Bulk App Installation: Don’t Miss a Time- and Money- Saver

Apps are the lifeblood of any modern organization, so it’s important that app distribution happens quickly whenever necessary. This can only be possible with bulk app installation – in other words, pushing one or more apps to many devices at once. Yet, many organizations do not have mass installation tools in place.

If you don’t have a centralized system to push apps to every business device, your organization is not working at peak efficiency. Now is the time to learn more and make app management easier for everyone.

What is bulk app installation?

As the name suggests, bulk app installation is the process of installing an app on many devices at once. This typically begins with an admin issuing an app distribution command from a central console, after which each connected device automatically downloads the app. It is also possible to install multiple apps at once in this fashion.

This can include hundreds or thousands of devices at once, be they smartphones, tablets, or computers. As might be expected, therefore, this is a tool for businesses, rather than individual users.

Why do firms stick with installing apps one-by-one ?

But wait, you might ask, if mass installation is so helpful, why doesn’t every company use it?

There are a few reasons why companies still ask employees to bring their devices to an IT admin in order to manually install apps. As technology advances, these reasons become less and less valid, but it is still worth reviewing them.

For one, installing apps one-by-one is a tradition at many companies. It is simply the way things are done, and change can be difficult. Failing to use modern technology effectively is a very common reason why small businesses struggle, but larger businesses often fall victim to the same logic.

Another reason is that admins want to mitigate risk wherever possible. They may not trust employees to install or update apps regularly like they should. This is a completely reasonable concern, but it’s wrong to assume that admins should install apps one-by-one for maximum security.

Finally, many organizations simply aren’t aware that there is a better way to distribute apps. These organizations are not well-informed about what MDM solutions can do, and as a result, they aren’t able to use MDM technology to resolve their issues.

Why should businesses opt for mass installation of apps?

The biggest benefit of installing an app in bulk is the time that admins and workers can save doing so. Workers no longer need to bring their devices into the IT admin’s office. Plus, admins no longer need to allocate a major part of their day to installing apps.

Here is a realistic example: say that a 20 MB app takes roughly 2 minutes to install on each device. On a hundred devices, a one-by-one approach will require well over three hours. In practice, this actually often takes upwards of 5-10 minutes per device. In this scenario, improving the way you distribute apps can save an IT over 16 hours of valuable work time.

On top of being faster, mass app installation is also more consistent. It eliminates most sources of human error, ensuring that neither admins nor workers make mistakes. Installing or updating apps one-by-one is a tedious process, and it’s likely admins will eventually get bored and make mistakes.

How do I do bulk app installation?

The most straightforward way to set up this system is to use a mobile device management (MDM) solution. This includes the software needed to register every work device through a central console. Now, when the admin issues a command through the central console, every device will receive it at once. From there, the console can show which devices have downloaded the app, and on which devices it is still pending.

MDM solutions are good for much more than just app distribution, and can improve organizational efficiency in all sorts of ways. For example, you can use SureMDM by 42Gears to set up a relay server system that dramatically reduces the bandwidth required for bulk app downloads.

Next Steps

Good things tend to happen for organizations that decide to deploy apps across many devices in bulk. For one, everyone consistently has access to the apps they need. For another, moving past one-by-one app downloads frees up time to be more productive. Finally, because MDM solutions are scalable, bulk app installation remains straightforward even as organizations grow larger.

The most straightforward MDM solution to implement is SureMDM by 42Gears. If you’d like to see mass app installation in action for yourself, you can register for a free 30-day trial of SureMDM.