Here's Who Made Gartner's 2016 Magic Quadrant For Enterprise Mobility Management Suites

Vendors' Enterprise Mobility Management Suites Hit Sweet Spot

As more organizations deploy and manage mobile devices into their IT infrastructures, more vendors are deepening their investments into enterprise mobility management (EMM) suites, products and solutions.

These EMM suites configure devices and applications for enterprise deployment, so that organizations can mitigate data loss or theft, as well as track device inventories and troubleshoot mobile device issues through remote actions.

From a vendor's perspective, the EMM space is highly competitive and rapidly transforming -- for instance, Good Technology, which was in market researcher Gartner's Magic Quadrant last year, was acquired by BlackBerry in September 2015.

Following are the 14 vendors that ranked in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Mobility Management Suites in 2016.

Ranking Methodology

Gartner evaluated mobile enterprise management vendors that are key players in the industry based on their suites. In order to be classified as having an EMM suite, vendors must have a mobile device management solution, a mobile application management solution and at least one mobile identity, content management or containment technology. According to Gartner, the most advanced suites will include all five technologies.

The vendors are ranked in the Magic Quadrant for mobile enterprise management suites on two fronts: their ability to execute and the completeness of their vision. Gartner places vendors into four categories: Niche Players (low on vision and execution), Visionaries (good vision but low execution), Challengers (good execution but low vision) and Leaders (excelling in both vision and execution).

VMware's AirWatch: Leader

VMware AirWatch was ranked in the Leader quadrant, as AirWatch has become increasingly integrated into VMware's end-user computing business unit two years after it was acquired.

AirWatch's lineup offers comprehensive enterprise mobility management functionality, and offers broad support for third-party independent software vendor mobile applications. This suite is a good match for businesses that need a comprehensive set of features on a broad range of platforms, according to Gartner.

Through VMware's acquisition of Boxer last October, the company was also able to buff up the quality of its Inbox email application.

VMware's AirWatch

Strengths: VMware's AirWatch has successfully achieved large-scale deployments of its technology across most vertical markets. Gartner stressed that the company's administrative console is simple for administrators to use, with embedded training videos and links.

Weaknesses: The enterprise mobility management version of Boxer is not available on Android or Windows, which means that clients must use third-party products or the Inbox product. Another concern is that VMware's parent company, EMC, is being acquired by Dell, running the risk that AirWatch will no longer receive the same amount of investment.

MobileIron: Leader

MobileIron, which Gartner ranked to its Leader quadrant, continues to be one of the few stand-alone enterprise mobility management vendors in the industry.

The company has changed its executive leaders, including director of sales, CFO and CEO, to keep up with challenges from its competitors, which offer EMM as part of a bundle in a broader license agreement. Despite these challenges, MobileIron has demonstrated "significant" growth in the number of customers it has, its patent portfolio and the sophistication of its EMM deployments.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company offers current features across the three major mobile platforms and is a good fit for businesses that want a scalable and stable EMM product, Gartner found.

MobileIron

Strengths: Customers say that MobileIron is stable and scalable, and its AppConnect ecosystem is extensive. The company's EMM console has achieved notable improvements over the past year, such as its ability to create custom reports through preconfigured templates for policies, devices and users.

Weaknesses: MobileIron does not have offerings in adjacent markets as some of its competitors do, and the company faces struggles in being the only pure-play, independent EMM provider. A new executive management team also creates short-term uncertainty.

Citrix: Leader

The growth of Citrix's XenMobile enterprise mobility management suite helped the company earn a spot in Gartner's Leaders quadrant this year.

XenMobile, which Gartner said is a good fit for organizations that have an existing Citrix infrastructure or require a broad enterprise mobility management feature set, offers redesigned console user experience and full mobility management stack, including NetScaler and ShareFile.

Citrix

Strengths: Citrix's strengths are apparent in the innovation of its client-side technology, such as the quality of its Worx app suite and ShareFile client. Citrix's offerings are a good fit, per Gartner, for organizations that have invested in Citrix applications or desktop virtualization technology that they plan to extend to mobile devices.

Weaknesses: Citrix's Software-as-a-Service deployments have had client issues, according to Gartner, so customers should evaluate the vendor's ability to meet scale and integration needs when they consume XenMobile as a fully hosted SaaS deployment.

IBM: Leader

IBM, which was ranked in the Leader quadrant, has integrated its MaaS360 enterprise mobility management product as part of its IBM Security business unit, so the company is trying to provide synergies between the suite and its security products.

MaaS360 manages the three mobile operating systems -- iOS, Android and Windows Phone -- as well as systems based on Windows 7, 8 and 10, and Mac OS X. This product is a good fit for organizations interested in an easy-to-deploy EMM product, and comprehensive mobile security, according to Gartner.

IBM

Strengths: IBM's MaaS360 app management and distribution capabilities have proven large-scale deployments. The company also has a strong unified endpoint management offering through long-standing MaaS360 client management capabilities and improved integration with IBM BigFix.

Weaknesses: MaaS360 shows low visibility in large enterprise accounts, so the product's clients are mostly small and midsized organizations. The company also lags at times behind competitors in new feature and functionality innovation, according to Gartner.

BlackBerry: Leader

Blackberry was ranked as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant, for its strong history of acquisitions, including Good Technology and WatchDox.

The company's strengths are in mobile content management and containment, and its enterprise mobility management suite is sold in a package called "Good Secure EMM Suites," consisting of BES12, Good collaboration apps, Good Dynamics and WatchDox Enterprise.

Companies with stringent security requirements or in regulated industries should consider BlackBerry's Good Secure EMM Suite, Gartner said.

BlackBerry

Strengths: BlackBerry's Good Secure EMM Suite has one of the strongest sets of protections for companies in highly regulated industries, as well as the strongest support for employees using BB10s and older models. BlackBerry also provides the best secure PIN in the enterprise mobility management marketplace with Good Work, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: BlackBerry's BES brand name is seen as one drawback for the company -- this brand has been demoted to a subset, so potential buyers may overlook the company's full product suite. Also, BlackBerry's acquisitions of WatchDox and Good Technology are still panning out -- the complementary methods for containerization and synchronization that will take time and effort for migration out of other products.

SOTI: Visionary

SOTI was ranked as a Visionary for its expertise in dedicated-purpose device management. The company's flagship product is MobiControl, which is for general-purpose use across iOS, Android and Windows, and supports kiosk mode on Android.

SOTI has what Gartner describes as a "deep expertise as the leading platform" for Android management and for ruggedized devices. The company's suite is used across industries, but is also deployed specifically in dedicated-purpose verticals like transportation, retail and manufacturing.

This company's product is good for environments requiring broad enterprise mobility management capabilities, Gartner said, such as those requiring process automation and workflows, and in situations where there is extensive investment in Android.

SOTI

Strengths: SOTI has one of the strongest EMM platforms and remote support capabilities for Android. The company's product team is also widely praised for its responsiveness and collaboration on development of products.

Weaknesses: SOTI faces increasing competition from larger vendors looking to expand into SOTI's traditional markets, the ruggedized and IoT spaces. Also, the company has a relatively small number of iOS devices under management despite its strong support for Android and Windows Mobile.

Sophos: Visionary

Sophos' enterprise mobility management suite, which ranked in Gartner's Visionary quadrant, is a good fit for organizations looking to consolidate endpoint protection platforms and enterprise mobility management, as well as for push-type tasks that include a self-managed secure container, Gartner said.

Sophos' Mobile Control product, which is available as a stand-alone, on-premise solution or in Sophos Cloud, is sold mainly to small businesses, and can now fully manage Windows 10 tablets, notebooks and desktops.

The suite can also integrate with a broadening portfolio, including traditional endpoint protections, unified threat management, firewalls and secure web gateways.

Sophos

Strengths: Sophos' mobile content management product encrypts files that are leaving a PC or mobile device to prevent data leakage. That integrates with third-party file storage providers and enables companies to securely use low-cost storage. The company's product is also easy to set up and has a high quality of support.

Weaknesses: Sophos does not usually target larger EMM customers, and the company's product management interface has a focus on the small and midsize business market, which may not be great for larger deployments, Gartner found.

Microsoft: Visionary

Microsoft, which was ranked in Gartner's Visionary quadrant, touts its Enterprise Mobility Suite, including Microsoft InTune, Azure Active Directory Premium, Advanced Threat Analytics and Azure Rights Management.

InTune, which provides mobile device management and mobile application management capabilities, is available only as a cloud-based solution. The product is recommended for organizations of all sizes, which have basic management requirements and are using Office 365 or Azure AD.

Microsoft

Strengths: The Enterprise Mobility Suite's Office 365 policy management ability makes it appealing to businesses as a mobile productivity solution. EMS is also a cost-effective mobile solution for organizations purchasing or renewing Microsoft Enterprise Agreements. Finally, Microsoft's InTune excels in its strong integration with ConfirMgr.

Weaknesses: Microsoft's InTune is still relatively immature compared with other leading products, including its basic dashboard and self-service portal. Gartner analysts said they have also heard of product stability issues with Microsoft EMM users, especially with Android and Windows devices.

Landesk: Visionary

Landesk is a strong player in the client management tool market, and offers its enterprise mobility management suite as an extension of this product. This company, which was ranked as a Visionary, is a good solution for organizations that are looking for a single solution to manage both desktops and mobile devices, Gartner found.

Landesk aims to provides a comprehensive unified endpoint management strategy, which includes an integrated console for administrators and a licensing strategy that bundles enterprise mobility management, client management tools, endpoint protection and the IT service desk.

Landesk

Strengths: Landesk's strength is that it offers one of the few truly integrated unified endpoint management offerings on the market, and is able to manage both PCs and mobile devices through its Landesk Management Suite.

Weaknesses: Landesk's mobility suite Software-as-a-Service option is still immature, and has not yet been widely adopted by customers, Gartner found. The company's product also does not support Android for Work or Samsung Knox, and provides only Android operating system mobile device management API support.

Matrix42: Niche Player

Niche Player Matrix42, which touts a workspace management suite combining client management tools with IT service management, positions its enterprise mobility management suite as part of this bigger solution.

The Silberback EMM suite is bundled with its CMT and ITSM to provide an integrated solution through a single user license. Organizations in Europe and Australia that want a simple EMM for PCs and mobile devices should consider Matrix42, Gartner said.

Matrix42

Strengths: Matrix42 provides "excellent support" during the implementation and post-implementation phases of its EMM suite, according to customers. The company also has a strong UEM bundle through user-based licensing for an unlimited number of devices per user, for managing PCs and mobile device through a single management console.

Weaknesses: Silverback does not support Apple Device Enrollment Program on OS X. It also does not support geofencing or remote control or viewing of a mobile device. Matrix42 also does not provide its own app SDK or app-wrapping solution, instead taking a platform-centric approach to securing apps.

SAP: Niche Player

Niche Player SAP's EMM offering is available as an on-premise solution called Afaria, as well as a cloud-based solution called SAP Mobile Secure.

SAP's product has a low cost, but the solution's performance and capabilities are not as strong as others on the market, Gartner found. SAP's EMM products lack innovation in their functions as well as baseline feature additions, the researcher said.

SAP Mobile Secure is seen as a good fit for organizations that want Software-as-a-Service and have an existing SAP infrastructure.

SAP

Strengths: SAP Mobile Secure includes built-in support for the company's mobile application development platform, cloud-based app development environments and SAP Fiori, making it attractive for organizations with a mobile focus on SAP-developed apps. The EMM Suite also has a low investment threshold for SAP customers, making it an attractive alternative.

Weaknesses: SAP's product is not current in supporting mobile platforms and management capabilities, because of SAP's slow pace of updates and a "relative lack of innovation," according to Gartner.

NationSky: Niche Player

NationSky, which was ranked in Gartner's Niche Player quadrant, offers an EMM solution through its NQSky EMM product. This Chinese-based company, which has entered into reseller agreements to expand its channel presence outside of China, has a product that's a good fit for organizations in China looking for a scalable, general-purpose EMM with local language customer support, Gartner said.

NQSky EMM has features similar to other general-purpose EMM providers, but according to Gartner, these features don't "truly differentiate the product."

NationSky

Strengths: NQSky EMM's strength is its investment in Android with its antivirus app. This app has the ability to set DLP policies that are able to restrict copying and pasting at the application level or the container level, and offers network access policies enabling only specific Wi-Fi separate service set identifiers. Customers also speak highly of NationSky's quick support services to resolve issues.

Weaknesses: NQSky EMM is not recommended outside of China, because it does not have built-in language packs for other languages. The product instead relies on browser plug-ins like Microsoft Translator for runtime translation into English. The EMM product also cannot manage Windows 10 devices and Mac OS X laptops.

Cisco: Niche Player

Cisco, which acquired Meraki in 2012 to create Cisco Meraki Systems Manager, has expanded its product from free to a paid and supported product supporting a wide range of platforms, including iOS and Android devices to full Windows systems.

Cisco was ranked in Gartner's Niche Player quadrant for 2016, and Gartner found that its Systems Manager is a good fit for companies that want to conduct mobile device management as a network operations task.

Cisco

Strengths: Systems Manager has a simple and easy management interface, and provides a uniquely comprehensive management view of all networked devices in a Cisco network -- such as wireless access points, routers, firewalls and user devices. The product is designed to scale to thousands of systems and is also one of the lower costs for other paid EMM products in the market.

Weaknesses: Systems Manager's integrative benefits apply only if an organization uses Cisco as its primary network infrastructure. The management interface's breadth of policies is also limited, according to Gartner.

Snow Software: Niche Player

Snow Software was ranked in Gartner's Niche Player quadrant -- this company is a software asset management solution provider that provides an EMM solution through its Snow Device Manager product.

The company last year acquired The Institution and its EMM product, Revival, positioning it to uniquely offer a software asset management platform that integrates mobile device inventory in EMM.

Snow Device Manager is a good fit for organizations that are European based and looking for a basic enterprise mobility management solution, according to Gartner, with a focus on cost optimization in the workplace through tracking application installations and usage across servers, desktops and mobile platforms.

Snow Software

Strengths: Snow's EMM solution does well in areas like application tracking, which augments the software asset management platform's overall license management capabilities. The administration console in the manager also has a helpful visual indicator in its dashboard that determines whether a device has a mobile device management agent or profile installed.

Weaknesses: Snow Device Manager has limited mobile content management capabilities, as its content app does not have connectors to some content management interoperability services repositories like Box or Microsoft SharePoint.