The topic Apple @ Work: Free Apple device management is a baseline, not a finish line is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
Apple recently announced that the device management portion of its new Apple Business platform is now completely free. If you manage a fleet of Apple devices, this immediately caught your attention. It’s the first free device management system I can remember since Meraki’s system Manager. Giving small businesses a free tool to manage their Macs and iPhones is a huge win for the ecosystem. However, if you are an IT administrator looking at your current device management renewal and wondering if you can just cancel it and move everything to Apple, you need to pump the brakes a bit. Let’s look at why.
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.
For years, the biggest hurdle for small businesses moving to manage their devices was cost and complexity. If you only have 15 employees and limited IT support, paying a per-device fee and learning a management platform feels like overkill. Because of this, many small businesses just let employees set up their Macs as if they were personal ones.
Apple Business and its free device management solve this zero-to-one problem. It provides a free, simple way to push basic configurations, enforce passcodes, and deploy applications. By removing the financial barrier to entry, Apple is making “unmanaged” an inexcusable position for any business. It establishes a necessary security and management floor for the entire ecosystem.
However, enterprise Apple device management requires much more than just pushing a Wi-Fi PSK profile and installing some apps. Modern IT teams are dealing with incredibly complex compliance requirements. You need granular reporting on patch levels. You need automated remediation when a device falls out of compliance. You need an identity provider integration that requires MFA for logins.
The native tools in Apple Business are fantastic for getting a device enrolled and configured out of the box, but they are not designed to be a full security stack that enterprises need. If a user downloads malicious software or a device goes rogue, basic profile delivery will not save you.
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.