Apple today took a big step into providing enterprise technology, launching a new service called Apple Business Essentials — adding another strong argument in favor of deploying its products to enterprises.
What is Apple Business Essence?
This service combines a variety of services for small and medium-sized enterprises in one Apple-friendly MDM management tool. It is aimed at businesses with up to 500 employees.
Apple Business Essentials is now available in beta and will launch for real in spring 2022. Apple Business Essentials provides tools including iCloud+ for Work, AppleCare, 24/7 Apple support, device and app management, and automatic setup using Collections and Smart Groups.
Apple says the service will be available in the US initially, with prices ranging from $2.99 per month per user to $12.99 per month per user depending on the number of devices and storage levels. (More info below.)
The company also introduced a new Apple Business Essentials app that employees can use to install apps assigned to work and to request support.
Apple Business Essentials promises easy setup, onboarding, backup, security, support, repair and updates, and 24/7 on-call tech support.
With a nod to working remotely, Apple’s support component is flexible, meaning if you’re an employee working remotely from your home, you’re covered too. And if a technical support visit is required, a technician will be dispatched to your home within four hours. In other words, SMEs can outsource at least part of their technical support provision using the service.
Additionally, Apple’s new services can be used with existing MDM solutions, although the company says the services will be more valuable to companies that are new mobile management options. The idea is that Apple Business Essentials makes it as easy to manage Apple devices as using them.
Why is this significant?
Think back 10 years to the introduction of the original iPad, when Apple was a minnow in the corporate sea. There may be some creative professionals using Macs (and executives using iPhones), but the company’s position is limited.
That changed with the iPad, as C-class executives rushed to grab the new tablet. As they did, attitudes about the Bring Your Own Device policy are also changing, with employees becoming empowered to use the technology they rely on at home at work.
[Also read: SAP VP Martin Lang touts Apple, M1 Macs and the mobile enterprise]
Today, when given a choice, most employees will choose Apple products, with the Mac experiencing a certain revival on the back of the incredible M-series processors that Apple makes.
Discussing the importance of Apple Business Essentials, Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at Creative Strategies said:
“As a long-time Apple ‘observer’, you know very well that Apple is very shy about talking about how they meet the company’s needs. They always prefer to be seen as a technology provider rather than providing it to IT managers. Since the launch of the M1, I’ve argued that Apple’s biggest opportunity to increase its share of the PC market lies with the company. This product has proven itself to be not only desirable, but capable of meeting enterprise needs and moving from a BYOD or Back Door approach to IT deployments will allow Apple to grow market share more quickly. I think this is why the announcement is timely and significant.”
This move reflects the extent to which Apple has risked space in the company, and represents the company’s efforts to thrive in this sector.
Milanesi also said the move might challenge others already in the world, but said, “there is still an opportunity in the market if companies want to differentiate by supporting Mac and Windows.”
The analyst also noted that PC-centric companies like Dell, Lenovo, or HP that have worked to offer support to enterprise customers may be challenged, as they “always struggle to support Macs in the same way.”
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In her statement introducing the new service, Apple’s vice president of corporate marketing and education, Susan Prescott said:
“Small businesses are at the core of our economy, and we are proud that Apple products play a role in helping these companies grow.
“Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of employee device management in small businesses — from setup, onboarding, and upgrades, to accessing fast service and prioritized support, all while keeping data backed up and secure, so companies can focus on running their business. they.”
What does the company get?
With everything managed in one console, SMBs get:
- Collection;
- Device and user management;
- iCloud for work storage;
- AppleCare+ for Business Essentials (optional).
The console provides an instant display of monthly costs and can manage individual devices – so Apple TV in the conference room can also be maintained.
What is Collection?
Apple has thought about what happens when you introduce a new employee to your organization. The Collections feature allows IT to configure settings and applications for individual users, groups, or devices. You may want to install certain applications on all the hardware used by the accounting team, for example. Collections let you define roles, assign permissions, and more. It also gives IT accounts an easy-to-read current app license status, so admins can know when they may need to revoke or acquire new licenses for enterprise teams.
What user management tools and features are included?
Apple Business Essentials also automates services and permissions, and can configure employees’ personal devices to safely, securely, and — above all, privately — carry work-related data. This is done through support for two Apple IDs on the device – the managed and employee ID. It is created during user registration, when cryptographic separation for working data is introduced. This helps ensure employee data remains private, while company data remains secure.
On use, meaning when employees log in to company or personal devices with their work credentials, Collections automatically pushes settings like VPN configurations and Wi-Fi passwords. It will also install the Apple Business Essentials app, where employees can download and install key business apps like Cisco Webex or the recently upgraded Microsoft Word.
Apple also says the service empowers IT managers to implement critical security settings such as FileVault for full disk encryption on Macs, and Activation Lock to protect devices that may be lost or stolen.
What is iCloud for work?
I evangelized about the need for Apple to introduce iCloud for enterprises a few weeks ago. The company has now done just that.
Apple Business Essentials provides a dedicated iCloud account for work that functions like any other iCloud deployment. Business data in iCloud is stored and backed up automatically, making it easy to switch between devices or upgrade to a new device — and you can choose the amount of data to pass on to employees.
Employees continue to maintain separate access to their own iCloud data, enabling a separation between personal and work-related uses.
AppleCare+ for Business Essential
We don’t know how much this feature will cost yet, but Apple is also promising optional extras in the form of AppleCare+ for Business Essentials. Companies that sign up for this will be able to offer staff 24/7 phone support, get training for IT admins and employees, and cover up to two device repairs per plan annually.
(The cool thing about the latter is that it can be applied across all users/devices covered by the Apple Business Plan, so the cumulative impact is that accident-prone employees should be supported.)
Employees can initiate repairs from within the app, and Apple-trained technicians will be on site within four hours to get the device back up and running. If your employees are away, technicians will visit them where they are.
What is it like to use?
I’m only really fiddling with Apple Business Essentials at this stage, but it’s definitely an Apple product. That means a clear column-based user interface, a clean design that removes what’s unnecessary, and the use of eye-guiding icons and categories to help you find what you need.
Collections, for example, are easy to create, populate, and distribute, while more granular tasks, such as users, user groups, or device management are also easy to access and explore.
But for many, the Settings section will come in handy.
Apple seems to have put a lot of thought into this, combining standard items like passcode policy management and Wi-Fi settings with increasingly important controls, like Energy Saver Settings.
While it may not be clear at first why making sure all devices follow company policies for energy consumption, when you stop considering the energy costs of running systems for up to 500 employees, the benefits of those controls become much clearer. And they should probably be seen as very important as we enter the climate crisis.
How much does it cost?
Apple Business Essentials is available as a free beta starting today in the US.
After emerging from beta, Apple said the service will cost $2.99 per user/month to handle a single device with 50GB of storage, increasing to $12.99/user/month for up to three devices per user and up to 2TB of storage.
Those prices don’t include AppleCare+ for Business Essentials fees, and the company doesn’t charge beta users. But it doesn’t want to cost anyone a surprise once the service is launched.