For those of you who have been with us for a while, you might remember a previous post we did surrounding the IT phenomenon, employee choice. That was 12 months ago. Fast forward to today's evolving IT landscape, and at some point you're bound to come across "united ecosystem management". For starters, unified ecosystem is an elegant term created to credit the growing trend of employees looking to keep all of their devices (phones, tablets, and computers) in the same family (i.e. Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.), mixed in with the ever-popular, employee choice model that many organizations now offer. It wasn't too long ago that managing devices of different makes was a downright nightmare for IT professionals. Yes, technically speaking it could still be done, but most of the time what one management system did well for one family of devices, served as a direct detriment to the others. (look no further than Active Directory + Apple devices).
By now, we are all familiar with the "have it your way" world we have grown so accustomed to, with our IT preferences being no different. The debate has clearly shifted away from the value of employee choice, and instead now focuses on how to get the best talent in the door (by offering employee choice), and that talent getting to work on the machine that fits their fancy. Let's face it, users can be fiercely loyal. And why not? If you find that working on a Microsoft surface computer/tablet combo integrates well with the android device in your pocket, you're more likely to stick with what you know! (Obviously it goes without saying, but we lean towards the fruit and the magnificent ecosystem Apple has continued to provide on every device).
Where am I going with all of this? Simple. It's never been a better time to be picky about the tech you use professional, nor having the task to manage all different devices in a structured environment that welcomes tech diversity.
A prime example of this user-centric (unified ecosystem management) experience is the partnered integration shared between the Jamf Pro and Microsoft Intune platforms. With the partnership announced in 2018, it was natural for IT professionals on both sides of the Operating System debate to be skeptical about the newfound partnership of two software giants. But somewhere between the ability to share inventory data, apply conditional access and offer remediation paths, IT professionals have found their confidence again, in knowing that secured users are accessing corporate data from trusted applications on trusted devices, in a securely managed environment.
While only one example, the truth remains; the demand for a brand agnostic device management platform exists. What started as a recruitment tool for organizations has now come home to roost (in a good way!). From an IT professional's perspective, now you can maintain the integrity of your IT department's security posture, and keep the end-user happy. Simple win-win.
If you're interested in learning more about how to unite your tech ecosystem in a way you'll be able to coherently manage, Jamf Inc. does an excellent job with their white paper on the topic, Unified Ecosystem Management - Delivering a better Enterprise Experience.
And as always, we've got an office (virtual) full of Jamf gurus that would love to help get you started down the path to a more united tech ecosystem. All you have to do is ask!
