Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMBs) looking for unified management of device access and identities often take a multi-vendor approach. JumpCloud, a company that helps centralize user and device management, recently introduced its free cloud-based Remote Assist solution to provide a missing link to remote technical support.
I caught up with Tom Bridge, Senior Product Manager, to find out more.
What does remote access do?
Remote Assist reflects the company’s mission to provide IT teams and MSPs with a single place from which to manage identities, devices and access. Rather than cobble together a variety of point solutions, IT teams can now cut costs, while increasing productivity and security, with a modern cloud directory.
The solution integrates with a range of device management systems, including Jamf, and can manage macOS, Windows, and (soon) Linux.
Remote access allows an administrator with perhaps a field user having difficulty viewing the screen of a remote system through an encrypted channel.
Administrators can guide users to troubleshoot issues by seeing their screen, or they can take control of the device with user permission. Admins will have exactly what they need to support workers, wherever they (or their admin) are.
Apple’s corporate history
Apple continues to gain market share in the business.
JumpCloudTom Bridge, Product Manager JumpCloud.
“Apple nearly doubled its market share in the enterprise over the past five years thanks to Cupertino’s hard work on usability, manageability and security,” Bridge said. “There’s no doubt that they’ve made major strides in working with enterprise IT and security departments, but they still have a lot to learn about how large enterprises manage their IT resources.”
It’s clear that Apple is investing in enterprise features, starting with Platform SSO, which is a new way for Apple device users to link their accounts to identity providers like JumpCloud. There’s a huge amount of activity going on in the Apple/enterprise space.
There’s room for even more growth, he said, pointing out that Macs now outperform most other laptops in battery life and computing power at a competitive price compared to to PCs. (And they’re steadily gobbling up PC market share increases.)
“Honestly, the hardest part of Apple’s job is to continue to overcome a history of expensive products without justifying their value in terms that corporate finance can manage and digest,” he said.
New company, new skills base
In the new world of work, IT had to provide support to remote employees. “Managing remote work for macOS versus Windows is little different, but for organizations with employee choice programs, supporting a second major platform means cross-training and hiring people with different skills,” he said.
This emerging skills shortage has prompted Apple to develop free training courses and support programs such as the Mac Admins Foundation to help address these staffing issues.
Are we going back to the office?
The huge disconnect between managers obsessed with presenteeism and the needs of the new workforce means that many employers continue to try to bring people back into the office, despite ample evidence that this is actually bad for them. business.
“There is a concerted move by management to bring workers back into the offices they pay to rent, either out of a need to justify their existence or a desire to return to the pre-revolution office experience. pandemic,” Bridge said. “There are absolutely benefits to working in the same space – team building, group planning, chance meetings – but they aren’t necessary every day, and I would say it creates a healthy separation between work and life. life for not being together all the time.
“We’ve developed amazing collaboration tools that don’t require everyone to be crammed into an open plan office with tiny desks, uncomfortable chairs…. A more flexible office life is a way to expand the capabilities and perspectives of your staff by not confining them to a 2 hour drive from your office. Come together, of course, but please make it mean something.
Why is now a good time for remote access?
“There’s a saying about planting trees: the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago,” he said. “The second best time is now. We are excited to enter the remote access market as part of a more mature and capable JumpCloud.
“Admins demand tools that meet all of their needs, and adding remote access, like we’ve added to Password Manager, is one way to provide the tools that admins need. need in contexts they already understand.”
JumpCloud Remote Assist will be free for any organization, at any scale, for any number of devices, with no time limit.
Please follow me on Twitteror join me in AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
Copyright © 2022 IDG Communications, Inc.