One thing I’ve been saying to buddies and colleagues over the previous few months is the pattern I see rising amongst IT professionals is the power to fireplace a vendor at any given level. When you get to a spot the place you’re primarily locked right into a vendor’s platform or product, you lose the higher hand relating to pricing when renewals come round. Even exterior of pricing, if mentioned vendor is not assembly your wants, you completely want the pliability to deploy alternative options. With iOS 17, Apple’s Return To Service MDM function will get a pleasant improve that may make it simpler to alter to new gadget administration distributors.
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT community from 2009 to 2021. By his expertise deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a cellular gadget administration system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, lots of of Macs, and lots of of iPads, Bradley will spotlight methods wherein Apple IT managers deploy Apple gadgets, construct networks to assist them, and prepare customers, in addition to tales from the trenches of IT administration and methods Apple might enhance its merchandise for IT departments.
The whole lot with gadget deployments in 2023 should be totally automated. Sure, I mentioned all the pieces. As organizations have expanded their utilization of Apple gadgets (Apple is on monitor to change into the highest enterprise endpoint by 2030), handbook options don’t scale.
How Return to Service works in iOS 17
When gadget administration distributors deploy Apple’s new RTS performance for iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, they’ll be capable of give prospects the choice to deploy a Wi-Fi profile with the command to wipe the gadget. Utilizing your current MDM, you’ll be able to ship the Erase Machine command and choose a Wi-Fi profile to make use of so the gadget will mechanically activate and re-enroll in your MDM. After sending the erase command to the gadget with the Return to Service choice and the Wi-Fi profile chosen, the gadget erases all knowledge on the gadget and can mechanically proceed to the House Display, enrolled and prepared for use. As a part of this course of, the beforehand chosen language and area are additionally utilized to the gadget. If the gadget is a mobile gadget (iPhone or iPad with mobile), it is strongly recommended by Apple to protect the eSIM knowledge plan when erasing by deciding on the choice “Protect knowledge plan after the wiping.” This selection will make it simpler for finish customers to get again up and working.
Migrating MDM suppliers for iOS and iPadOS gadgets has historically been a difficult and time-consuming course of. After erasing gadgets with the outdated MDM, IT directors should depend on Automated Machine Enrollment to enroll the gadgets on the brand new MDM. Nevertheless, this course of nonetheless required handbook steps, reminiscent of deciding on a Wi-Fi community and typing the password. This typically led to IT directors asking customers to return their gadgets for the migration, which might take weeks of steady work to finish for giant organizations.
Return to Service addresses this problem. With Return to Service, MDM migrations could be totally automated. A easy erase command despatched by the outdated MDM will set off the method, and the gadget could be mechanically enrolled on the brand new MDM in just some minutes. It is a actually game-changer for Apple prospects, making MDM migrations quicker, simpler, and extra environment friendly.
Alcyr Araujo, CEO Mosyle
If the gadget is registered in Apple Faculty Supervisor or Apple Enterprise Supervisor, you’ll wish to be sure the gadget is pointed to the brand new MDM server forward of the erase. When you ship the erase instructions with the Wi-Fi profile, it’ll mechanically activate, enroll, and get the person again to the house display screen with apps, books, and content material downloaded from the brand new gadget administration vendor.
Wrap-up
Mosyle not too long ago launched a beta function to start testing this function. Because it’s a part of the iOS 17 MDM spec, it’ll possible come to all gadget supervisor distributors this fall. Going again 10+ years, I’ve been speaking in regards to the challenges of migrating MDM distributors exterior of a brand new deployment, and with iOS 17 – Apple is making the complete course of so simple as level and click on.
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