JNUC 2022 Keynote: tech users love and organizations trust.

13th annual Jamf Nation User Conference: San Diego

Jamf CEO Dean Hager was delighted to welcome all conference attendees to San Diego and Jamf’s 13th annual JNUC. Online and in-person attendees alike applauded the kickoff of JNUC 2022.

Attendees wildly applauded both those in attendance and those watching remotely.

Hager laid down a few astounding statistics: Jamf now serves over 69,000 customers around the world: twice as many customers as the last time Jamf Nation got together in person. Jamf is on 29 million Macs, iPads, iPhones and Apple TV. We now have 2600 Jamf employees around the world.

After outlining some of the exciting new products that Jamf has offered since last year — most notably, Jamf Safe Internet, Jamf Data Policy, Jamf Threat Defense and Jamf Data Policy — Hager asked the crowd two questions:

1. Do your users LOVE their work technology as much as their home technology?
2. Does your organization TRUST that every person and device accessing your network resources is safe?

We believe tech that users love and tech that organizations trust can only be accomplished when management and security merge.

Jamf Nation welcomes Apple

Jeremy Butcher, head of Apple’s education and enterprise product marketing team, joined Hager on the stage to discuss Apple’s commitment to education and enterprise, and to outline a few of the many ways Apple products enable productivity and enhance learning — and the hard work of IT administrators behind-the-scenes who are making it all come together.

Butcher discussed four new features for education and enterprise customers announced during WWDC that highlight how much identity and security have become tightly interwoven with management.

1. Declarative Device Management

Apple's recent rollout of Declarative Device Management to all Apple platforms will only strengthen that relationship. "Declarative is here and ready," said Butcher, "we're super excited about the new generation of this protocol. We're really just getting started."

2. Security

Apple is secure by design, balancing user experience with management frameworks. Apple’s goal for IT is to securely enroll devices and separate work and personal data. To continue that work, they updated Managed Device Attestation and Data Separation and moved to a system-extensions and endpoint-security framework.

3. Identity

A login with your username and password backed by an identity provider balances the security needs of organizations with a great user experience. Apple’s Single Sign-On (SSO) and enrollment SSO updates reflect the reality that identity plays a key role in security and management.

4. User enrollment with SSO

"We love the experience that a single login creates for the user," said Butcher. Sign-in with Apple at Work & School allows users to sign into apps and websites with their organization-provided managed Apple ID.

IT training and Mac admins benefit from education, too! Butcher unrolled Apple’s new IT training designed to complement MDM-specific training— just as Jamf 200 and Jamf 300 do.

Dean Hager thanked Jamf’s most important partner with an appreciation for Apple’s continued innovation.

“As I’ve said many times,” said Hager, “when Apple innovates, Jamf celebrates.”

Do your users LOVE their work technology?

And why does it matter? asked Hager.

Because it means their work technology is helping them be their absolute best. It means it’s doing what technology is suppose to do: simplify their work.

BYOD innovations at Jamf

Jamf CIO Linh Lam and Dr. Emily Kausalik, Manager, Client Platform Engineering, wowed JNUC attendees with their acting skills as they demonstrated new developments in Jamf’s BYOD offering.

Together, as a new employee and an onboarding specialist at Acme Corp., they walked attendees through:

• Secure onboarding with a personal device using SSO
• Partitioning iPhone to create a private side and work side with separate phone numbers and data
• Automated loading of productivity apps
• Jamf Trust, giving users insight into any device risk factors and assuring that Jamf Private Access is running
• Accessing Self Service: Jamf’s app catalog allowing users to choose the apps that support their work best

Apple Wallet as access badge

This eager new employee at Acme and her helpful onboarding specialist also ran through a new feature Jamf offers our employees: adding an enterprise access badge directly into Apple Wallet.

With this feature, employees don’t need to track a phone and a badge, and they can get up and running immediately without having to wait for a physical badge.

Apple Wallet badge soon to be available to all customers

Showing how his phone is set up BYOD with a partition, Dean Hager explained that employee badge in Apple Wallet has been made available internally to Jamf employees to access their office locations. In the future, he announced to the enthusiastic crowd, Jamf and SwiftConnect will allow businesses to seamlessly enable employee badges in Apple Wallet for their organizations.

Jamf and Okta: a critical partnership

As seen in the identity-based demonstrations, Jamf and Okta are on the front line together innovating. Hager offered a warm welcome to Okta CEO, Todd McKinnon, who joined us remotely.

Okta is a partner, and also a customer of Jamf: "I feel more comfortable because I know Jamf Pro is managing my laptop," said McKinnon.

McKinnon discussed collaborating with Jamf teams. He particularly highlighted work on the Enrollment SSO and Platform SSO that Okta and Jamf teams are working on together to provide the best possible experience. "We couldn't ask for a better partner," said McKinnon.

Jamf and Google Chrome: working together to simplify work

Industry innovator Google Chrome has been working closely with Jamf, especially over the past year on multiple initiatives. Jamf Nation welcomed VP of Engineering for Google Chrome, Parisa Tabriz, back to JNUC.

Tabriz was happy to hear that Dean Hager chooses Chrome as a business browser, and gave a shout-out to her team that works hard make it more secure and faster.

She and Hager ran through a few key ways that Google Chrome and Jamf are working together, starting with the Apple Wallet demonstration, which used Chrome Browser as the enterprise work browser and secured per-app VPN and Jamf Private Access through managed Apple IDs federated to Microsoft Azure.

Security also depends on the ability to block compromised devices, which Google BeyondCorp partnered with Jamf to make it available on a Mac.

New iOS developments and looking ahead

• Due to popular demand, Chrome Browser Cloud Management capabilities supported by Jamf Pro are now available for iOS devices
• Jamf’s integration with Google’s context-aware Zero Trust framework BeyondCorp will be available on iOS devices in early 2023

Find more information at sessions on Chrome Browser Cloud Management and BeyondCorp, as well as an executive roundtable with Dean Hager, Parisa Tabris, and Amol Kabe after the keynote.

Can your users choose what they love?

Mac has exploded in the enterprise since the pandemic began, and we see no signs that this adoption is slowing down.

Just like BYOD, corporations want to make the best first impression on new users with their company-owned devices as well — from the moment they take the plastic off the box.

Zero-touch Mac onboarding with Jamf

Taking zero-touch to the next level

No workflow is more important than the onboarding experience. It provides users with a first impression of how they work with technology in your organization, and it ensures that devices are secured before resource access.

To show us how it’s done, Linh Lam came back to the stage, demonstrating how Mac onboarding with Jamf smooths and automates the process and impresses new hires.

Lam covered:

• Individualized onboarding per role which loads the right apps and configurations for the new hire’s needs
• Zero Trust identity verification that secures with no need to repeatedly enter credentials with Jamf Trust, offering unified cloud security and connectivity for remote workers and ensuring a safe connection
• Two-step authentication that can use touch ID and SSO across all apps

She also demonstrated how the workflow handles apps: both those automatically installed and those that employees choose from over 1,000 titles available through App Installers.

New and upcoming for App Installers and Jamf Trust

• Customization of end-user notifications through App Installers, available soon
• Jamf Trust and Jamf Protect end-user alerts for vulnerabilities on their devices, available now
• App Installers will be available to end-users in Self Service in the first half of 2023

Lam thanked Apple IT professionals for being at the front lines of creating secure and user-friendly experiences.

Industry-specific workflows with Jamf

American Airlines: shared devices and app support in aviation

Jamf Nation welcomed Charles Sucur, Director of Enterprise Mobility and Desktop Services at American Airlines, to present how front-line team members have expanded their use of mobile devices for everyday work across many jobs at American Airlines.

• Pilots: digital flight bag
• Flight attendants: point-of-sale and access to AA's portal
• Mechanics: digital tech ops
• Gate agents: ability to search the portal and engage with passengers, eliminating wasted time and increasing customer satisfaction. Can check people in at the jet bridge or even aircraft.

He discussed:

• Shift from hybrid Android/iOS to iOS
• Key features and functionality of Inflight, Flight, Tech Ops, Airport
• A peek into things to come: working on 5G, predictive cellular monitoring that synthesizes info on product connectivity

HSBC Bank: the importance of trust

The banking industry has unique security, reporting and encryption needs. John Strosahl, Jamf President and COO, interviewed George Kofos, who leads HSBC’s First Line of Defense Cyber team globally for Mac and mobile, and Tarshan Patel, technical product owner and lead engineer for end-user devices for HSBC.

HSBC Bank introduced Jamf five years ago to manage and secure devices without compromising the user experience as the bank grew. It implemented zero-touch deployment two years ago in response to the global pandemic. They now have a few thousand devices with Jamf MDM and using Jamf Connect to stay secure.

HSBC found Jamf vital, particularly in the face of ever-changing threats, in the way that Jamf offers same-day support for macOS versions, keeping their environment more secure: where management meets security. The speed with which Apple releases updates is not there with other OS's. "Pushing updates without compromising user experience is key to our success," said Kofos. "Keeping the estate up-to-date is the best way to ensure that everything is secure."

Patel chose Apple and Jamf for consolidated support, operations, and monitoring that included care for the end-user experience.

Management, trust and security

Michael Devins, Director, Product Marketing, Security, took the stage to expand on the important interweaving between management, trust and security, and the user experience.

Users need to feel empowered and productive with their technology. And organizations need to trust that their workplace is secure."

“’Manage and secure Apple at work’ is more than just a tagline,” explained Devins. “They are two halves of a complete solution.”

This is why deep cloud identity integrations at every step of the user’s journey is absolutely critical, and a key part Jamf's security strategy.

Identity unlocks the unboxing experience. It is also the most secure way to enroll corporate and BYOD devices.

Amazon: AWS EC2 groundbreaking new solution

Amazon’s Vice President of Elastic Compute Cloud - EC2, David Brown, joined us by video to discuss innovations in AWS, especially an exciting new integration with Jamf.

Brown was excited to join the presentation and counts itself as part of Jamf Nation.

Customers said they would love development options available using AWS on digital mac environments. Customer feedback has been amazing: thousands have been able to innovate even further with easy and inexpensive abilities to test in various environments.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which currently allows developers to create multiple instances of macOS environments to develop and deploy new applications, now has a unique capability.

Brown announced that developers and admins can now manage virtual EC2 Mac instances with Jamf Pro just as they manage physical Mac devices complete with deploying policies, creating configuration profiles and installing software. It even allows for M1 environments.

And those who choose can be automatically enrolled in Jamf Pro as soon as they buy EC2 in the AWS portal.

See it in action during the Wipro and AWS team JNUC presentation!

Braiding management, trust and security together

Thanking Brown, Devins continued to discuss how security and management work closely together, outlining:

• Smart Groups and how to use them for certificate lifecycle management, App Installers and device risk status
• Apple’s upcoming Rapid Security Response update capabilities separate from OS updates
• Pro’s upcoming support for Apple’s new Declarative Device Management protocol: devices automatically and autonomously report changes back to Jamf Pro without overburdening the network
• Device risk status, using a multitude of security considerations
• Dramatically expanded capabilities of Jamf Protect to guard against a changing threat landscape

He also had several new and coming-soon announcements:

• Next-generation Microsoft Device Compliance integration will be coming later this year
• Secure connection with Jamf Private Access when moving from networks without the constant need to sign in
• Mac remote access for IT admins will soon be built directly into Jamf Pro (no VPN required)
• Endpoint telemetry stream from Compliance Reporter embedded directly into Jamf Protect, coming next month

Microsoft and Jamf collaboration levels up

Jason Roszak, Chief Product Officer for Microsoft Endpoint Manager, joined us by video.

Roszak reviewed the long history of Microsoft and Jamf Pro co-deployments in organizations globally. He also pointed out that Microsoft and Jamf offer integrations throughout their management and identity products that enhance Jamf Nation's ability to manage users and devices -- especially in SSO.

He was excited to announce the expansion of that collaboration with the two organizations working together on Apple’s latest announcements for Enrollment SSO and Platform SSO capabilities.

And coming soon: Jamf’s next-generation support of Microsoft Device Compliance.

Together, Jamf and Microsoft are making it even easier for organizations to trust every person and device accessing their network.

Jamf Threat Labs

Devins went on to discuss Jamf Threat Labs: a team of security researchers and data analysts, combined with advanced machine learning that we call MI:RIAM. This allows Jamf to deliver real-time threat intelligence at a massive scale.

He offered a few examples:

• Jamf has blocked more than 122,000 zero-day phishing attacks just in the last year
• We now offer automatic blocking of malicious domains and sub-domains
• Jamf Trust can send users alerts to suspicious behavior
• Jamf now assigns a unique risk score for apps based on suspicious developer profiles, malicious code patterns, risky dynamic behavior and dangerous permissions
• Our customized content filtering covers macOS and iOS

Devins also discussed Jamf’s plans to acquire ZecOps, a leading mobile security solution designed to discover and analyze cyber attacks on mobile devices, which will bring immense value to Jamf Threat Labs, and announced soon-to-come simplified offerings.

Starting early next year, Jamf will be simplifying all of our security and access technologies into Jamf Protect and Jamf Connect.

Technology that students love and schools trust

Jamf Nation then welcomed Jamf’s Suraj Mohandas, Sr. Director, Product Strategy, Education.

Suraj discussed how Apple technology empowers creativity, collaboration, imagination and active learning and how Jamf supports this technology, offering schools a layer of management, security and trust.

Jamf is now partnering with nearly 38,000 schools globally, empowering an estimated 40 million students with Apple technology, with features like:

• Tailored technology deployments
• Personalized 1-1 programs that engage and excite students
• Collaboration and communication tools for parents, teachers and students

To help demonstrate some of the ways Jamf empowers educators and students, Andrena Murphy, facilitator at JJ Legacy School and Urban Ventures in inner-city Minneapolis, Minnesota, joined Mohandas on stage where the audience applauded this first-time attendee.

Jamf Safe Internet: what’s coming

Mohandas provided a Jamf Safe Internet demonstration, showing how simple and intuitive the product is to use.

Mohandas also announced, to wild applause, that Jamf will extend support to protect students using Chromebooks and Windows by the first half of 2023.

Jamf School: engaging students, parents and teachers

He and Murphy then led the audience through a demonstration of some of Jamf School’s easy and intuitive offerings and features.

Murphy set up a class with all of the necessary restrictions and provisioning for a single class, allowing students to communicate directly with the teacher during and before the class. Addressing questions and needs directly and immediately improves classroom management and student outcomes.

Jamf Innovation Hubs

Andrena Murphy’s job as a facilitator is focused on two Jamf-sponsored Innovation Hubs in two of the city's lowest-income neighborhoods. JJ Legacy School in North Minneapolis exists to offer equitable Montessori education to an intentionally diverse student body. Urban Ventures in West Phillips offers wellness programs, cultural activities, college and career counseling and other community supports.

Our hubs engage students in active learning, teach critical thinking skills and show students ways that they can use technology to grow and learn. Direct engagement with technology can also help some students see a future in technology that they might not otherwise have imagined.

Innovation Hubs aren’t only in the US; the majority of our hubs are global, and Murphy introduced a video explaining the difference that Jamf-powered Matter Innovation Hubs are making in one country alone: Zimbabwe. And in one school: a school that serves 80% disabled students and 20% non-disabled students.

What’s coming up for Jamf and Jamf Nation?

Dean Hager brought it all together for JNUC 2022 by reminding us that a combination of Apple management and mobile security solutions work together to achieve Jamf’s purpose. In fact, the purpose of all technology: To simply work.

To that end, Hager reminded Jamf Nation of the new functionalities and workflows coming later this year or in the first half of 2023 that will continue to help organizations succeed with Apple.

From Declarative Management support to employee badge in Apple Wallet and all things between, we’re overflowing with Jamf’s updates and offerings!

Want more information on these capabilities? We’ll have more to tell at our virtual Jamf Event. Stay tuned for full event details!

Next year’s JNUC location and dates

It’s never too early to look forward to next year’s JNUC, which Hager announced will be September 19-21 in Austin, Texas! Registration information coming soon.

Before parting from Jamf Nation to join in on presentations, workshops and hands-on demonstrations, Hager called out our Jamf Heroes and Jamf Nation members who participated in the Jammies. The annual awards ceremony recognized those who stood out as leaders for their participation in either our Jamf Heroes or Jamf Nation communities.

“As always,” he said in closing, “take care of yourselves and each other, Jamf Nation.”