TeamViewer brings Jamf Pro admins and end users together

In the Virtual JNUC 2021 keynote presentation, Jamf Product Marketing Director Jen Kaplan discussed new functionality available for enterprise customers. Jamf Pro now offers a third-party screen-sharing framework and an integration with industry leader TeamViewer, allowing IT admins to easily initiate remote sessions to support enterprise users.

Here is the relevant quote from the keynote presentation, which you can watch in full on YouTube.

Lastly, to provide the best possible experience for administrators and end users, Jamf has created a third-party screen-sharing framework and partnered with TeamViewer — the leading remote sharing application among enterprises — to integrate their platform to Jamf Pro… The combination of Jamf Pro and TeamViewer allows administrators to choose the remote monitoring tool of their choice and use it directly within Jamf Pro. This empowers them to quickly assess and solve problems without context switching.

After procuring a TeamViewer license and optionally deploying the agent, an admin can navigate to the Jamf Pro settings menu, enable TeamViewer as a third-party screen-sharing tool and paste in your private key, providing new panes within the Jamf Pro device record for enrolled Mac computers.

How do TeamViewer and Jamf Pro work to connect admins and end users?

The increasing prevalence of remote and hybrid work models, accelerated by the global pandemic, has led to the proliferation of remote administration, or screen-sharing, apps. These can be used for troubleshooting problems when verbal communication between IT and the end user is difficult or impractical. Jamf Pro already offers a wide variety of tools for managing devices, but the TeamViewer integration adds a new dimension to tech support capabilities, making interactions with admins much more efficient and less intimidating for inexperienced users. Both parties receive the advantages of being in the same room without having to leave the comfort of the home or office.

Founded in 2005 in Göppingen, Germany, TeamViewer makes software that has been installed on more than 2.5 billion devices worldwide. Based on positive customer feedback and a highly developer-friendly API, Jamf selected TeamViewer as the first third-party remote administration solution to integrate with Jamf Pro.

This allows an admin to request a session with an end user from within Jamf Pro, viewing their Mac screen or even taking control of their computer to address a problem. The end user is prompted to initiate the session via Jamf’s Self Service; for privacy and security reasons, the session does not begin without the end user’s permission.

Admins can send a remote administration session request with a single click, from whatever device is preferred or at hand: TeamViewer is a flexible cross-platform solution. The integration utilizes a Jamf secure communication channel to transmit the connection requests, which provides an additional layer of verification and reduces the risk of vulnerabilities from user errors. Once the end user initiates a session, the admin has direct access to their Mac screen and can quickly identify problems and resolve them remotely.

What can IT admins use TeamViewer for?

This JNUC session includes some prime examples of the types of scenarios and use cases in which TeamViewer proves particularly useful. It can be difficult to explain to a user how to navigate to a particular item in their desktop or Finder window when the two of you are looking at different screens. With TeamViewer, it becomes easy to see what the end user is seeing and point out the critical Downloads folder or System Preferences icon. You can also walk them through a procedure, like setting up user-approved MDM, that requires their participation, in order to give them the peace of mind that they’re taking the correct steps.

For most users, screen-sharing functionality eliminates the communication barrier and allows you to give them specific instructions while preserving their autonomy. But for a sensitive or time-critical operation, you always have the option of requesting remote administration of the user’s computer and getting the task done yourself. TeamViewer gives you the flexibility of determining when you need to take control and seamlessly escalating the session from screen-sharing to operating the device remotely.

We value the enhancement that TeamViewer provides for Jamf Pro admins and look forward to the growth of this relationship. This integration is one that your IT team won’t want to miss out on – it makes technical support easier and more efficient for admins and end users alike, helping both parties to eliminate issues and move on to other tasks in no time.