One of the consequences of bringing your own device to work is in having to keep the work-related files on it secure once it enters the enterprise. This can be a challenge, and a dozens of vendors are now wrapping themselves in the trendy category of “mobile device managers” or MDMs. But trying to understand whether these products help secure the device, the user, the applications or the various files stored on each device can be vexing, and the vendors don’t make things easy for you to readily compare their features.

In my article posted today on ITworld, I examine several of these products, review what should be in your next RFP if you are in the market to buy an MDM, and what is involved from both the IT manager and the end user perspectives when deploying these tools.