The Integer Group

Creative users require creative service

As an advertising agency, the Integer Group applies a unique understanding of the retail marketplace to “make a certain magic happen.”

As Director of IT in Integer’s Des Moines office, Philip Luedtke is charged with making his own kind of magic. His department manages the technical resources for a wide range of employees – from administration, accounting, and human resources to artists and designers.

“Our needs really depend a lot on the individual user,” Philip explained. “Some of our users want their specific applications and that’s all—while other more tech-savvy users are used to having more control over their machines.”

When a technical resource is the tool for creative magic, it’s important that the resource operate as the artist expects.

“Time saving on IT tasks is a huge deal,” said Philip, “The less we can be part of the process, the better.”

When the solution is the problem

Philip and his team made the move to Jamf Pro after toiling with another set of IT management tools. He describes a scenario where seemingly every task had some difficulty or characteristic not easily addressable with their chosen management solution.

“We were constantly frustrated with the lack of easy-to-use features,” said Philip. “Script writing was a massive headache, it actually became easier to do a lot of the tasks manually.”

For an agency that prides itself on its “work hard, play hard” culture that “keeps employees one step ahead”, these kinds of IT headaches were fundamentally unacceptable. Philip and his team needed a change, and they chose Jamf Pro to help make the magic happen.

The “massive headaches” were alleviated. Philip was immediately pleased with Jamf Pro’s ease-of-use. Jamf Pro’s policy-based deployment features were a natural fit.

“We had some training and were deploying packages using Jamf Pro within one day,” he remembers. “It ties right in to our Open Directory server and we have a very simple structure that matches packages to job functions.”

That wide range of users is easily managed, too.

“The Self Service software portal lets higher-level users feel like they have a lot of control over their machines. The request system to add software to the Self Service list is heavily utilized.”

Even in situations where the IT team needs to keep close reigns, Jamf Pro shines.

“For example, we have some accounting software that requires training,” said Philip. “With policy-based software deployment, that software can be deployed in advance, and made available only after the user has been trained.”

Technologists are creative, too

Philip’s department doesn’t rest with managing their everyday tasks. They’re not content to let their artistic co-workers be the only creative problem- solvers in the building.

“Jamf Pro’s open-ended, standards-driven approach gives us a chance to integrate in with some of our other tools,” Philip explains. This was another area in which the previous solution fell short. “None of the functionality was very transparent and when we asked for more visibility, we were told a flat-out no.”

By integrating some features of homegrown asset management and reporting tools with Jamf Pro, the Integer Group is able to create a unique and relevant tool set.

Headache-free and confident, Philip can make his own magic happen.