Making Mac work in a PC world

Let's get real.

While Apple in the enterprise is rising, the reality is still this: most enterprise organizations are dominated by PCs. They use PCs regularly in most departments (outside of creative teams), and their tech stacks are heavily Windows-dominated.

What is the best way for IT teams to manage both Mac and PC, both iOS and Android?

The integration gap

Why not just use Parallels Device Management (PDM)?

A virtual macOS environment to manage Apple devices may sound like the simplest answer to managing Mac and OS devices within a Windows stack.

But there are several problems with using Parallels to bridge System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), chiefly this: forcing a Windows-based stack to manage Apple results in a loss of native MDM capabilities, resulting in:

• No automated enrollment capabilities (one of Apple's potent upsides)
• Curtailed compliance settings and capabilities
• No automated software update management
• No OS deployment via task sequences

Even if IT uses complex manual workarounds to deal with this issue, it can never completely remove these obstacles.

Apple simply has more sophisticated and customizable settings than Windows, and it needs Apple-first MDM and security to reach its fullest potential.

A parallel solution is not an integration. It's trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

So what tools work for a mixed Windows, macOS and iOS environment?

The most important tools are those that can integrate fully with existing enterprise tech stacks.

Solutions such as Jamf for Mac and Jamf for Mobile use tools like Jamf Pro, Jamf Protect and Jamf Connect that can integrate directly into existing tech stacks originally meant to manage and secure Windows and Android devices.

Our partners make Jamf integrations into Windows and PC stacks even more powerful and seamless.

Certificate and device lifecycle management

DigiCert ONE Trust Lifecycle Manager (TLM)

DigiCert ONE Trust Lifecycle Manager + Jamf Pro gives Apple fleets (macOS, iOS and iPadOS) hands-free certificate lifecycle automation. TLM issues, rotates and automatically revokes certificates upon device de-enrollment.

TLM:

• Enforces key algorithm policies
• Tracks inventory
• Alerts IT teams before certificates expire.

This results in more secure zero-trust access, fewer outages and help-desk tickets and unified compliance reporting.

Incident Response/SIEM

Palo Alto XSOAR

Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR integrates with Jamf Pro for comprehensive device management and is designed to simplify and automate complex security workflows across your security stack.

Use Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR TO:

• Improve investigation efficiency with a centralized workspace.
• Orchestrate response with prebuilt playbooks and automated response actions.
• Manage threat intelligence using external threat intel to enrich alerts and accelerate triage, incident investigation, remediation and reporting.
• Demonstrate program effectiveness with automatic analyst activity tracking.
• Easily implement managed security service providers (MSSPs) with full multi-tenancy for on-prem and hosted deployments to scale operations across clients.

Crowdstrike Falcon

Falcon is purpose-built to stop breaches via a unified set of cloud-delivered technologies that prevent all types of attacks, including malware and beyond: such as exploit, zero-day and hard-to-detect attacks. Falcon's powerful, lightweight solution unifies next-generation antivirus (NGAV), endpoint detection and response (EDR), managing threat-hunting capabilities and security hygiene.

Microsoft Sentinel

The Jamf Protect for Microsoft Sentinel integration pulls Apple endpoint security insights from Jamf Protect into Microsoft Sentinel.

The integration creates detailed event data from macOS endpoints to a Microsoft Sentinel workspace using a simple and easy workflow that provides full visibility into alert and Unified Logging events.

Splunk

The Jamf Protect add-on for Splunk offers security teams in-depth visibility into Mac security events. It provides integrated visualization and enriched investigation through threat-alerting and tuned endpoint telemetry data streams. With the add-on, Splunk users can easily integrate their Mac security data, gain valuable insights into their Mac security posture and quickly respond to security incidents.

IT Service Management (ITSM)

ServiceNow

The ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB) integration automatically collects and syncs user, hardware and software data for each device in your ServiceNow CMDB. It also allows admins to run reports on any inventory category and to make dashboards for instant report visibility.

Asset Panda

Asset Panda's asset tracking and management platform can sync with Jamf to give users complete access to the equipment information hosted in Jamf — and vice versa. Companies with Apple equipment managed through Jamf can configure this solution to better manage their assets as a whole, run more accurate reports, reduce manual data entry, conduct thorough IT audits and make more informed business purchasing decisions.

User onboarding

There are several tools that offer unified onboarding and identity management that works across Windows and macOS. Two of our partners:

Jamf Connect with Microsoft Entra ID

Microsoft Entra offers a unified authentication experience across devices and applications. Jamf Connect expands beyond macOS Platform SSO, allowing Mac authentication and identity management to work seamlessly with Windows authentication. This means smoother user experiences and integrated, stronger security.

Okta

Okta integrates with Jamf to unify identity across apps and devices with seamless single sign-on (SSO) and password synchronization. Okta integrates with Jamf Pro and Jamf Connect to create local Mac user accounts that authenticate users, giving them access to managed Apple devices and company resources.

The importance of interoperability

Instead of running two closed Windows and Mac or PC and Apple systems, save costs and lower risk by identifying tools that allow these two ecosystems to work seamlessly together.

There's no need to develop separate and custom processes for macOS or iOS in Windows-dominated organizations; Apple only needs interoperability.

Improve user experience, save time and money and fully embrace all the uniquely secure and customized offerings from Apple by using best-of-breed tools like those mentioned above.

Tools like these help Apple to fit seamlessly into existing enterprise systems, improving user experiences, security, specialization and productivity for everyone.