Every IT team managing a mixed fleet eventually runs into the same problem: laptops and servers live in one system, and Android phones and tablets live in another. Android Device Management is what keeps those devices secured, configured, and up to date, but managing it in isolation means losing visibility of a growing share of your infrastructure.
This post shows how to bring Android devices into the same IT inventory as the rest of your assets, using InvGate Asset Management as the central platform and two data sources that feed it: Google Endpoint Management for standard Android Enterprise fleets, and SOTI MobiControl for rugged and purpose-built Android devices in the field.
What is Android Device Management?
Android Device Management is the practice of controlling and securing Android devices in an organization, whether they're company-owned or enrolled under a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. It covers enforcing device policies, managing apps and settings, and protecting corporate data, and it works best as part of a broader IT Asset Management (ITAM) strategy rather than a standalone tool.
Android Mobile Device Management
Google provides its own cloud-based tool for Android Mobile Device Management (MDM): Google Endpoint Management. It gives administrators centralized control over company-owned or BYOD Android devices, covering:
- Device configuration - remotely configure device settings for consistent, secure setups across the organization.
- Security control - remotely lock or wipe devices in case of loss or theft, enforce encryption, and respond to security threats.
- Remote device monitoring - track device inventory and gather insights into device performance and usage.
How to manage Android devices with InvGate Asset Management
Using Google Endpoint Management as a standalone Android MDM tool works, but it leaves your Android fleet in a separate system from the rest of your IT infrastructure. The alternative is ITAM software that integrates with the MDM tools already managing those devices, so every asset (hardware, software, and cloud) is in one inventory instead of split across platforms.
Here's how to get Android devices from Google Endpoint Management into your InvGate Asset Management inventory.
InvGate Asset Management and Google Endpoint Management integration
InvGate Asset Management builds its inventory from multiple data sources, including network discovery, the InvGate Asset Management's Agent, CSV imports, and integrations like this one. Connecting it to Google Endpoint Management adds every enrolled Android device to that same inventory automatically.
To bring your Android fleet in:
- Confirm you have an active subscription for both InvGate Asset Management and Google Endpoint Management, and administrator access to the latter's APIs.
- In InvGate Asset Management, open the integration with Google Endpoint Management and provide the required credentials and permissions. You'll find in Settings > Discovery > Discovery sources.
- Follow the instructions and let InvGate Asset Management pull device data through Google Endpoint Management's APIs. No manual export or CSV import is needed.
- Check your asset inventory: every enrolled Android device now has its own asset profile, populated automatically.
From there, those devices are asset records like any other, so you can apply Smart Tags, build Configuration Management Database (CMDB) relationships, run reports, and set up automations on them, the same way you would with a laptop or a server.
What type of data it collects
For each Android device, the integration pulls in:
- Type.
- Manufacturer.
- Model.
- Screen size.
- Serial number.
- Storage.
- RAM.
- IPv4.
- CPU.
- Battery status.
Note: these devices sync through Google Endpoint Management's API rather than the InvGate Agent, so Agent-dependent features like Health rules (which read live CPU, RAM, and disk usage) don't apply to them the way they would to an Agent-managed laptop.
Pros and cons of the integration
Integrating InvGate Asset Management with Google Endpoint Management brings some clear advantages:
- Centralized Management - manage Android devices alongside every other endpoint from a single platform.
- Enhanced security - enforce security policies, remotely lock or wipe devices, and respond to threats without switching tools.
- Improved visibility - comprehensive device information and usage data for better tracking and resource planning.
- Better ROI - centralizing ITAM operations in one platform improves the return on that investment.
And a couple of things to keep in mind:
- Dependency on Google services - the integration relies on Google Endpoint Management's availability, so limitations or outages on their end affect it too.
- Limited to standard Android Enterprise devices - it's built for typical company-owned or BYOD Android phones and tablets. Rugged and purpose-built Android devices, like handheld scanners or field tablets, are better covered through SOTI MobiControl instead.
Bringing Android devices into the inventory with SOTI MobiControl
Google Endpoint Management works well for standard Android Enterprise fleets, but a lot of Android hardware doesn't fit that mold: Zebra scanners, clinical and retail tablets, and other purpose-built Android devices running in warehouses, hospitals, or stores. SOTI MobiControl is a native discovery source for InvGate Asset Management that covers exactly that layer of the fleet.
Instead of exporting device data from SOTI MobiControl to a CSV and importing it by hand, you connect the two platforms once: in InvGate Asset Management, open the Discovery source catalog, add SOTI MobiControl with its server URL and API credentials (Client ID, Client Secret, and a read-access username and password), validate the connection, choose which device types to sync, and set a sync schedule.
Once it's running, SOTI MobiControl feeds InvGate Asset Management with, per device:
- Enrollment date.
- OS version.
- Last check-in.
- Assigned user.
- Compliance status.
- Enrollment state.
Each device is classified automatically as Computer, Phone, or Tablet based on its type, and appears in your inventory alongside everything else, from lifecycle tracking (enrollment and check-in data included) to Contract and Warranty Management, dashboards that mix mobile and traditional endpoints, and automation rules that can flag a device with a stale check-in or one due for an end-of-life review.
To sum up
Android devices don't need a separate management workflow. Between Google Endpoint Management for standard Android Enterprise fleets and SOTI MobiControl for rugged and field devices, you can bring the whole Android side of your IT state into the same inventory as everything else.
Start a 30-day free trial of InvGate Asset Management, or talk to Sales to see how it fits your current MDM setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Android Device Management?
Android Device Management is the practice of managing and securing Android devices used within an organization: configuring device settings, enforcing security policies, and protecting corporate data, whether the devices are company-owned or enrolled under a BYOD policy.
2. What's the difference between MDM and EMM?
Mobile Device Management (MDM) covers the basics: enforcing security policies, configuring settings, and deploying apps across devices like Android phones and tablets. Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) goes further, adding control over apps, data, and usage, plus features like Android Zero-Touch Enrollment for setting up company-owned devices at scale.
3. What are the benefits and challenges of Android Device Management?
The main benefits are flexibility (Android's open-source nature makes it easy to tailor policies and configurations), stronger security through consistent monitoring, and visibility into what's installed, connected, and running on each device. The main challenges are fragmentation across manufacturers and OS versions, the security risks that come with an open-source platform, and balancing BYOD flexibility with corporate data protection. Tagging and grouping devices in your inventory, and automating security and compliance checks, address most of them directly.
4. What is Android Zero-Touch Enrollment?
Android Zero-Touch Enrollment lets IT admins configure and deploy company-owned Android devices automatically, without touching each one individually. It's built for large-scale rollouts and makes sure every device follows company standards from the first boot.
5. What happens if an Android device gets lost?
MDM tools like Google Endpoint Management can remotely lock or wipe a lost Android device to protect corporate data, whether it's company-owned or enrolled under BYOD.
6. What's the best way to manage Android devices in an enterprise?
Pair an MDM platform, like Google Endpoint Management or SOTI MobiControl depending on the device type, with an IT Asset Management tool like InvGate Asset Management. That combination gives IT teams full visibility of every device, lets them enforce security policies, and keeps Android devices in the same inventory, reports, and automations as the rest of the fleet.
