Airwatch

This curriculum reflects the scope typically addressed across a full consulting engagement or multi-phase internal transformation initiative.

Module 1: Enterprise Mobility Strategy and Business Alignment

• Define mobility objectives aligned with business KPIs, balancing workforce productivity gains against security and compliance risks.
• Evaluate total cost of ownership (TCO) across bring-your-own-device (BYOD), corporate-owned, and hybrid models under varying scaling assumptions.
• Map device lifecycle stages to business processes, identifying integration points with HR onboarding, IT provisioning, and asset disposal.
• Assess regional regulatory constraints (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA) and their impact on device data residency and access policies.
• Develop decision criteria for selective vs. full-device management based on user role, data sensitivity, and support burden.
• Identify failure modes in mobility strategy execution, including user resistance, shadow IT adoption, and policy enforcement gaps.
• Negotiate trade-offs between user experience (e.g., app availability, update frequency) and centralized control requirements.
• Establish governance thresholds for escalating device compliance breaches to legal, security, and executive stakeholders.

Module 2: AirWatch Architecture and Deployment Topology

• Design high-availability AirWatch environments using load-balanced Console servers, failover databases, and geographically distributed APIs.
• Select between on-premises, cloud-hosted, and hybrid AirWatch deployments based on latency, data sovereignty, and operational control needs.
• Integrate AirWatch with existing identity providers (e.g., Active Directory, Azure AD) while managing authentication failover scenarios.
• Plan database sizing and growth projections based on device count, check-in frequency, and reporting retention policies.
• Implement network segmentation and firewall rules to secure AirWatch components without degrading device responsiveness.
• Configure AirWatch Tunnel deployment patterns to balance application access security with backend infrastructure load.
• Validate disaster recovery procedures including database backups, certificate recovery, and service restoration timelines.
• Assess performance bottlenecks in large-scale environments (>50,000 devices) and apply tuning strategies for message queues and sync intervals.

Module 3: Device Enrollment and Provisioning Workflows

• Compare and deploy Apple DEP, Android Enterprise, and Windows Autopilot with attention to certificate lifecycle and profile binding.
• Design zero-touch enrollment workflows that minimize user interaction while maintaining auditability and consent compliance.
• Implement dynamic enrollment rules based on device type, user group, and location to apply context-aware configurations.
• Manage certificate issuance and renewal at scale, monitoring for expiration-related enrollment failures.
• Integrate enrollment triggers with HRIS and ITSM systems to automate provisioning and deprovisioning events.
• Diagnose and resolve common enrollment failures including APNs issues, certificate trust chains, and DNS misconfigurations.
• Enforce pre-enrollment compliance checks such as OS version, jailbreak status, and disk encryption.
• Balance automation speed against security validation depth in high-volume device rollouts.

Module 4: Policy Design and Configuration Management

• Develop hierarchical policy structures that minimize override conflicts and support role-based access to device settings.
• Define and test conditional policies based on network location, device compliance status, or time-of-day triggers.
• Implement configuration baselines for different device classes (e.g., executive, field, kiosk) with documented rationale.
• Manage policy drift by auditing applied settings against intended baselines and identifying root causes of deviation.
• Balance security enforcement (e.g., passcode complexity, encryption) with usability to reduce helpdesk burden and workarounds.
• Version-control configuration profiles and track changes across environments (dev, test, prod) using change management protocols.
• Simulate policy impact on device functionality before rollout, particularly for restrictive settings like camera disablement.
• Establish rollback procedures for policies causing widespread device instability or app incompatibility.

Module 5: Application Management and Secure Distribution

• Architect private app repositories with role-based access, version control, and license tracking.
• Configure app wrapping for in-house applications to enforce data leakage protections without source code modification.
• Implement silent app deployment and update schedules that minimize user disruption and network congestion.
• Enforce app-level compliance rules such as requiring managed runtime environments or blocking sideloaded APKs.
• Integrate with enterprise app stores and MAM-protected SaaS applications via SDKs or containerization.
• Monitor app crash rates, update adoption, and license utilization to optimize deployment strategies.
• Manage certificate dependencies for internally developed apps, including signing key rotation and distribution expiry.
• Define containment policies for third-party apps accessing corporate data, including copy-paste restrictions and screenshot blocking.

Module 6: Security Enforcement and Threat Response

• Configure real-time compliance policies that trigger automated actions (e.g., quarantine, wipe) upon detection of rooted devices.
• Implement geofencing rules to restrict access or trigger alerts based on unauthorized physical locations.
• Design multi-tiered response playbooks for compromised devices, escalating from notification to remote wipe based on data sensitivity.
• Integrate AirWatch with SIEM systems to correlate device events with broader network threat indicators.
• Enforce conditional access to email and cloud services based on device compliance status and posture assessment.
• Validate encryption enforcement across platforms and detect configuration gaps in storage and transit protections.
• Conduct red-team exercises to test bypass techniques and refine detection logic for jailbreak and spoofing attempts.
• Balance aggressive security postures against business continuity risks, particularly in mission-critical field operations.

Module 7: Operational Monitoring and Performance Analytics

• Define and track KPIs such as enrollment success rate, policy compliance percentage, and average incident resolution time.
• Configure custom dashboards for executive, IT, and security stakeholders with role-specific data granularity.
• Establish alert thresholds for critical events (e.g., mass enrollment failure, Tunnel downtime) with defined escalation paths.
• Correlate device health metrics with application performance to isolate root causes of user productivity loss.
• Use historical reporting to forecast capacity needs for database growth, API throughput, and support staffing.
• Identify underutilized policies or configurations contributing to technical debt and operational complexity.
• Validate data accuracy in reports by cross-referencing AirWatch logs with device telemetry and network records.
• Conduct quarterly audit readiness reviews, ensuring logging, retention, and access controls meet compliance standards.

Module 8: Integration with Enterprise IT Ecosystems

• Design bi-directional integrations between AirWatch and ITSM platforms for automated ticket creation and resolution syncing.
• Implement secure API connections to HR systems for automated group membership updates based on employment status changes.
• Integrate with endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools to enrich threat intelligence with device context.
• Map AirWatch identity constructs to enterprise role-based access control (RBAC) frameworks for consistent authorization.
• Orchestrate workflows with cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, Azure) for dynamic resource provisioning based on device compliance.
• Validate integration resilience under network degradation, including retry logic and data consistency mechanisms.
• Manage API rate limits and authentication tokens to prevent service disruptions in high-volume environments.
• Document integration dependencies and failure modes in system runbooks for incident response teams.

Module 9: Change Management and Organizational Adoption

• Develop communication plans for policy changes that address user concerns while reinforcing security and compliance drivers.
• Design pilot programs to test new configurations with representative user groups before enterprise rollout.
• Measure user sentiment and adoption barriers through structured feedback mechanisms and support ticket analysis.
• Train helpdesk teams on troubleshooting common device issues with access to AirWatch diagnostic tools.
• Establish cross-functional governance committees to review proposed changes and resolve stakeholder conflicts.
• Track change success using adoption rates, rollback frequency, and post-implementation incident trends.
• Manage version upgrade cycles for AirWatch Console, balancing new feature benefits against testing and downtime costs.
• Define rollback criteria and procedures for failed updates or configurations impacting critical operations.

Module 10: Continuous Optimization and Future Roadmapping

• Conduct quarterly architecture reviews to identify technical debt, scalability bottlenecks, and security gaps.
• Benchmark current deployment against VMware best practices and industry peer performance metrics.
• Evaluate emerging mobility trends (e.g., UEM convergence, zero trust) for strategic alignment and pilot potential.
• Assess cost efficiency of licensing models (per device, per user) under projected growth and usage patterns.
• Refine segmentation strategies to reduce policy sprawl and improve manageability in complex environments.
• Develop retirement plans for legacy platforms and coordinate migration timelines with business units.
• Simulate impact of new regulatory requirements on existing configurations and enforcement mechanisms.
• Build capability roadmaps that align AirWatch evolution with long-term digital transformation initiatives.