Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) 2019 Overview

Jamf has a unique place in the Apple ecosystem due to their close partnership with Apple. Jamf has built a pure Apple management system from scratch over the last 17 years. Early on, Jamf decided to create a user community for their product, called Jamf Nation. Hugely successful in the Apple Mac ecosystem, it gave Mac administrators globally a place to share problems and solutions. Since 2009 they have held an annual conference in Minneapolis in support of their user community, which is unique in this space.

Growth

In the keynote, Jamf CEO Dean Hager stated they now have more than 35,000 customers and manage over 15 million Apple devices.  And, with the event topping over 2,000 attendees this year they have outgrown their home turf of Minneapolis and will be headed to San Diego next fall for the 2020 event.

Mac Security

At the event Jamf officially unveiled their long-awaited Mac security offering. In July of this year, Jamf acquired Digita to complement its Apple management, authentication and account management solutions with a security offering to provide a robust suite of capabilities. Jamf’s flagship product, Jamf Pro, is an enterprise mobility management offering for managing and securing devices including Macs, AppleTV, iPads and iPhones.  Jamf Protect uses native Apple security technologies, unique in the market today, paired with on-device analysis of macOS device activity. When combined Jamf Pro and Jamf Protect provide a powerful endpoint security and management solution natively from the same vendor.  Companies now have the ability to more easily support security on Mac devices and enforce proper security requirements.

Mobile Authentication

Jamf Connect,  which launched in 2018 provided organizations the ability to more easily provision Mac device users from cloud identity services, allowing for streamlined management of accounts and authentication. This year they announced they are extending Jamf Connect to mobile devices. Users can now tap a single corporate identity on any Apple device, whether macOS, iOS or iPadOS.

Mac as Choice

IBM CIO, Fletcher Previn, has presented Mac@IBM at the last two JNUC conferences. And this year he followed up with some very interesting research findings, especially for those looking to make a decision on Mac as Choice.  Some of the highlight findings:

• User experience: Net Promoter Score (NPS) is 32.5 points higher for Mac (15 for Windows vs. 47.5 for Mac).
• Keeping macOS up to date is easier, with 1/8th the number of major software updates per year: Windows had 95 major updates compared with Mac’s 12.
• Migrating to a new device is easier for macOS users: 5.5x the number of Windows users report difficulty compared to macOS.
• Macs are easier to manage at scale: around 3x the number of system admins are required for Windows vs macOS.
• Macs require less help desk support: Windows users are 5x more likely to need on-site help desk support.
• Seller performance: High-value sales deals are 16% larger for macOS users, compared to Windows users
• Employee performance: Employees who choose Mac score higher on their annual performance assessment than Windows users
• Employee retention: Employees who choose Mac are 17% less likely to leave the company

Apple Expertise

It is crucial for enterprise IT teams to stay ahead and partner with a trusted Apple expert. Stratix SmartMobile services provides a wide range of services to best support Apple devices in your enterprise, including upgrades and migrations. Learn more about our SmartMobile Services for Apple.