Why Your Apple Device Fleet Needs an MDM on Top of the Apple Business Manager

The Windows-dominated enterprise environment saw a radical shift towards the adoption of Macbooks in 2010. Since then, Microsoft and Apple have been taking turns to gain a greater hold of the enterprise market. Organizations were earlier reluctant to adopt Macbooks due to the misconception that Apple devices were complicated to use, difficult to provision and deploy in bulk. To address this misconception, Apple merged its DEP and VPP functionalities to present the Apple Business Manager (ABM) to the world in 2018. The ABM is an Apple-hosted web portal built to simplify the organization-wide deployment of Apple devices.

Apple Business Manager – What does it offer?

The Apple Business Manager presents IT admins of every industrial sector, a centralized management platform to deploy iPhones, iPads, Macbooks, Apple TVs, all from a single console. With Apple’s built-in ABM platform, organizations can easily manage their Apple device fleets in diverse ways.

The ABM addresses the IT pain points and helps in streamlining operations such as the purchase and distribution of public and private apps on bulk devices within the organization. IT admins can create managed Apple IDs and assign role and location-specific privileges to the users. Furthermore, with ABM, IT admins can enroll their device fleets with zero-touch enrollment and set-up and manage default MDM servers.

On experiencing the tremendous Apple device management capabilities of the ABM, several organizations had a valid question – “Do we still require an MDM solution to manage our Apple device fleets?” The answer is YES. The Apple Business Manager is designed to make deployment of Apple devices easy, but not to replace MDM solutions completely. MDM solutions have several remote management and security capabilities that the ABM is not designed to offer. Hence, organizations can achieve maximum benefits with a combination of the ABM alongside an efficient MDM solution.

Role of MDM in managing Apple devices – What does the ABM not offer?

Owing to ABM’s vast deployment and management capabilities, it is easy to misunderstand ABM as a replacement for MDM solutions. However, modern-day MDM solutions like Scalefusion, offer extensive features that go beyond just deployment of devices and distribution of resources, they simplify the entire mobility process for enterprises.

1. Remote support
   MDM solutions extend remote support capabilities such as remote cast and control in events of system errors, which helps an organization’s IT admins mirror their employee’s screens on their MDM dashboard and control it virtually for faster issue resolution.
   
2. Device security
   Organizations can leverage several security features for their device fleets. MDM solutions offer remote device locking capabilities in case of device loss or theft. Organization-wide inventory can be tracked in real-time with GPS-based or IP-address-based location monitoring. MDM solutions even enable IT admins to set automated compliance alerts for various security incidents.
   
3. Corporate data protection
   Businesses are most cautious about securing their confidential corporate information. MDM solutions offer extensive data security features, from remote data wipe in case of device loss or theft, to factory reset protection to keep the business data intact. Advanced MDM solutions also enable Conditional Email Access for secure access to corporate emails, even in BYOD and remote environments.
   
4. Device monitoring
   Businesses today have diverse types of workforces and even more diverse device management requirements owing to enterprise mobility. MDM solutions help in monitoring extensive device vitals and get an inventory overview with comprehensive analytics.
   
5. App and content filtering
   Sharing content files over the air and distributing apps on bulk devices can be achieved with the ABM. However, MDM solutions, in addition to distributing apps and content files over the air, also help in restricting the usage of selective applications and websites on their devices. This plays a big role in curtailing distractions and reinforcing focus in employees.

The Apple Business Manager makes enrollment and deployment of Apple devices a breeze, with additional features for purchasing and distributing content and apps with ease. But, an MDM solution helps you achieve greater control over your device fleets. Using the two in conjunction is the best way for businesses to reap the maximum benefits of both.

Scalefusion MDM works perfectly with the Apple Business Manager, to help businesses streamline their device management, reinforce cyber security and leverage the best of enterprise mobility.

To know more about Scalefusion MDM, visit https://scalefusion.com/