Apple is getting into the business of offering services to “small” companies with no more than 500 employees. The Apple brand has just unveiled Apple Business Essentials, a paid subscription to help managers easily manage their employees’ equipment.
The goal here is to simplify employees’ lives
Defining itself as an IT department for those who don’t have one, the service has its own application that allows you to directly configure settings and add the necessary applications to all the company’s devices: you won’t have to spend a long time configuring a newcomer’s Mac, for example.
Of course, these settings can be adjusted to a single unit in the box, or even to a single employee, but also according to the hardware used (the configurations of an iPad logically differ from those of an iMac), the idea being “to automatically assign the right applications and settings to employees, teams and their devices”.
The offer also provides employees with an iCloud space, which allows them to save their work as well as to make collaboration better between colleagues, especially for people who use telecommuting. Apple also provides enhanced security: “You control security settings and features such as password and software update policies, FileVault and Activation Lock, so users can’t change them by mistake,” the firm says.
To take advantage of Apple Business Essentials, each employee has a Business ID. To access all their settings and iCloud space, they just need to enter them; Apple reminds that it is also possible to configure their personal devices. In this case, a cryptographic separation is set up for the professional data in order to preserve the confidentiality of the personal data and the security of the company’s data.
Moreover, in case of a change of equipment or an update, it will be enough to register its identifiers to have access to all its documents, its parameters, its applications, etc.
An AppleCare+ program
“Small businesses are at the heart of our economy, and we’re proud that Apple products help them grow. Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of managing employee devices within a small business – from setup, integration and upgrades, to access to fast service and priority support, all while keeping data backed up and secure, so businesses can focus on running their business,” said Susan Prescott, vice president of enterprise and education marketing for the Cupertino-based firm.
Currently available in beta in the United States, Apple Business Essentials is priced from $2.99 to $12.99 per month per user. With an additional option, businesses also have access to AppleCare+, which guarantees 24/7 phone support, provides training for IT administrators and employees, and covers up to two device repairs per plan per year. Finally, Apple assures that a trained technician can be onsite in as little as four hours to restore devices to working order in the event of a failure.
Apple expands the use of its services, which are on the rise
The launch of this new service by Cupertino makes sense. The firm’s services are indeed enjoying unprecedented success and achieved the best results in their history in the third quarter of 2021, so why not try the adventure for professionals too? Boasting a very robust hardware that is appreciated in the business world, Apple can hope to capitalize on the success of its hardware.
Apple’s motto with Business Essentials is to make work “easy”, a strong argument when you know that the whole ecosystem of the Apple brand is intuitive and uncluttered, and can be less busy than Google or Microsoft solutions. For the time being, however, it is obvious that the latter offer more complete solutions than Apple and are real behemoths in this field.
However, knowing Apple, it is possible to expect a marked attraction from professionals for this new service, especially since it directly links the software and hardware parts to greatly simplify the uses and ergonomics in companies.
