In 2018 as part of their natural consolidation of the old volume purchase program and the device enrolment program portal, Apple announced the launch of Apple Business Manager (ABM) to assist organizations (using Apple devices) in streamlining their device enrolment and app management. The ABM service enables their customers to adopt modern management workflows for device provisioning, app management and managed Apple accounts.
Microsoft Intune (i.e. Microsoft Endpoint Manager – ‘MEM’) provides full integration support of the Apple Business Manager components which aids customer adoption.
Apple Business Manager also features silent integration which is non-intrusive. This means for an organization who are looking to leverage the service, its components can be either gradually phased in or switched on from day zero. If an organization has a well-established Apple fleet they are managing with MEM they might see value to use ABM components (e.g. automated device enrolment). This way the enrolment workflow utilises ABM as soon as the user receives their shiny new work device.
Another use case is a ‘greenfield deployment’ whereby an organization is ready to roll out a deployment of work devices and in the process to secure an MDM solution. In this scenario, the volume purchase program and automated device enrolment are perfectly positioned to provide the organization with a way to distribute applications and provision devices using modern workflows.
Did you know ABM is free? Aside from a few small little prerequisites (which I will discuss below) your organization needs to enrol for the service and get verified.
The basic steps below are required to get started:
- Your organization will need an ABN (if your business is registered in Australia) which is a unique identifier assigned to a business entity.
- You’ll need to navigate to the ABM portal at business.apple.com.
- Once you reach the Apple Business Manager portal, you’ll want to select enrol now and then follow through the registration process until you get to the point where you can select the submit button.
- After pressing the submit button you’ll be presented with a screen which illustrates a timeline to show you the stage at which your application process is at. Now at this point it’s time to sit back and relax.
- Apple will take up to five business days to review your application. Towards the end they will contact the person who you have designated as the person to authorize the application on behalf of your organization.
- Once verified Apple will send you an email with a link to show you how to get started before access is granted to the ABM portal you must create an Apple ID. This Apple ID will be used as the primary administrator in the portal and there you have it your ABM portal is now ready for use. It is also prudent to validate the contact details otherwise you might run the risk of causing further delays in the verification process.
So there you have it. I hope this gives you an overview of the key features Apple Business Manager (ABM) offers. Until next time Hasta-la-vista!
If you would like me to cover more on ABM or you need some more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
