Why IT teams choose Jamf for Mac management: A guide to key differentiators

Introduction

IT teams are under pressure to manage, secure and support Macs at scale – without compromising performance or security, upholding the user experience and increasingly, on budgets growing leaner every year as Apple device adoption accelerates across the enterprise.

Jamf has led this evolution from the start, offering purpose-built solutions that address the unique challenges of managing Apple in modern, multi-platform environments. From automation and compliance to deep integrations and real-time threat detection, we empower IT and Security teams to stay ahead of risk while driving operational efficiency.

Discover the key differentiators that underscore the capabilities that only Jamf can provide to IT admins, security analysts and directors while understanding how benefits like streamlined workflows, reduced overhead and stronger alignment with business objectives crystalize that value to enterprises.

The Mac management landscape

Before Declarative Device Management (DDM), prior to the time when Apple introduced the Mobile Device Management (MDM) Framework as a standard component in macOS and iOS-based operating systems and superseding the manual management of mobile device fleets using Configurator workflows, there was Jamf.

Hopping aboard our DeLorean, let’s briefly travel to 2002.

The Euro was formally introduced as the currency for EU member states, American Idol premieres on tv and two IT professionals co-founded JAMF Software after developing Casper Suite, a solution to help organizations better manage their Mac computer fleet.

Where it started

Jamf’s heritage is as the innovator of Apple device management. The first company to recognize that Mac management tools that existed up to that point were cumbersome and inefficient, and set out to create a solution to address common challenges MacAdmin’s faced.

What it meant for Mac

In developing Casper Suite, Jamf synergized with some of Apple’s earliest principles, like:

• Empathy: Address and solve customer’s problems by first understanding their needs.
• Focus: Prioritize core features while eliminating distractions that don’t add value.
• Ease of Use: Design solutions that are purpose-built to resolve pain points with simplicity.

Who it helped

As users – both personally and professionally – gravitated toward Apple devices for home, school and work use for their balance of power, efficiency and ease of use, adoption in the enterprise has been growing ever since. This has not only cemented Mac as a serious business tool but underscores the real-world need for enterprises to effectively manage and secure Apple device fleets alongside other platforms across their infrastructure.

…with the keys to achieving that continuing to serve as the core function of Jamf for Mac nearly a quarter of a century later.

State of being a Mac admin

Back to the future, being an admin isn’t too far removed today from what it was twenty plus years ago. As far as management tasks go, much of the same is still pertinent nowadays, but there are four critical points that command more attention and specialized solutions to resolve challenges that modern enterprises face.

Managing more devices with fewer resources

Doing more with less is more than just a saying, from some teams, it’s a way of life. While this varies from company to company and even from manager to manager, the fact remains that device counts are only growing, with the global citizens averaging 3.6 connected devices per person. This means cloud-based MDM solutions are necessary to seamlessly scale device management to meet requirements as counts grow. But that’s only part of the equation, as additional devices mean administrative overhead increases, such as:

• Accuracy of device inventory becomes paramount
• Tasks require more time to complete and verify
• Risk factors lead to an increase in attack surface
• Achieving compliance becomes more complex

Securing endpoints against sophisticated threats

New technologies give birth to sophisticated threats that are not just harder to identify but target novel vectors that are difficult to protect against. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) present opportunities to threat actors and Mac admins alike, given the promise of leveraging powerful large-language models (LLM) to perform the “heavy-lifting” when it comes to developing threats that the world has never seen before, or keeping devices, users and data protected from such advanced threats. Other security concerns are:

• Supply chain-based attacks
• Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
• Data leaks from new technology usage (i.e., generative AI)
• Nation-state/State-Sponsored attacks

Optimizing productivity while supporting business objectives

Computers were designed to help us work smarter, not harder. And while that’s still the primary function, due to upfront and backend costs associated with maintaining these devices, organizations have taken to look more closely at expenditures to determine how technology implementations create additional value to justify ongoing costs. One consideration is adopting a solution that natively supports all of Mac versus one that prioritizes support for cherry-picked features (non-native). Examples of how native support enables greater business alignment are:

• Standardize on-boarding and off-boarding processes
• Boost efficiency through streamlined employee workflows
• Increase ROI while minimizing TCO throughout the device lifecycle
• Uphold a unified user experience across your infrastructure

Ensuring Mac fits in alongside other platforms – without gaps

Alongside the growth in Mac adoption mentioned prior, comes the prevalence of heterogenous environments, or those that support multiple platforms. With many industries prioritizing Windows services, supporting Mac means more than just “allowing users to bring in their Macs from home.” The modern threat landscape poses challenges to all platforms, Mac is no exception, that requires additional tooling to ensure devices and enterprises are comprehensively and holistically protected. Some of the gaps that can exist are:

• Unmitigated vulnerabilities on one platform still present risk to others
• User privacy is compromised because of security, or vice-versa
• Lack of parity between platforms impacts the organizational security posture
• Regulatory compliance cannot be enforced and therefore maintained

6 ways to achieve Mac management bliss – only with Jamf

“Hey McFly, you bojo, those boards don’t work on water! Unless you’ve got power!” – Griff Gang, Back to the Future Part II

The quote above highlights how key differences play a significant role in the efficacy of one product over another, despite how similar they appear to be. In this case, MDM and endpoint security providers that include Mac support exist aplenty.

Many of them support other platforms as well, which on the surface, appears to be a great feature for organizations that support multiple platforms. Dig below the surface however, and oftentimes these products support certain, cherry-picked features day and date with their release, if they’re even supported at all. While others may seem to fall more in-line with Jamf by offering same-day native support for macOS, matching one feature from a list of critical functions does not make them identical because no other products can provide the full breadth of capabilities that Jamf’s solutions do full stop.

Let’s learn about the Jamf-only benefits we highlight below and how we provide customers with the power to eliminate the most daunting management obstacles while dominating advanced security challenges while competing products might leave you stuck in the water.

Smart Groups

Referred to as “the missing piece to automating management”, Smart Groups are a truly unique way of assigning any tasks – from applying secure configurations to triggering policies to gathering the latest compliance report data. The flexibility of its dynamic nature ensures organizations can manage Mac fleets of any scale simply and efficiently without having to reinvent the wheel every time.

Deep integration

With hundreds of solutions providers in the market, chances are great that your enterprise already uses a product or two to support your IT needs. Instead of providing a dodgy workaround or requiring you to replace a valuable tool that’s already part of your stack, our solutions are built to connect with and extend your stack. We call this the power of and…and it provides you assurance that our products work the way you need them to work – with solutions that build on what you have.

Unmatched, customizable workflows

Workflows are the heart of business productivity. From them is what allows stakeholders to perform their job roles in programmatic ways by trimming processes into quick, efficient pathways of getting the job done. Thanks to the complexity of juggling multiple apps and thousands of devices, IT that doesn’t leverage automation can easily get overwhelmed by tasks. Hence why scripting capability and API support are baked right in to unlock advanced workflows to make short work of even the most complex scenarios and use cases, limited only by your business’s imagination.

Full-circle compliance

Compliance is a crucial part of security and equally crucial to business continuity without interruptions. That’s why full, 360-degree compliance is built into our solutions. Beginning with the ability to:

• Align security strategy with standards and frameworks
• Customize baselines to meet your unique needs
• Deploy secure configurations to managed Macs
• Actively monitor endpoints, gathering up-to-date telemetry data
• Assess compliance status in real-time with benchmarks
• Remediate detected issues through automated workflows
• Maintain compliance with policy-based enforcement

Threat hunting team

Our team of talented threat researchers, cybersecurity experts and data scientists are tasked with delivering a secure experience to Jamf customers though consistent analysis of identified threats impacting Apple, Jamf and their users. The work the Jamf Threat Labs team performs daily directly informs our solutions, in turn, making them more resilient and secure against modern threats. In short, it’s like having a threat hunting team by your side each time Jamf solutions are used to manage and secure Mac in your organization.

AI and ML technologies

AI/ML is commonly used in cybersecurity to help IT help their enterprises to better manage and secure devices. With Jamf, it doesn’t just end there. We are employing AI and ML in three ways to help optimize device management, data security and develop new IT skills.

AI Assistant

• Designed to empower Mac admins and security teams by “providing contextual support and streamlined workflows.” Simply put, helping reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks by automating them, freeing IT/Security to focus on strategic initiatives.
• By incorporating “skills” into the generative AI capability, the first of which is knowledge, the barrier of entry for IT/Security teams is being lowered by placing the full breadth of Jamf’s knowledge base at their fingertips. Develop existing IT skills and/or learn new ones with personalized support.

MI:RIAM

• Identify, analyze and remediate known and unknown threats while streamlining incident response – any time, day or night. By incorporating ML into your security stack, elevating and maintaining your organization’s security posture is driven by data point analysis, comparing historical and empirical data and capability improvements through continuous learning that complement, not replace, existing IT/Security teams.

Benefits to enterprises of all sizes

Jamf represents a strategic investment that transforms Apple device management into a measurable driver of productivity, compliance and risk reduction across the enterprise. By delivering enterprise-grade Apple device management and security that directly impacts key performance indicators (KPIs) our solutions:

• Align IT strategies with business objectives to better support company initiatives
• Develop enhanced workflows that automate repetitive tasks to refocus IT skills towards strategic endeavors
• Streamline the device lifecycle – from seamless onboarding to decommissioning
• Standardize compliance across supported platforms and ownership models to boost stakeholder productivity
• Ensure consistent performance with real-time reporting metrics and risk mitigation

Conclusion

Jamf’s legacy as the gold standard in Apple device management transcends the historical – it is foundational to business success in modern IT enterprises. For administrators and security analysts, Jamf delivers automation, compliance and integration to alleviate the drain on IT resources by simplifying the management and security of complex environments. For directors and executives, our purpose-built solution scales with your organization, driving measurable gains in efficiency, security and creating strategic IT value that aligns with business objectives and ensures continuity.

In a time when doing more with less is a crucial and critical requirement, Jamf ensures Apple ecosystems are not just supported but optimized.

The result? A smarter, safer and more productive enterprise.