Why should we be managing Apple devices and what N‑central 2024.1 does for us?

We have all heard that we as MSPs should be managing Apple devices. We all know the common reasons why:

1. The c-suite uses them
2. Marketing and creative use them frequently
3. Dev is starting to use them more and more

However, I do not hear MSPs bring up two of the most important points as to why we should be managing Apple devices.

Why manage Apple devices?

Firstly, Apple has some of the best marketing around and due to this, the younger generations love Apple devices. As more and more of Gen Z and Gen Alpha are entering the workforce or are about to enter the workforce, we are seeing the adoption of Apple devices grow and grow. According to one JumpCloud report the percentage of macOS devices in the SME space has jumped to 22.4%. Secondly, we have seen a “roughly 100%” increase in the new malware specimens that target macOS according to Patrick Wardle, an Apple security specialized researcher.

These two points now put us as MSPs in a tough spot if we are not supporting Apple devices. If we are not managing them, we are not protecting our network properly. We are opening ourselves up to gaps in our security posture that could have devastating ramifications on our business. Not to mention that we are leaving revenue on the table.

Managing Mac devices with N‑central

Updates in N‑central 2024.1 bring a few new items to the table to better help us manage Apple devices on top of the already easy-to-use features.

Below is a quick summary of the key features designed to streamline Mac device management.

Device Management for Apple UI update

• The Profile Deployment tab has become the Devices tab. This is the start of N‑able increasing functionality in this tab and we will see much more to come in the future.
• There is now a more obvious Profile Mismatch Indicator to show when profiles that are installed on a device no longer belong to the customer that the device belongs to.

Read about all the Apple DMA UI updates

N‑central 2024.1 new releases

• Device Management for Apple Icons: In the All Devices view we are now able to at a glance make sure our devices are properly enrolled in DMA and provide context for any states that are found.
• Patch Management Report for Macs: The introduction of the Managed Patch for Mac report now allows us to provide our techs and end users with simple and easy-to-read overviews of the work done by our Managed Patch Scheduled Task for Macs. 

Read the full release notes for N‑central 2024.1

Enhancements to the existing toolset

New features are all well and good but, how do they affect the already existing features in the N‑central toolset?

The All Devices view of N‑central already gave us access to Take Control, Remote Background, and MDM commands (such as, remote wipe, lock the device, restart the device, shut down the device, pull a command history, and push macOS updates). Now we have a quick view into what Apple devices you can perform these actions on, and if you cannot quickly address a problem the DMA Features Column will provide a common reason as to why not.

Patching for Apple devices in N‑central was one of the harder scheduled tasks to report on and it was needed so that we could prove to our end users that we were performing our jobs. No more are we digging through devices or tasks to figure out what happened in regards to patching and when it happened! This new report can be found in the Reports section of the dashboard under the Status heading.

In Device Management for Apple the integration of Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager accounts as well as single devices has always been relatively easy. The management of Apps through the VPP program is a breeze. However, profiles have always been a bit of a hassle. Digging in device by device to ensure that the proper profiles are deployed and are owned by the proper customer has not been the easiest thing, thankfully with the updates to the UI this management task becomes a breeze.

Bridging the gap

With more and more Apple devices entering the SME space it is time to start managing them and accepting them as a part of the environments that we as MSPs support, and finding a simple and easy tool to work with is paramount. N‑central is a step in the right direction to manage your Apple devices and can help streamline the monitoring and management of those devices. The next step would be to accept that Apple is as Apple does and get onboard. 

Joseph Ferla is one of our Head Nerds. You can follow him on Twitter @headnerdjoe or on LinkedIn.