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Why MSPs Need Multi-tenant Apple Device Management

BANGKOK, THAILAND – JULY 31:  The Apple logo shining on the front of Apple Central World on the stores opening day on July 31, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. Apple’s second, and largest, retail location opened today at the Central World shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand.Ê Crowds lined up in socially distanced queues after being temperature...
Author: John Sutcliffe, vice president of product, Addigy
Author: John Sutcliffe, vice president of product, Addigy

Managed services providers (MSPs) that can take on new business and enhance their offerings to existing customers, without adding staff, are well positioned to leverage growth opportunities. But success often comes down to one key factor — scalability.

The rise of Apple devices in the workplace (macOS device penetration increased 6% from 2019 to 2021 according to research firm IDC) means there is an increased need for administrators to deploy, manage, and secure those Apple devices, and a competitive advantage for MSPs that do.

To leverage this growth opportunity, MSPs are seeking out scalable Apple-specific device management solutions to increase operational efficiencies and improve their end user experiences. However, not all solutions are created equal. One capability that can set one platform apart from another is multi-tenancy, which is the ability to manage multiple independent customers’ devices inside a single environment.

Multi-tenancy is especially important for MSPs because it allows them to seamlessly support the Apple devices of multiple clients all at once. Instead of wasting time flipping between accounts, remembering passwords, and constantly context switching between different tabs, a multi-tenant Apple device management solution allows MSPs to quickly access all their managed Apple devices and sweep for issues across their entire client base.

MSPs are always looking for ways to improve efficiency and increase revenue per engineer. Using a multi-tenant solution helps make that possible. Administrators can create an item once — like a software installation, security configuration, device monitoring alert, or even a custom automation — and then share it across each independent customer for the benefit of all.

MSPs that support Apple devices are also often concerned about their ability to provide a consistently high level of service at scale. When relying on single tenant solutions that force you to duplicate efforts for each client, this challenge is untenable. However, a multi-tenant solution makes quality customer support much easier. Everything you create can be quickly shared across your customer base. You can focus on the task at hand for all customers, instead of repeating a single piece of work individually for each customer because they are in the same system. This reduces the response time for any potential issue and improves the end user experience.

Apple device management is not something that every MSP offers to its clients, but with the rise of Apple devices in the workplace it’s becoming just as important to support these endpoints as their Windows counterparts. To do this well and in a way that scales, an Apple device management solution with multi-tenant capabilities can really help.

By carefully choosing the right tools, an MSP can ensure that it’s making the most of the opportunities at hand for its own business, as well as its customers.


Author John Sutcliffe is vice president of product at Addigy. Read more Addigy guest blogs here. Regularly contributed guest blogs are part of ChannelE2E’s sponsorship program.