Employee empowerment the Jamf way

The conversation around how Jamf adds value to Apple technology often focuses on the needs of IT and management, but employee empowerment is just as central to our mission.

Starting with mobile device management (MDM) and extending into adjacent fields like identity management and endpoint security, our solutions are designed to provide workers with simpler workflows and safer access to people and information. Our end users should always find that Jamf solutions help them to be faster and better at their jobs and to spend less time worrying about technology.

While IT admins and executives perform many of the same job functions across industries, our end users demonstrate the incredible range of uses for Jamf solutions.

Our customers include corporate giants in the technology and financial sectors, along with schools and hospitals; you can also find real estate developers, assisted-living facilities, luxury retailers, security companies, restaurants, manufacturing centers, a karaoke studio – anyone who relies on Apple devices for their livelihood stands to benefit from well-rounded management.

The employees at these and other companies demonstrate how versatile Jamf solutions are in the real world. Read on to learn how Jamf champions not only Apple device management but employee experience management as well.

Technology onboarding

Traditionally, the technology portion of the onboarding process for new employees has involved a face-to-face meeting with IT. For remote employees, this might require a visit to a faraway office or an agonizing wait while admins access the device or even attempt to walk the user through the installation process over the phone. The ultimate result, in many cases, is a long period during which work has to be put on hold while technology issues get ironed out.

None of this is necessary when employers use a Jamf MDM solution to manage their fleet of Apple devices. Using Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager, IT can automatically set a shrink-wrapped devices to enroll itself in the Jamf solution. Then the device is provisioned with the pre-approved apps that are necessary for the job (with the option of making additional apps available to employees via Self Service), and all company resources such as email and productivity apps are available right away.

Zero-touch deployment is readily available for companies using Jamf MDM solutions, meaning that the onboarding process for remote and hybrid employees can be identical for those who work in the office. It also means that new employees can access everything they need on the first day, getting the opportunity to bask in the excitement of a new job without technology headaches. Research shows that this has a huge impact on employee morale, with an 82% increase in retention rate for workers who report a positive onboarding experience.

Zero-trust access

Employees want assurance that their private data isn’t being jeopardized and that they aren’t inadvertently providing bad actors access to proprietary company data. But that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be happy about constantly being forced to log in to different apps or keep track of multiple passwords. Remote or hybrid employees also can’t afford to be locked out of company resources because they’re trying to access them from the wrong network or device.

Jamf provides the tools for employees to enjoy zero-trust access to company resources, meaning that access is always predicated on passing security checks but may come through any managed device on any network. Using the Jamf Connect solution and cloud-identity providers such as Okta or Microsoft Azure Active Directory, employees can benefit from:

1. Account provisioning and authentication – Users can enter a single set of credentials, including multifactor authentication, to access all approved business apps.
2. Identity management – Employees using Jamf Connect can rely on the ability of IT to monitor which users are accessing which devices, flagging suspicious activity.
3. User identity and device credential synchronization – Jamf Connect can sync cloud-based credentials to the local Mac account password, eliminating the need for employees to enter a password multiple times in a session.

With zero-trust access, employees can enter their local password once and get to work. They can also access necessary resources from the doctor’s office or kid’s soccer game without having to contact IT for special permission. The key result is they enjoy easy access to everything they need for work without compromising their own information or worrying about enabling a security breach.

Employee choice

Apple is becoming an increasingly popular presence in the workforce, due in no small part to how well it supports the remote onboarding process. But the real attraction for employees is getting to choose what kind of device they use for work. We’ve seen that employee choice policies are becoming more widespread and are incredibly popular: 94% of employees surveyed expressed that they were more likely to stay at a company that allowed them to choose their work device.

Allowing workers a choice of technology means an additional challenge in ensuring that all business apps are compatible with their preferred platform. Fortunately, Jamf solutions come with a host of integrations with commonly-used applications; in particular, Jamf is able to bridge the gap between Apple and other ecosystems like Microsoft and Google. This affords an environment in which employee choice policies are reasonable to implement, leading to an increase in employee morale and effectiveness.

Flexibility for different IT approaches

The vast number of company missions that Jamf solutions support means that a one-size-fits-all approach to provisioning and updating devices would be a mistake.

Instead, companies that use Jamf to manage devices can choose different strategies depending on what best suits their employees.

IT admins can order and set up devices on an individual basis, providing critical business apps and giving employees the prerogative to download other apps through Self Service and handle updates on their own timetable.

Or they can centrally execute mass setup and update actions on the entire device fleet or designated groups, ensuring that devices are ready to use and optimized whenever employees have a need for them. Employee empowerment looks different for different use-cases, and Jamf solutions are designed accordingly.

Empowering employees in the real world

Implementing Apple technology and Jamf solutions has directly benefited employees across multiple companies and industries. Feel free to read the case studies in full and to browse the many others on our website.

Focusing more on mission, less on tech

With a team of employees that includes roving journalists using technology in the field, National Geographic has 90% of employees using an iOS device and 50% choosing to use a Mac. Employees love the ability of Jamf Pro to provide up-to-date support for their Apple products, and journalists enjoy the flexibility of using Self Service to install their own updates and apps or connect to printers. “With Jamf Pro, our journalists and employees spend less time worrying about technology and more time focusing on our mission of inspiring people to care about the planet,” said National Geographic’s Apple Service Manager Jehan Aziz.

Enhancing the retail experience

Based in the Netherlands, Rituals provides luxury home and body products, with a strong emphasis on creating peaceful and nurturing retail spaces for customers. When the company decided to make the switch to being an all-Apple business, they issued each employee a Mac or iPad along with an iPhone. They also use an iPad and two iPod devices in each retail space to perform customer-oriented tasks and go over training materials. Jamf Pro provides a single MDM solution for the entire Apple fleet that provides IT with total control and employees with adaptability and ease of use. “The employees are very flexible with their iPads. They don’t need to go to their back offices all of the time,” said retail coordinator Tessa Antoni. “Overall, these devices created a better experience for everyone.”

Increasing employee morale – at scale

Financial technology company Konfio saw a great improvement in employee morale when they implemented an employee choice program, which eventually led to roughly 90% of their workforce opting to use Apple devices. But scalability became a challenge, and the beginning of the global pandemic made it clear that they needed a more powerful MDM solution. Jamf Pro has now made it easy to offer remote onboarding for new employees and quickly make them feel like part of the company. “Being able to offer a Mac on day one is a huge deal to new employees, which is the foundation for our relationship, and that’s a positive start,” explained IT engineer Javier Martinez.

Increased protection and smoother access for remote workers

An independent manufacturer of safety equipment like fire alarms and alert systems, C-TEC Safety Equipment already had a setup in place for remote employees. But they were unhappy with the slow connection and unwieldy access procedures necessary for their VPN. Implementing Jamf Connect enabled them to protect against malware on employees’ devices while providing easy access to business apps and eliminating password fatigue. One key feature for employees was the reduction of excessive two-factor authentication (2FA) prompts for accessing multiple Microsoft resources. This allowed workers to focus on their jobs and cut down on frustration with technology.

Faster access and a safer work environment

Empowering a field services team for HVAC sales with Apple devices led to positive results for Total Comfort, but there were lingering problems, such as ill-defined boundaries between personal and company resources and a lengthy process for unlocking lost devices once they were recovered. Using Jamf Now allowed the company to address these issues without having to expand their IT infrastructure. Additionally, Jamf Now’s integration with LifeSaver Mobile helped to eliminate distracted driving and prioritize the safety of the field services team on the road. The result was safer, happier, more efficient workers!