Founded in 2013, dataJAR is a managed service provider (MSP) that offers powerful Apple services for business and education, with Jamf technology at the core of what they do.
With more than 300 customers and over 50,000 devices supported and managed, dataJAR has been recognised as a leading technical expert in the UK Apple space, with the highest number of international conference and community contributions among UK specialists.
dataJAR
Brighton, UK
The MSP, version 1.0
Starting small, dataJAR was founded in a spare bedroom by James Ridsdale, current director and head of services, with the goal of providing an exceptional experience with Apple to those who needed it. He and Mark Tsuchihashi, current head of sales, then started to get dataJAR set up in the professional services space with a focus on Apple and the elegant experience the platform provides.
They began with a few customers in the education sector who had visions of providing an outstanding Apple-based learning and teaching experience, but were lacking the resources and Apple expertise to bring those visions to fruition. From small Mac labs to schools with anywhere from ten to ninety devices, dataJAR’s initial offering was focused on supporting customers with technology to get their devices running smoothly, instead of struggling to get things up and running on their own, which can have repercussions, such as disengaged students and frustrated teaching staff. As their success in the education space became more known, dataJAR began to gain new customers in the commercial realm as well. dataJAR presentation Jamf Nation User Conference 2019
A perfect partnership
As dataJAR’s ambitions grew, so did their ability to expand their own services and customer base. In the initial years of operation (before the existence of Jamf Cloud), James brought his plan of offering Apple management as a service to his Jamf contacts and was met with support and understanding from day one. Because Jamf not only acknowledged but supported the MSP industry, he knew then that working together with Jamf would help him grow his idea of professional services into a larger portfolio of hosted Apple management offerings.
“The fact Jamf was a fully web-based product with a full set of capabilities and features from the outset really set it apart from the competitors and made it a no-brainer for me.” — James Ridsdale, director and head of services, dataJAR
dataJAR then brought on more key contributors, like Ben Toms, current head of innovation and platform, who was already an advocate for Jamf, having used the platform for more than ten years and establishing himself in the Jamf community early on.
Jamf understands and, more importantly, acknowledges and supports the MSP market. This is a new thing for Apple-based businesses because for years we have had no visibility.
Bringing this expertise to the growing dataJAR team helped them not only expand alongside Jamf as an MSP, but to also become a software developer, creating their own tools around Jamf to expand the most seamless experience for their own flourishing customer base. dataJAR and Jamf were also an ideal pairing given the customer-focused attitude and service both companies strive to provide.
“It is a very robust product that makes me comfortable and able to do my job” — Ben Toms, head of innovation and platform, dataJAR
Jamf’s focus on delivering the best product and platform enables us to always be the best at what we do too.
dataJAR’s aim now is to extend Jamf Pro far beyond what comes in the box. datajar.mobi is their core product, with Jamf at the heart of things. They currently offer fully managed, self-managed and hybrid Apple management services, as well as Auto-Update for Jamf, which is an automated application packaging and deployment tool for Jamf Pro. Because they are able to rely on the consistency of Jamf and know they will always get rapid support from Jamf if questions or issues arise, they have been able to provide organisations of all sizes with an outstanding Jamf experience and have been growing their business 30 – 40 percent a year, especially since joining the Jamf Managed Service Provider Program.
Jamf’s MSP partner program is for service providers supporting the Apple ecosystem who are eager to thrive and grow. A Jamf MSP enables certified and trained Jamf admins to deliver the experience Apple users expect, combined with the security, visibility and efficiency businesses require from Apple Enterprise Management. We help them achieve this with training and enablement offerings to develop their Jamf expertise and scale this knowledge across their addressable market.
From humble beginnings and just a handful of Jamf deployments, dataJAR is now able to host hundreds of Jamf instances for customers such as Eton College in Berkshire, England and Curve financial services in London, England.
Jamf is friendly, helpful and responsive, which we are always looking for in a vendor. They truly feel like an extension of our own business and we have got a lot of love for Jamf.
If you have any questions about the Jamf Managed Service Provider program, send an email to: emeia.channel@jamf.com
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