Opinions of other MDM providers - iOS only

[al_platt]

Hi,

I've been looking through trying to find opinions/experience of iOS MDM from other vendors.

We're looking at options for iOS only and Casper doesn't do some of the things we're after - mainly a separate set of apps for containerising business data.

On the table we have Airwatch, Good/BB, and Mobile Iron. Security aside, the main thing i'd like to know is end user experience of things like their mail apps and secure browsing.

We currently have no MDM for iOS (and i'm not sure we actually need anything more than using the stock apps and the built in profile stuff) but the whole thing isn't going to move unless the email app is good.

I'm not expecting anything like the stock iOS mail app which, niggles aside is actually pretty good and people like using.

So, Jamf. Can anyone share any experience with me? I'll be supporting/provisioning so any heads up on that side would be great too. I've seen a few bits about Airwatch but the other two are currently a bit of an unknown and trying to find proper reviews outside of the app store is almost impossible.

This isn't for Mac, just iOS. Casper suits me fine (although someone is trying to force a LanDesk trial onto us with much hilarity when trying to get info from their "Apple Experts")

Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Al

[bentoms]

@al_platt You'43 looking for more MAM.. (Mobile Application Management).

I've used Airwatch & some of their apps, but the user experience was poor.

Also, folks want to use an iOS device.. & the apps ruined that for them.

Why is MAM so important? What features are missing from the JSS?

[al_platt]

@bentoms Yeah i know :/... and you're right, that's the bit that sucks. Everyone loves their iPhone but the enterprise view is that we cripple it with really bad third party apps using MAM.

The JSS does everything I want. I'm of the school of giving people some level of control, I don't really force much stuff on our Mac users and they trust that i'm doing everything in their best interests and i think the mobiles should be the same. DEP, WiFi profiles and the ability wipe lost devices outside of active sync. Oh and the option to remove activation lock would help, 35 devices currently in a drawer awaiting Apple ain’t so good. Just a few little things to make our Tech guys lives easier.

We do cyber security and there’s two sides to this, some security consultants think we need full control with company data segregated and others think we don’t need much. My voice of 15 years experience with Mac and iOS doesn’t really count for much above that, especially once the sales reps come into play.

It’s the 21st Century. If someone wants to leak company data then there’s a hundred ways to do so regardless of what you put in place.

As long as devices are all updated (i know we still have a load of stuff running various flavours of iOS8 and our security guy was a little spooked by the trident thing) and we can wipe if they ever get lost then that’s good enough for me. And the company has been using iPhones for years with little issue apart from the odd loss and activation lock so what would change now?

Unfortunately the whole MAM thing is sold as this magic bullet to old school IT types who believe corporate IT should control everything. It's just plain wrong and a little snake oily for my liking but you know, they pay me to do this stuff so i have to tow the line a little and do my best to prove that sometimes all this stuff isn't needed.

I suppose all I can do is go back to banging my head against a wall for now and see how it pans out once the trials have been completed. I've been playing with the Airwatch Boxer app today and it's OK but not great, I can't see many people happy making the switch. Mobile Iron is an unknown as not many people seem to use it and Good/BES12 could be anything at this point now it's with Blackberry!

Ah well, the life of a Mac Admin has never been an easy one when it comes to working within the confines of a corporate environment and their old fashioned way of doing things.. Just another one to add to the list.

Moan over anyway!

I'll should also take this opportunity to say thank you for the excellent site and tools that make my life a million times easier, much appreciated :)

Cheers

Al

[stevevalle]

Have a look into Microsoft InTune. It works along side Casper so you can have the device enrolled into Casper, content managed by InTune.