The space occupied by Apple in the company continues to generate new products and services. Case in point: Kandji, which enhanced its existing mobile device management (MDM) platform with declarative device management. I caught up with Weldon Dodd, the company's senior vice president of product strategy, to learn the details.
What's new in Device Harmony?
Apple says there are nearly 2.000 billion active Apple devices worldwide, up from 1.500 billion in 2021, many of which are deployed company-wide, driven by consumer choice and clearly emerging TCO benefits. and the property.
The latest version of Kandji introduces new device management features such as declarative device management and a new internal "Lost Mode" that allows IT to track lost or stolen iPhones or iPads without iCloud, Location Services, or any action by the device user. The feature leverages Apple's own MDM frameworks.
The device management solution also offers administrators new organizational management tools and enhanced device security options, including integration with Okta Device Trust and Google Workspace.
There are many other enhancements, with details available here.
Apple's Growing Presence in Business Computing
“When it comes to Apple adoption in the enterprise market, we continue to see organizations of all sizes, from large enterprises to small start-ups, choose Apple as their endpoint of choice,” said Dodd. “Apple has invested heavily in the enterprise space, and throughout 2022 we've seen Apple really begin to emerge as the device of choice for businesses and employees, and we expect that growth to continue through 2023 and beyond. This is just the beginning. of Apple's rise in the business.
kanji
Weldon Dodd, Kandji's senior vice president of product strategy.
This growth may be driven by device choice (most employees will want Apple devices when given the chance), and "employers are finding Apple devices increasingly beneficial in enabling productivity and security," he said. Lawsuits for the use of Apple products have increased. 50%, she said.
We're also seeing the TCO debate move from just the list price debate to encompass other elements of business computing. IBM sparked a lot of interest when it acknowledged this connection at the Jamf JNUC event, and Kandji sees the same.
Dodd cited research from his own company, which says that 56% of IT administrators are more confident in their ability to manage Apple devices remotely compared to Windows. “Although Apple devices are more expensive to buy, they have proven to be less expensive to maintain and support in the long term,” she said. 84% said that Apple devices are more secure than devices from other vendors.
excavation API
Kandji's Lost Mode is interesting because it takes advantage of Apple's own MDM APIs to offer a new version of Find My, which doesn't use iCloud. This technology builds on Apple's recently introduced support for declarative device management. "We take what Apple provides to all vendors and implement it in a unique way that makes life easier for our customers," he said.
Of course, Apple being Apple, developers who modify the company's own APIs risk Apple changing course. Dodd doesn't think that will happen with Lost Mode.
"We are confident that Kandji's Lost Mode implementation is not at risk from sudden changes introduced by Apple," he said, noting that it uses Apple-provided Managed Lost Mode features in its MDM protocols.
The mode also uses MapKit and regularly updated location data so administrators looking for a lost device have a good keep an eye on where it is. "And we continue to enforce Lost Mode, even if a device is rebooted," he said. An employee will be explicitly notified if the role is in effect.
The enhanced security coin reflects an industry-wide attempt to protect platforms. All players, at least in the enterprise space, are making security improvements to Apple platforms, even as the company itself continues to work to protect them. Apple's new iCloud security improvements are just the final chapter of this book, and it seems highly likely that security will be one of the key topics in Apple's ecosystem through 2023.
Apple is the company
“Apple will continue to innovate in both hardware and software to make Apple products the most private and secure in the world,” said Dodd.
There's a very good reason: "The devices we use for work are more mobile and the environments in which we work are more varied and uncontrolled than ever before," said Dodd. “That's what made Zero Trust so important: we no longer have a single network edge to provide protection; The idea that some critical work resources can only be available on the desktop protected behind the firewall just doesn't fit the current reality we live in. Zero Trust principles ensure that only authorized users using authorized devices access company applications and data. ”
Apple's ecosystem of products and services to support enterprise deployments continues to grow, although the presence of competing MDM providers allows enterprises to seek the most relevant solutions for their specific business needs.
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