without having to train, lose sleep, or hire a specialist to ensure the job gets done.