Apple Launches IT Management Program To Make Small Businesses’ Lives Easier
Image via Apple
On Wednesday Apple announced its newest program, Apple Business Solutions. This is a subscription program aimed at small businesses to make device management and support much easier to handle.
For businesses with up to 500 employees, this service aims to assist in the process of employee onboarding, setting up a work device, or making necessary upgrades, among others. Alongside this, strong security, prioritized support, and secure data storage and backup are also offered in the program.
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The Collections feature of the service will help IT personnel to configure settings and apps for individuals or groups of employees. One example is that Collections can push VPN or Wi-Fi settings automatically when employees sign into a new device with their work details.
In addition to this, the new Apple Business Essentials app will also be installed onto each employee’s home screen. This will allow them to download assigned corporate apps, like Microsoft Office.
Image via Apple
Security goes both ways with this; IT managers can leverage FileVault for full-disk encryption on Mac, and Activation Lock to protect lost or stolen devices. In the case of an employee using an otherwise personal device, the User Enrollment feature will create “cryptographic separation” in order to ensure that employee data is still private, while company data remains secure.
“Small businesses are at the core of our economy, and we’re proud that Apple products play a role in helping these companies grow,” Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Enterprise and Education Marketing, shares in the press release.
“Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of employee device management within a small business … so companies can focus on running their business.”
Image via Apple
AppleCare+ is also available as an add-on, which will see Apple offering 24/7 phone support to businesses and employees alongside IT training and two device repairs per plan each year. Employees will be able to call for repairs from the Apple Business Essentials app, and a technician can arrive onsite in as little as four hours.
There are three different tiers to the subscription for Apple Business Essentials arriving soon, with the lowest starting at US$2.99 per month. Each plan will be able to support up to three devices and comes with up to 2TB of iCloud storage. The service is available in beta now, with sign-ups available from today.
[via Hypebeast, all images via Apple]
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