Microsoft has a clear monopoly on the Enterprise Environment as most business’ have been using PCs and Microsoft Servers for Decades. Shifting to any other operating system would be foolish from an administrative perspective. It also adds levels of complexity to the IT department which is already probably spread thin trying to understand and stay on top of technology changes to the systems they know.
As SaaS (Software as a Service) providers flourish in this constantly connected environment – suddenly small business’ are not reliant on PC based software and tools to run their business. Instead, you can now run a lot of your business through web-pages which will run on almost any device.
Apple itself has built an ecosystem that just works which is starting to spill into the small business world. When everyone already has the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch – why can’t we just run our business from a MacBook Air?
For a small one to two person operations, this may in fact work just fine. However, as soon as you hire that first employee, the dynamics will shift. Suddenly when they leave and you can’t access the computer (because they configured it with their own Apple ID and now have control of the device) you learn the hard lesson that Apple is really good at Security.
Administration of the Apple Environment is not for the faint of heart. There are a few tools out there and Apple is finally building systems that allow Business’ to maintain and control their fleet of devices. It’s critically important that you start however with a plan on how to administer your systems. We work with clients to setup their Business Apple Account along with linking the account with JumpCloud for MDM controls and Cloud Directory control of devices.
Staff can still link their devices to a personal Apple ID (if they choose) but you can control their account and devices for proper security and auditing. You can also deploy your own Apple ID controls for staff allowing them to keep their work and personal life separate (this should be carefully considered and properly documented in your policy and procedures).
Many RMM tools and other automation software will struggle in the MacOS environment as Apple has a much higher security approach than Microsoft. This impacts your IT provider more than it should you and honestly gives most clients a better sense of security knowing that hackers will have a much harder time breaching your devices due to their higher level of security.
In the end, it only works if your tool-set will run within the MacOS and iOS environment. You may need to have some PCs to run Quickbooks or other uniquely PC software for your business but with the right planning and support – you can run a mixed environment successfully and securely with proper planning.
Let us know if you would like to discuss how to use Apple Devices in your environment. We are a unique MSP who is agnostic about Operating Systems and looks to run diverse IT environments to keep you stable and secure.
Jim