Making the workplace a better place
When it comes to tough jobs, Ergodyne knows you need tough gear to get the job done. From work gear like gloves, knee pads and head and eye protection, to jobsite safety equipment and personal protective gear, Ergodyne is dedicated to helping companies make the workplace a better place.
Having a core belief in the ability to make the workplace a better place means that Ergodyne must walk the walk and talk the talk by ensuring their own workplace is great for employees. After all, much like the purpose of the safety work gear they design, manufacture and sell, they know the importance of providing the right gear for the job. Inside their office, the “right gear” consists of keeping up to date with technology and software to help streamline their day-to-day work.
That’s why when it was time to select which devices Ergodyne wanted to give their team, Apple’s iPad and MacBook were the obvious choices. Using Apple allowed Ergodyne the ability to offer a tool that their sales teams, regional sales managers and marketing team wanted. After an initial rollout of devices to a subset of the team, they could quickly see the benefits including streamlined workflows, enhanced efficiency, increased sales, and no problems crushing their deadlines.
PAIN POINTS FORM IN THE PLAN
The ability to customize devices with apps and software to fit each specific employee and manager’s needs was made possible through the App Store and library of B2B Apps, but it was difficult to get the devices into their team’s hands. Ergodyne found that their method of manually setting up and touching each device didn’t match their size and rollout timeline and it wasn’t scalable with their growth plans.
Their initial plan was to have the Marketing team set up each device individually. This setup would include Apple ID, making sure the device had the apps and software needed for specific roles and responsibilities, email and Wi-Fi, and was up to date. The problem was that every time an app needed to be added, an operating system needed to be updated, or any device needed troubleshooting, it had to be done one at a time. As time went on, they were finding themselves with a stack of new iPad devices needing to be set up and a two to three-week turnaround time to get through every task manually.
On top of managing devices around the office, the Marketing team had the responsibility of managing and setting up iPads that are used at tradeshow events and setting up devices dedicated to remote employees, including one in the UK. Both of these use cases required a very different setup and needed a very different amount of management for the Marketing team to keep track of. If any devices from a remote location needed troubleshooting, they had to guide their coworkers through the process to do it themselves as Marketing was unable to physically touch the device.
All of it left them feeling like there had to be an easier and better way. IT functions were part of the Marketing role, but it was becoming too time consuming to stay on top of the device management needs and their actual roles as Marketers.
We needed something that was very simple and easy to use so we could set up devices and go. Other MDMs were too complicated but Jamf Now gave us what we needed, and you can’t beat the price.
ENTER APPLE AND JAMF NOW
Mike Babcock, Ergodyne’s only IT professional and IT Manager, could see the problems that were forming and the inefficiency of their process. It was becoming too much to manually manage the devices out in the field, remotely and at events, so Mike reached out to his Apple Business Team.
Mike had heard of Jamf when he initially looked at bringing Apple devices to Ergodyne but didn’t have a firm grasp of what MDM was or the extent of its value. When he was working with the Apple Business Team, he talked to them about the problems he was having and what he was trying to give his team through their access to iPad and Mac. It was clear during their conversation that Ergodyne was suffering from not having an MDM attached to their devices.
A lot of the MDM providers that Mike looked into were too complicated for what they were trying to achieve and would still take too much time to manage. “We needed something that was very simple and easy to use so we could set up and go. Other MDMs were too complicated but Jamf Now gave us what we needed, and you can’t beat the price.”
LET THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
For a one-person IT Team, Jamf Now proved to be the perfect solution for Ergodyne to achieve what they wanted and enable their entire team to feel supported. They could get new devices up and running, customize a Blueprint that had exactly what that device needed, push updates to devices no matter where they were, update operating systems, and once it was set up – they didn’t have to think about it.
Depending on the purpose of the device, it gets a combination of Microsoft Office, Dynamics CRM, Skype for Business, Concur, Firewall and security help, their project management app, Dropbox, and their VPN. With Jamf Now, Mike is able to set up several Blueprints that fit the needs of each role within their organization and push updates to all of them. He can also get a new employee up and running with their hardware in no time.
Mike wanted to allow the Marketing team to retain the ability to manage their devices for tradeshows and events so that they could make alterations and changes to fit their booth needs without waiting on anyone else to make it happen. Using the Jamf Now Teammates feature, Mike could give Katie Wick, Ergodyne’s Marketing Traffic & Digital Specialist, access to certain aspects of Jamf Now and empower her to take on the responsibility of device management. With Jamf Now’s simplicity, it was easy for her to manage the Marketing devices with little IT experience and Mike could spread out some of his tasks to put time back into his own day.
The biggest success for Mike is knowing that his team has the tools they need to be successful, feel supported when problems arise and as a business, know they can continue to grow without having to worry about it being unsustainable from a technology standpoint. “I am totally satisfied with Jamf Now. As a one-man show, it makes my life so much easier not having 12 iPads on my desk that need manual support.”
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