Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the leader in modern mobile device management (MDM) and security for Apple enterprise and education customers. Over 22,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the management and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.
As small businesses have followed the digital transformation trend of large businesses, having reliable technology has become ever more important. When devices run into issues, business owners need repairs, and they need them fast. Apple’s growing footprint Apple Store and the genius bar have become a lifeline for small businesses without dedicated IT departments.
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers has been managing an enterprise IT network since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 100s of Macs, and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.
Having local access to authorized repairs
One of the challenges for a small business using Windows and PCs is knowing where to go for help. Do you call Microsoft? Do you call the PC manufacturer? Can you go to your local electronics store? If there are warranty issues – can that store handle those? This problem is one of the challenges when you don’t have Apple’s end-to-end integration.
When you have a MacBook Air that you’re using for your small business, and you run into software issues, you schedule a call with Apple Support. They can help you diagnose and fix the issue on the phone. There are even secure methods for letting them remotely control your computer so they can see the problem first hand.
When you run into hardware issues, regardless of in-warranty or out of warranty, you can use the Apple Support app to make an appointment at your local Apple Store. If you’re like me and have no Apple Stores within an hour of you, you can use the same app to make an appointment at an authorized Apple repair place.
In my city, I can use Best Buy or Simply Mac. When you use an authorized Apple repair center, you know that all the parts will be official Apple repairs, covered warranty repairs are free, and the work will almost always be perfect. I’ve always felt confident that if I drop my laptop off, it’ll be repaired right the first time. Of course, if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of taking it somewhere, you can have Apple ship you and box and ship it to the Apple Depot for repairs. They’ll mail it back to you when the repair is complete.
Wrap up
For a small business that lacks a dedicated IT staff, having access to the Apple Geniuses at the Apple Store can be a lifeline when you run into trouble. On the security side, small businesses can out of the box access to FileVault 2, Touch ID, GateKeeper, and all the rest of Apple’s security technology that they make available for even their largest customers. Even without running a mobile device management solution, Apple works great for small businesses that lack an onsite IT staff.
Even small businesses need to back up their Macs, though. An easy way is to use a Time Machine hard drive or a cloud backup service like Backblaze, where even if your office flooded or your computer was stolen, you’d have a cloud backup service to restore all your files from when you get a new computer.
Photo by Jimmy Jin on Unsplash
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments