The annual Jamf Trends Survey looked at Apple in the enterprise – evaluating growth, key drivers for adoption and ease of management. Conducted in January 2017 by Dimensional Research, this survey is based on the responses of 300 IT professionals, managers and executives from commercial organizations of 50 to 10,000+ employees from around the world.
Standardization on a single device brand is a thing of the past. Sorry, IT doofuses. Apple is gaining ground in the enterprise because employees prefer devices they use in their personal lives — Macs, iPhones, and iPads. In fact, the ability to work on a device(s) that an employee chooses and feels comfortable with largely impacts their productivity and job satisfaction. IT admins are adapting, finding that deployment, device configuration, security, and support are easier with Apple’s macOS and iOS than with other operating systems.
Apple continues to gain traction in the enterprise. An amazing 91 percent of enterprise organizations use Mac, while 99 percent said they use iPhone or iPad.
The use of both Mac and iPad devices continue to rise in the enterprise. In 2016, nearly all of the organizations surveyed reported an increase in both Mac and iOS device adoption over the previous year. 74% of organizations saw an increase in Mac adoption. 76% of organizations saw an increase in iPhone and iPad adoption.
Nearly half of organizations surveyed (44 percent) o er their employees a choice between Mac and PC, with the majority (71 percent) o ering a choice between di erent mobile devices (Apple, Android, etc.).
Companies of all sizes are considering and implementing choice programs. Since implementing an employee choice program in 2015, IBM has deployed nearly 100,000 Macs, making it the world’s largest choice program and Mac deployment. According to IBM’s internal survey, 73 percent of employees want a Mac as their next computer.
IT admins con rmed Apple is as easy, if not easier, to manage compared to its rivals on six critical tasks:
• Deployment: Of those surveyed, 62 percent said the Mac is as easy or easier to deploy than PC. Additionally, 93 percent said it’s as easy or easier to deploy iPhone and iPad over another platform.
• Platform Security: 66 percent said it’s as easy or easier to maintain a secure environment on the Mac versus a PC, with 90 percent agreeing it’s easier to secure Apple devices compared to mobile devices on other operating systems.
• Device Configuration: 58 percent said it’s as easy or easier to con gure a Mac than its counterpart the PC. Additionally, 91 percent said Apple mobile devices are as easy or easier to con gure than other devices, such as Android.
• Support Software: 63 percent said it’s as easy or easier, in general, to support a Mac than a PC. Additionally, 89 percent of respondents said it’s as easy or easier to support Apple mobile devices over others on di erent platforms.
• App Deployment: 57 percent said it’s as easy or easier to perform software and app deployment on Macs versus the competition, while 90 percent said it’s as easy or easier to deploy software and apps on an Apple mobile device instead of another operating system.
• Integration: IT admins who manage mobile devices know how easy it is to integrate iOS devices into any existing environment. However, not all IT admins know how easy it is to integrate Mac, yet. While only 36 percent of those surveyed understand the ease of integration with Mac, 79 percent of Apple mobile device users said they get it.
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As employees continue to demand Apple Macs, iPhones, and iPads, old-school IT doofuses, who for years erected artificial roadblocks against allowing Apple products into the building, will have a choice: Get with the program or get the hell out of the way (finally). New IT blood, those without idiotic and counterproductive anti-Apple bias, are welcoming the superior Apple platforms with open arms and are rewarded for it with ease-of-use and massive stress reduction in their, and everyone else’s, jobs.
To IT Doofuses who retarded their companies for years by pigheadedly barring Apple products: We told you so. Repeatedly.
To the Google Thieves: You can have the K-12 testing machine market. Apple will take the enterprise, thanks.
SEE ALSO:
IBM and United Airlines team on enterprise iOS apps to transform the air travel experience – February 2, 2017
IBM’s MobileFirst for iOS continues to win enterprise customers – December 15, 2016
IBM and Apple bring Watson into the iOS enterprise – October 26, 2016
The debate is over: IBM confirms that Apple Macs are $535 less expensive than Windows PCs – October 20, 2016
Apple Inc., the enterprise IT company – December 15, 2015
IBM: Every Mac we buy is making and saving us money – October 28, 2015
Now we know why IT support hates Macs (hint: Windows PCs = job security) – October 19, 2015
IBM: Corporate Mac users need less IT support than those stuck on Windows – October 18, 2015
Just 5% of Mac users at IBM need help desk support vs. 40% of Windows PC sufferers – October 15, 2015
Now if Apple would just get serious about the Mac again.
In my family, we do have them all. Love them, can’t live without them, they are sticky like Warren Buffett stated. Apple got us hooked.
Curious what the age breakdown of those surveyed are. I suspect a significant percentage graduated and entered the workforce in the last ten years, when Macs were prevalent in schools and colleges/universities. This is trending downward thanks to Apple’s failing to keep education a priority for Macs and letting Microsoft and Google grab a foothold on the market.
Apple can’t stop Microsoft and Google from taking that market. How does Apple stop tens of thousands of $200 Chromebooks from being chosen in schools. There is no argument Apple could offer to induce schools to pay a higher amount for devices. Apple has lost the educational market for good. Cheap is the only thing that matters in bidding for contracts. Some companies don’t mind becoming loss leaders for market share but that isn’t Apple’s style.
Apple can’t be blamed for putting quality above cheap. Why should Apple build cheap junk simply to win contracts. It’s like why a Porsche absolutely can’t be the vehicle most chosen for use in taxi fleets.
Yes so imagine if Apple were to cater more to the Enterprise with Enterprise specific computer models? What OTHER company would not LEAP to this opportunity instead of adapting a laissez-faire attitude of “Oh okay, if you really want to. But we won’t lift a finger to help you”
Same goes for paying companies, if need be, to make Mac versions of PC Enterprise applications and utilities. Put them on equal footing (in at least available software anyway) and the PC just becomes even more of an embarrassment.
This is another market that if Apple truly wanted it would be theirs for the taking should the will exist.
This article is complete nonsense and obviously written by an Apple zealot but comes as no surprise when we look at the source ( http://www.jamf.com )
Here is a few other info of one of the long time “IT doofuses” described in this article.
1) Diversity in IT platforms comes with the raise of BYOD solutions. These solutions are COMPLETELY platform agnostic. In the worst case, they require a simple agent (Citrix agent / RDP client) or even nothing in the case of a Web/HTML5 solution. In this kind of scenario, the job provided by the IT is not to “integrate” Apple devices but to create a secured environment in which everyone can bring and connect everything. It is clear that if you take absolute numbers… Coming from a world where Apple systems where forbidden to go in a world where they are tolerated (As are android / Linux / etc) makes a “huge” increase.
2) Admitting we speak about something else than BYOD, administering Apple devices is NOT easier. IT requires a second team and infrastructure dedicated to this task. It also requires to set up all the bridges between these systems and please don’t tell me that there are solutions for all these bridges and that they always work… It’s not the case. Don’t tell me either that these enterprises should go full Apple. Except in some very rare scenarios (Neither me nor any of my colleagues ever met such a scenario) this is just not possible.
3) Software deployment and compatibility. This is just a disaster if you have to maintain different solutions and even worse… If you must install compatible applications between both platforms that share the same data. There are always compatibility issues
4) A little additional and often neglected aspect… Apple USERS! Very often those entitled to Apple devices are from management or limited to some specializations. These users often consider themselves as superior to others and there needs to have priorities on other business needs. Managing these users is really really “complicated” (to say the least).
Conclusion : Outside of a BYOD device solution where the infrastructure relies on a RDS/VDI solution (based on Windows), Managing Apple in enterprise is a real pain.
Feel free to downvote. But better than that. Prove me wrong with good arguments (Sweet dream here on MDN)
You know Novad, I don’t know much about this Mac/Windows integration, but I think you are right. You don’t seem like an Apple basher IT person like many IT people are. Just hate Macs irrationally. I’ve never bought anything but Macs since my first Mac Plus in ’86, but own Windows 98 and 10! Apple has a lot of work to do yet… to KEEP us!
You know…
I have MBP / Linux / Windows Machines… I personally don’t care much about the platform I use even if like everybody I have preferences.
I’m just extremely tired by the negations of the technical problems that exist from zealot of platform X when it comes to the problems of integrating this platform X with solution Y.
Would we be in a professional world where Apple solutions could cover 100% of the needs of enterprises I wouldn’t care at all but it’s not a case… We are still (and for long) in a world where MS is unavoidable in the professional world and Apple an additional product.
An additional product is always an additional cause of problems.
And Yes… Products belonging to a minority are often defended by fans (if lucky) or zealots (if unlucky). On one side Linux users are such a small minority that they almost never disturb (Especially knowing that they are not part of management) but the apple Zealot can be a real problem.
Even if still a minority it’s a much bigger minority than for Linux and then, it’s not so unconventional to have one of these in the management.
In the last years I had at least 2 projects that were really at risk to become a disaster because of this kind of speach:
CEO : I have Apple at home and it’s perfect, MS is shit. All our VPs must have MBPs.
I’m maybe a bit bitter about the situation but I dream of a world where the right tool would be chosen for the right job… Not for its logo (Sweet dreams again)
integrating mac into a windows based environment can be a huge pain.. if your are all or 99 percent mac like IBM or Google of Facebook is, its a dream come true.
Guess how many Mac Admins they have for the entire (100,000+) fleet of macbooks they deploy…
7.
Google I mean.
7 Mac Admins.
As I said in my second answer… Where 100% Apple hardware would be possible I wouldn’t care.
That being said the environment at Google seems to be very heterogeneous. I would be curious to know how all this fits together.
I suspect a heavy use of Web Solutions and/or BYOD. *IF* I’m right, maintaining this kind of client environment doesn’t require many admins. In fact it’s just about deploying “standardized” images.
As a personal note… Would be happy to speak once with once of the architects of Googles’ solution to understand what they did and why they did it.
That being said… 7 engineers to administer a 100’000 whateverComputer infrastructure is not possible as soon as there is any real administration to do. Only an EXTREMELY standardized environment would allow that.
(article, couple years ago)
CIO.COM :
“Until last spring, IBM, a company with roughly 400,000 employees and 130,000 external contractors, was a just-say-no-to-Apple shop. Now the company is eating crow like so many other organizations that once supported the status quo and avoided Macs.
…. IT organization didn’t start officially supporting Macs until a year later. Since then, more than 30,000 Macs have been deployed at IBM in just five months, and the company says it is currently bringing 1,900 Macs to employees each week.
IBM is already benefiting from the change of heart and organizational process, according to Previn. The team of 24 IT staffers and specialists who support Macs at IBM is much smaller than what was required for PC support, and it spends less time fixing technical problems, Previn says. “You just have fewer problems coming in.”
While 40 percent of IBM’s PC users call the helpdesk for troubleshooting, on average only 5 percent of the company’s Mac user do the same, according to Previn.”
DIGITAL TRENDS:
“After letting its workforce choose between a PC or a Mac starting in 2014, many chose the Mac. Now, with nearly 90,000 Macs in use, IBM says it’s actually saving money…
..Macs in the company’s deployment require less technical support or repair. Windows PCs were on average driving twice the amount of support calls, but at three times the cost, he commented.
…. In dollars, this amounts to anywhere between a $273 to $543 savings per unit over their projected four-year lifespan. The success has even prompted IBM to purchase even more Macs, and by the end of 2016 it expects to have over 100,000 Macs in service,
It may be interesting to see what speced PC was used as the alternative choice to the Mac at those businesses that provided a choice to their employees. It could just be that employees chose the pricier computer since they didn’t have to pay for it themselves. Also though it may be small group if any, I wonder how many decided after using the Mac awhile to go back to a PC at IBM.
BYOD is BS in most cases as Novad pointed out. It’s VDI which means you are most likely using Windows for your session negating the reasons end users choose Macs. I’ll stick to managing our Wintel crap for the bacon and use my Mac at home. I do take issue with the I.T. Doofuses comment as well. The decisions on what to use come from the top where I work. I have a skull fracture from beating my head against the wall after trying to explain why choosing the “Microsoft” solution isn’t always the best even if they “throw it in” with the enterprise agreement. By the way – just venting here – SCCM sucks.
I second you about SCCM… I can be a real pain and IS complicated to use. You need really well trained engineers to get a good result from it.
But Kudos when deserved…
I’ve witnessed with my own little eyes a 260’000 System deployment, app deployment and upgrade process that was conducted within 6 hours and a 98% success rate with SCCM.
In was an infrastructure with a LOT of different setups, languages and system/app versions
It required months of preparation but the process itself was completed, as I said, within 6 hours.
Recently while merging multiple business units into a new larger one we were told we’d have to use SCCM. My group is coming from LANDesk and another from Solar Winds. It is difficult to come from a “premium” product to the MS solution which, as you pointed out, does work but requires lots of planning and even changing processes to fit how SCCM does things. I can definitely tell that MS engineers made this product and didn’t have a human interface / workflow person involved. The client pull only and time required to handle weekly exceptions for certain servers is not pleasant. Thanks for the feedback though, we’re working through it.
I can relate the pain…
I have some experience with LanDesk and its indeed a deeply different approach than SCCM.
Good luck for your merge 🙂
Macs are also great for creative types like me. Some of the best graphics software is made for Macs, and my comic series (not to shamelessly promote or anything) is proudly made on a Mac!
In the real enterprise world (Not IBM) the ‘doofuses’ aren’t the IT guys and gals, but the stupid end users who can’t even figure out how to turn on their computers. Or printers. OR cannot even do simple troubleshooting that a 5th grader could do. Hence the need for IT. So MDN, quit hating on IT already.
Much of what the commenters are saying is true, pro and con.
I am a Mac user since 1988. An Apple problem that few talk about is that since Apple has largely moved away from the old Human Interface Guidelines, which was a MAJOR mistake, 3rd party apps now constitute 99% of all of my usage. I am an HTML5 motion graphics web producer and I use roughly 12 apps to produce the content in those animated sites.
What is important about that is that many of those apps are available on both Mac and Windows and they work equally well.
So…….the apps matter more than the operating system. All because Apple gave away what made it great, the Human Interface Guidelines. But very few people are aware of that because they are too young to have seen it.
I will stick with Mac because my primary animation app is Mac only, but although the developers of the app are ex-Apple employees, they are very seriously looking at developing for Windows and as iOS becomes more dominant at Apple (I think that is what will happen) I will have to reevaluate everything.
Mac for now, loyalist since 1988, but…….reality may bite.
Looking at that list of “critical tasks” it looks eerily similar to reasons why Chromebooks are doing well in the Education sector (as well as price of course). If Chromebooks ever become good enough for the Enterprise, Apple may have another front they’ll have to defend as we know the vast majority of office desk employees really can do everything they need in today’s browser based environment.