Apple has introduced a new service for small business management with new features to help manage growing businesses that house up to 500 employees. Quirks like device management, 24/7 Apple Support, and iCloud storage in addition to the new Apple Business Essentials app. All to manage Apple products in the business.
Branded as Apple Business Essentials, the service helps small businesses grow easier with employee onboarding, Collections, and security features.
In a statement, Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Enterprise and Education Marketing said:
“Small businesses are at the core of our economy, and we’re proud that Apple products play a role in helping these companies grow. Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of employee device management within a small business ”” from setup, onboarding, and upgrading, to accessing fast service and prioritized support, all while keeping data backed up and secure, so companies can focus on running their business.”
Collections is a major part of the service, Apple says that the feature lets IT personnel configure apps and settings to individual users, groups, and/or devices. Also, Collections apply Wi-Fi and VPN settings when an employee logs in to his/her device with work credentials.
There are security features that managers can use such as FileVault, User Enrollment, and Activation Lock with the latter helping create cryptographic separation for work data when users sign in to their personal devices. While the first two protect devices when they are lost and enable full-disk encryption on the Mac respectively.
In addition, there is the option for managers to add AppleCare+ for the service, which gives access to 24/7 phone support, training for both IT managers and employees, and repairs to up to two devices per plan a year.
Finally, the service will have three tiers starting at $2.99/mo, Apple says that the plans can be customized to give each user access to up to three devices and up to 2TB of iCloud storage in addition to AppleCare+.
Today, Apple Business Essentials launches its beta in the US, while the company states that the service will launch in “spring 2022”. You can sign up for the service here.
