Wayne
Thompson

How is Zero touch IT able to provide the best employee experience?

Wayne Thompson

Sep 28, 2022

7 min read

What is zero touch IT?

Zero touch IT, as the name suggests, is the process of coordinating the end-to-end workflows and automating them instead of doing them manually. The objective of zero-touch IT is to minimise the manual “touch points” by IT support. With a zero-touch IT project in place, processes become more defined, which is required for automation.

Easing employee lives with Zero touch IT

Device on-boarding using Zero touch IT

  • Zero-touch enrollment (ZTE) is a technique for securely deploying corporate-owned devices without the need to configure each one individually. It is a one-time simplified procedure for provisioning devices for enterprise management. It reduces the time spent by the employees on configuring the device as they don’t need to do the initial setup. Once the devices are registered, they are ready to be used right away.
  • Users can just open the package and begin using the device, with recommended applications, and customizations all in place. Your new hires’ initial impression of your organization will be good, from the pleasure of unwrapping their new gadget through the easy enrollment and instant access to their welcome emails, meeting schedulers, tools and induction paths.
  • Device management policies and other instructions can be pushed in advance, and the employees will be prompted to comply with the requirements. IT team may use zero-touch enrollment to deploy corporate-owned personally enabled (COPE) devices in bulk without requiring them to manually configure each device.

Explore the mass provisioning programs with Hexnode

Device in use

  • Saves a significant amount of employee hours and minimizes the effort, not only for the new employees but also for the organization’s IT team. This reduces the overall operational cost and your employees will have additional time to focus on other, more important aspects of your company and work effectively.
  • Routine device activities, such as inspections and health checks, place a significant burden on the IT staff and are vulnerable to human mistake. These sorts of everyday chores should be automatable by zero-touch management systems. Human mistakes can be reduced by automating these procedures.
  • Troubleshooting is much easier with zero-touch management. The IT team may examine devices over the internet and instruct employees on how to resolve issues using zero-touch management.
  • The majority of businesses that deal with complicated IT infrastructure use AI-based IT automation. This automation becomes much easier when using Zero Touch Operations, or ZTO. It facilitates in the optimization of numerous processes and the generation of outputs that receive positive user feedback and contribute to increased income.
  • IT admins deploy the mandatory apps in the devices even before the device is powered on by the user. The employees need not worry if they have all the needed applications installed on the device. Organizations can also pre-configure employee accounts, contacts and calendars on the device. This would keep all the tasks and meeting timings updated.
  • Schedule reports are created daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on your needs. Also provide the start time of the scan and the email to which the data should be delivered. The enrolled device location can be tracked, and the UEM console can automatically implement location-based policies when they leave work zones.
  • Zero-touch IT reduces various risks, especially, the financial risks of data breaches and also helps with your compliance program. Employees would have to worry less about the security of the device. It also stops unauthorized devices from entering your company environment, improving security.
  • In case of an unlikely incident of a device loss, a replacement device could be arranged with minimum hustle. Not to forget, the device can be remotely wiped, and no sensitive data is compromised. Even if the device undergoes a factory reset it doesn’t cause much of an issue. The device gets enrolled to the same portal when connected to a network upon restart.

Device off-boarding using Zero touch IT

Just like onboarding, offboarding the devices or removing the employee details from the devices becomes a seamless touch using Zero touch IT. There are no manual procedures required to move files and calendar events to managers, cancel app access, and other functions. The device(s) can be disenrolled or the user can be deleted from the portal. This removes the policies that were associated to the device/user.

Making the most of Zero touch Onboarding

Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft offer zero-touch deployment programs. This can be best managed with endpoint management solutions. A UEM solution would allow organizations and their IT admins to leverage the best use of ZTE. It enables businesses to control their devices through a variety of functions. Hexnode is one such UEM solution that supports most of these enrollments and also lets the admin configure policies for device security. It allows Android devices to enroll in device owner mode that supports most functions.

If a Samsung device is enrolled via the Knox Mobile Enrollment (KME) method, it enables various Knox policies for the devices. In the case of Apple devices, Hexnode UEM allows configuring through the ABM account and the device’s configuration settings are deployed directly as the device boots up.

To assist regulate end-user access, Hexnode allows IT managers to automate rules and settings, as well as enforce limits on managed devices. Administrators may set a variety of rules and criteria for controlling devices and ensuring compliance. ZTE along with UEM solution enables admins in automating corrective measures on non-compliant devices. It also assigns settings and control rights for managed apps deployed on end-user devices in bulk.

Hexnode UEM integrates with several directory services, allowing administrators to export individuals and user groups out of these directories to the UEM interface. The zero-touch deployment also includes configuring dynamic groups and applying rules and criteria that, when met, activate pre-defined actions such as policy allocation, auto lockdown, and more.

The experience of the IT team is further enhanced by zero-touch as it analyses the overall and individual app data use on managed devices and automatically alert end users and IT administrators when pre-set restrictions are exceeded.

Prerequisites

  • The device must be purchased from an authorized reseller only
  • A zero touch account created by the reseller partner
  • Endpoint management solution to configure the policies
  • For Apple devices, iOS 7.0.4, iPad OS 13.1, OS X 10.9 and tvOS 10.2 or later can be added for a zero-touch enrollment via ABM.
  • An ABM account or a corporate google account or a Samsung and Knox portal account depending on your devices.
  • Android devices running version 8.0 and above, Pixel phone with Android 7.0
  • Samsung Knox devices running on Knox version 2.4 or higher
  • Microsoft devices with Windows 10 version 1703 and above

Conclusion

Zero touch IT has been making it easier to enroll devices in bulk. New employees get a ready to use device from their first day at work. The devices are protected from various risks and breaches. If the device stops working for some reason, getting a replacement device is never an issue. Not to forget, it helps with app management, configuring security settings, off-boarding a device and many more. Zero-touch thus benefits both the employer and the employees and with a UEM solution.

When you look to expand your business, the number of endpoints to manage may vary based on a number of factors, including the number of user accounts, staff, and devices. Going for a zero-touch management solution using a UEM for your devices would make it easier for the IT team. This becomes a key decision that could help your organization scale faster.

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Wayne Thompson

Product Evangelist @ Hexnode. Busy doing what looks like fun to me and work to others.

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