Apple dio hoy un gran paso adelante en la entrega de tecnología empresarial, presentando un nuevo servicio llamado Apple Business Essentials, agregando otro argumento sólido para respaldar la implementación de sus productos en la empresa.</p><h2>¿Qué es Apple Business Essentials?</h2><p>El servicio combina una gama de servicios para pequeñas y medianas empresas en una única herramienta de gestión MDM compatible con Apple. Está dirigido a empresas de hasta 500 empleados.
Why is this important?
Think back 10 years to the introduction of the original iPad, when Apple was a small fish in the corporate sea. There may be some creative professionals using Macs (and executives using iPhones), but the company's corporate position was limited. That changed with the iPad, when the leaders of the C-Class rushed to buy this new tablet. Just as they did, attitudes toward Bring Your Own Device policies have changed, too, and employees are now allowed to use the technology they trust from home to work. Today, when given a choice, most employees will choose an Apple product, and Macs are experiencing a special renaissance thanks to the impressive M-series processors made by Apple. Discussing the importance of Apple Business Essentials, Carolina Milanesi, president and senior analyst at Creative Strategies, said, “As a longtime Apple 'watcher,' you know full well that Apple has been very coy when it comes to how to satisfy business needs. They have always preferred to be seen as a technology provider rather than an IT administrator. Since the launch of the M1, I'd say Apple's biggest opportunity to increase its share of the PC market lies within the enterprise. The product has proven to be not only desirable but capable of meeting business needs, and moving from BYOD or Backdoor to deployed computing will allow Apple to grow its share more quickly. I think that's why the announcement is timely and significant. The move reflects the extent to which Apple has invested space in the business and represents the company's efforts to grow rapidly in the industry. Milanesi also said the move could challenge others already in the space, but she said: "There are still opportunities in the market if companies want to differentiate themselves by supporting both Mac and Windows." The analyst also noted that PC-focused companies like Dell, Lenovo or HP that struggle to support corporate customers can face challenges as they "always find it hard to understand. Macs load the same way."Apple's message
In her statement introducing the new service, Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of corporate marketing and education, said: "Small businesses are the heart of our economy and we're proud that Apple products play a role in the growth of these businesses. . “Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of managing employee devices in a small business—from setup, onboarding, and updating to accessing fast service and priority support—while maintaining the Data backed up and secure, so companies can focus on running their business.What do companies get?
With everything managed in a single console, SMBs get:- Collections;
- Device and user management;
- iCloud for work storage;
- AppleCare + for Business Essentials (optional).
What are the collections?
Apple has thought about what happens when you introduce a new employee to your organization. The Collections feature allows IT to configure settings and applications for individual users, groups, or devices. You may want to install a specific application on all the hardware used by the accounting team, for example. Collections allow you to define roles, assign permissions, and more. It also provides IT with an easy-to-read account of the current status of application licenses, so administrators can know when they may need to revoke or acquire new licenses for commercial equipment.What user and device management features are included?
Apple Business Essentials also automates services and permissions, and can configure an employee's personal device to securely, and most importantly, privately transport work-related data. It does this by supporting two Apple IDs on the device: the Managed ID and the Employee ID. This is created during user registration, when cryptographic separation of business data is entered. This helps ensure that employee data remains private, while company data remains secure.
Apple Apple Business Essentials is now in beta and will be fully released in 2022. In use, this means that when employees sign in to their corporate or personal device with their work credentials, collections automatically push settings like VPN settings and Wi-Fi passwords. It will also install the Apple Business Essentials app, through which employees can download and install key business apps like Cisco Webex or the newly enhanced Microsoft Word. Apple also said the service allows IT administrators to apply critical security settings such as FileVault for full disk encryption on Macs and Activation Lock to protect devices that can be lost or stolen.
What is iCloud for work?
I evangelized the need for Apple to introduce iCloud for Business a few weeks ago. The company has now done just that.
Apple Business Essentials provides a dedicated iCloud account for work that works like any other iCloud deployment. Corporate data in iCloud is automatically stored and backed up, making it easy to transfer between devices or upgrade to a new device, and you can choose how much data to give to employees.
Employees continue to maintain separate access to their own iCloud data, allowing separation between personal and business use.
AppleCare+ for Business Essentials
We don't know how much this feature will cost yet, but Apple also promises an optional supplement in the form of AppleCare + for Business Essentials. Companies that sign up will be able to offer their staff 24/7 phone support, receive training for IT employees and administrators, and cover up to two device repairs per plan each year.
(The great thing about these is that they can be applied to any user / device covered by an Apple business plan, so the cumulative impact is that accident-prone employees need to be taken care of.)
Employees can initiate repairs from the app, and Apple-trained technicians will be on site in less than four hours to get the devices back up and running. If your employee is far away, the technician will visit him where he is.
How does it feel to use it?
I haven't really played with Apple Business Essentials at this point, but it's clearly an Apple product. That means a clean, column-based user interface, a clean layout that removes what's not needed, and a visual use of icons and categories to help you find what you need. Collections, for example, are easy to create, populate, and distribute, while more granular tasks like users, user groups, or device management are also easy to access and manage. But for many, the Settings section will be especially useful. Apple seems to have put a lot of thought into this, bundling standard things like managing passcode policies and Wi-Fi settings with increasingly important controls like power-saving settings. While it may not be clear at first why ensure that all devices comply with company policy on power consumption, if you stop considering the energy costs of operating systems for up to 500 employees, the benefit of such controls becomes much clearer. And they should probably be considered vitally important as we enter the climate crisis.What are the prices for the premium plan?
Apple Business Essentials is available as a free beta starting today in the United States. Once launched from beta, Apple said the service will cost $2.99 per user/month to manage a single device with 50GB of storage, scaling up to $12.99/user/month for a maximum of three devices per user and up to 2TB of storage. storage. . These prices still do not include the cost of AppleCare+ for Business Essentials and the company does not charge beta users. But he didn't want the charges to surprise anyone once the service launched.How to join the beta program?
The service will be fully available in spring 2022. To sign up for the beta, click here. Follow me on Twitter or join me on the AppleHolic bar & grill and Apple discussion groups on MeWe.<p>Copyright © 2021 IDG Communications, Inc.</p>