Reduce IT Costs While Scaling Up
Across the globe, the workforce is responding to a new set of imperatives: industries that are able to support a mobile workforce must do so, and some companies will need to scale up rapidly to meet the market’s shifting needs.
Perhaps your company is one of the many coping with changes resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. Maybe you’re among those facing an unexpected budget shortfall while trying to find a solution that will help you manage Apple devices in your network without spending money you just don’t have. We understand that your IT budget may not be what it used to be, but that doesn’t mean you can skip IT support for the Mac computers and iOS devices in your environment.
Apple device management is essential to enterprise security as your mobile workforce scales up, and the good news is that Apple builds all of its devices with mobility in mind. Here’s how a cloud-based IT solution can help your organization mitigate costs and security risks as you scale up.
It Pays to Support Mac Computers in Your Business Environment
In 2019, Forrester produced a report on the total economic impact of Mac computers in an enterprise environment, which offers a compelling view of the cost efficiencies Apple devices may contribute. Unless otherwise noted, the statistics in this blog post are derived from this report.
And the numbers are compelling. Forrester found that on a per-device basis, Mac costs $628.31 less than comparable PCs when considering three-year support and operational costs. Whether your organization is home to 50 Apple device users or 500, this number can help improve your bottom line.
Mac computers are also associated with lower operational costs in the long term as they require less 50 percent energy to operate. As you scale up, these efficiencies matter on a per-device basis. People still choose Mac computers for business because they provide an excellent end user experience and they’re less costly to support over time.
Improve Security as You Scale Up with Apple Devices
One of the oldest myths in personal computing is that Apple devices can’t get viruses. While this simply isn’t true, Forrester found that businesses experience a 50 percent reduction in their risk of data breach per deployed Mac computer.
Of course, the best way to improve your environment’s security is to have the right support for the devices in your environment. This means shifting to a proactive mindset when it comes to technical support: your IT department must have the right tools to proactively mitigate risks by monitoring security and providing guidance on critical updates for all devices on your network.
To effectively do this at scale, you need to have an IT software solution that gives you visibility into the Apple devices your end users are working on and the applications they’re using day-to-day. This will help you reduce the potential costs associated with a data breach or ransomware, which may be more likely to occur as you add users to your network.
Your Current IT Team Can Support More End Users with the Right Tools
With the help of the right Apple device management tools, your current IT team can scale their workloads without sacrificing the level of service they provide to end users.
The cost savings a cloud-based IT management solution can provide when it comes to your workforce aren’t minor. While a full-time IT employee in an enterprise environment can manage up to 200 PCs, the same employee can manage 500 Mac computers with the help of a mobile device management platform.
Apple devices also save your team time and resources, as Mac computer users generate fewer service tickets, and the tickets that are opened are easier to resolve. Overall, a higher number of Mac devices can be managed per IT FTE.
Happy IT Teams and Happy End Users Are Good News for Your Budget at Scale
We’re Apple device enthusiasts, to say the least, and a huge piece of this is the end user experience. Apple users love making the most of self-service options, troubleshooting, and asking questions about their devices.
Forrester’s data backs up our suspicions: Mac computer users have higher morale on the whole. In tandem with a great Apple device management platform, your end users will experience an excellent and consistent experience, whether you have fifteen MacBooks on your network or 10,000.
Businesses benefit from welcoming Apple devices into their environment because these folks also have a lower churn rate. In fact, the attrition rate for employees who don’t choose Mac devices is a whopping 15 percent. On the upside, there is a 20 percent improvement in employee retention for those who do choose Mac computers.
Based on a conservative estimate from the Society for Human Resource Management, it costs 50 percent of an employee’s annual salary to replace them due to attrition. When you consider how much not using and supporting Apple devices can cost your company, the cost efficiencies at scale touch many areas of your employees’ wellbeing and productivity.
Choose a Solution that Cuts Costs and Scales
If you’re looking to cut costs and scale your mobile workforce efficiently, you’ll need to have a flexible, cloud-based solution that can grow with your teams’ needs. The most appropriate tool for this task is a true SaaS solution that provides remote device management for end users and IT administrators (wherever they’re working today).
If your company is growing quickly or beginning to introduce Apple devices to your network, we invite you to give Addigy a try. We’re currently offering free access to the Addigy platform for 60 days to help companies remotely manage the Apple devices as many shift to entirely remote work, and we’d love to answer any questions you may have about how to get started.
