Due to the significant advantages of macOS and iOS, Apple devices are increasingly being used by enterprises, governments and educational institutions, so how to effectively solve some of the problems encountered in the management process? For example, how to install different applications on the computers of users who need them, how to ensure that the use of the device is in line with the policy, how to prevent the leakage of confidential information, how to carry out remote control, and so on. These kinds of problems will become more and more common during the actual management process, and it is obvious that increasing human technical support will not be able to achieve the goal of saving costs and improving efficiency. At this point, have a suitable management software is particularly important.
Now let us imagine a few possible scenarios, so as to compare the management of equipment through the personnel and through the MDM management of the device’s biggest difference.
Scenario 1: All personnel can not work without the software, and the software is constantly updating the version to solve the existing bugs or add some new features. If the deployed Outlook client sometimes can not view and download attachments and often pop-up reminders of expired events, although the official workaround, but for the user there will be some impact (this problem does exist in reality), then the IT administrators now have 2 issues to be concerned about:
1.How to get timely notification of new version updates;
2.How to deploy the updated version to every user’s computer as fast as possible to solve the problem and improve the user’s trust and satisfaction with the IT department.
The usual practice without MDM would be:
- Regularly checking to see if a new version has been released or setting up automatic updates in your Outlook client.
- When an update is released, email users to check for downloads and install the update or IT staff to install the update on users’ computers one by one.
- Download and upload updates to an internal file server and provide a link for users to download and install.
Disadvantages: getting updates is not timely, even if automatic updates are set up, there is a checking cycle; if automatic updates are set up for each user end, then each user end will download the updates once, which consumes limited bandwidth resources; if users are allowed to update on their own, it is not possible to ensure that each user installs the updates; if IT personnel help to update, then it is necessary to make an appointment with each user, and it takes a long time to deploy the updates; the investment in personnel is large.
In the case of MDM:
- Subscribe to update alerts within the MDM, and administrators will be alerted at the earliest opportunity.
- Download the updates and push them to each user’s computer at the first time through MDM’s distribution policy and perform automatic installation.
Advantages: Get the update reminder at the first time; only need to download the update once from the Internet and distribute it through the intranet, which saves bandwidth; the push and installation of the update are all done remotely and automatically, which does not require users to take any action and greatly reduces the workload of IT staff; the installation of the update is visible, which ensures that all the devices get the update.
Scenario 2: Typically, each user’s computer has the same administrator account and password for ease of management.
Without MDM usually:
- The administrator account needs to be created manually on each computer.
- If you need to change the password, you need to go to each computer to change it.
Disadvantages: If the password is not changed for a long time, if the password is leaked, it will affect the security of the information in all computers; it is troublesome to change the password. It takes time and effort to change the password.
With MDM.
- Administrator accounts can be created and deleted remotely.
- Administrator passwords can be changed periodically, and the modification can be performed remotely and automatically.
Advantage: The password can be changed or a new administrator account can be created remotely at regular intervals, which greatly improves security.
I believe that through the above two practical scenarios, you can already see the power of MDM, with the help of MDM can not only better serve the end-users and reduce the workload of IT, but also reduce the risk of leakage of confidential information to a certain extent and save the cost of manpower in the enterprise.
Jamf Pro, an excellent MDM software, is in the leading position in terms of international market share, user growth rate and user stickiness, which is due to users’ trust in the product and its powerful and convenient management functions. According to statistics, up to 96% of users worldwide choose to renew their subscription every year. If you are looking for an MDM product, why not test it?