How MDM Boosts Employee Productivity and Morale

Today, mobile or remote work is the norm for many workers. Even for those who primarily work in an office environment nine to five, employers expect their staff to be more on-call than ever before.

As early as 2018, 61 percent of organizations expected employees to be available remotely. This sea change in workplace culture poses a challenge and an opportunity for IT administrators that are tasked with supporting multiple operating systems in a flexible environment.

Thanks to software like mobile device management (MDM) solutions, IT teams can assist end users wherever they happen to be working, and the benefits of MDM solutions extend throughout the company.

Here’s how MDM solutions for Apple devices can help improve employee morale and productivity, wherever end users plug in for the day.

Supporting Apple Device Users? Look for the Benefits of MDM Solutions

Apple device users enjoy high productivity rates, and MDM solutions can provide additional efficiency to end users and entire organizations.

Many companies run entirely on Apple devices, and this model isn’t new. But whether the Mac computers come in through a bring your own device (BYOD) program or employees are allowed to choose the operating system they’d like to use, Macs can be a boon to industrious employees. A recent Forrester study found that Mac computer users gained 48 hours of productivity over three years.

But the benefits aren’t just for end users. MDM solutions can help your IT team push critical updates, remediate issues with software, and help you ensure that your company’s data is secure. If you’ve ever dreamed about having single pane of glass visibility into your fleet, you’ll appreciate the ability to monitor Apple devices within your environment and the time savings that comes with this convenience.

Reduce Time Lost to IT Issues with a Mobile Device Management Solution

When asked, “How many minutes per day, on average, would you say you lose due to technology issues?” The mean response Forrester researchers heard was 22 minutes. That’s over two weeks a year for every end user on your network. MDM solutions can help you vastly improve this number for your company.

One of the clearest ways to reduce lost time is to enable your team to welcome Apple devices into your environment with the right support for their needs. This starts on day one: on average, it takes an IT employee 5 minutes to set up a Mac for provisioning, while it would take the same person 60 minutes for a PC. These 55 minutes are time an MDM can help return to your IT team.

Mobile device management programs can also reduce downtime for end users. Look for solutions that have complementary features that meet the goals of your team. These might include providing users with communications tools that make conversing with your IT team easy or having access to a self-service portal that’s available to end users in any location. An MDM program also enables your IT team to handle updates, patches, and provisioning in a proactive manner, which helps them support Apple device users before any issues crop up.

Apple Device Users Benefit from Higher Morale (and So Does Your Company)

While it can be hard to measure morale, it’s easier to measure how employees perform overall and how long they stick around. A Forrester study on the impact of Mac computer use in enterprise settings found that the average employee churn rate for employees not choosing Mac is 15 percent. The positive impact of choosing Mac computers was also significant: they found a 20 percent improvement in retention rate for employees choosing Mac.

The overall improvement in employee performance and engagement was also measurable in a 5 percent increase in sales performance, but there is still one less tangible thing to measure: happiness. IBM-backed research found that Apple users are happier. While happiness is hard to measure on a quantitative scale, this is backed up by the data we have about productivity and retention.

What makes Apple users happier? Perhaps it’s the UX that has made Apple machines popular around the world, or maybe it’s the superior service users experience. Mac users love the self-service resources Apple provides online, perhaps because their ability to troubleshoot successfully gives them a greater sense of ownership over their devices. This feeling seems to extend to Mac users in professional environments as well

Apple Devices Cost Less to Support Using an MDM Solution

For many companies, the question of the benefits of MDM solutions comes down to the bottom line. A recent study by Oxford Economics finds the typical monthly cost of MDM is between $3.25 and $9 per device. While this is a broad range, the cost efficiencies tend to improve as you scale up.

If you’re looking for an MDM solution to help improve your end users’ experience, don’t lose sight of the financial benefits it may have for your organization. By saving your IT admins time and helping them serve Apple device users without having to learn the language of Mac devices, you can reduce friction and improve the day-to-day experience for IT team and end users.

If you’re interested in learning more or taking Addigy for a test drive, sign up for a free trial to see if this is the right solution for your team’s needs.