FleetDeck vs. Jamf Pro

We run a technology lending program for students. Jamf Pro has been instrumental in allowing student staff to prepare the laptops in a systematic, consistent manner. The same can be said with iPads and deploying apps to the iPads is automated. Also, extra software titles are made available in Self Service (both for laptops and iPads). Additionally, putting policies in Self Service for IT student workers to deploy to sit-down machines to run as needed is quite useful as well. Less appropriate scenarios would be in cases where there are fewer than 10 to 20 machines. Looking at Jamf Now would probably be a better use of resources. Jamf Now is not as robust as Jamf Pro, but for smaller entities it would be a better fit and a better choice financially.

• Custom Scripts mean you can accomplish almost anything you need.
• Extension Attributes gives you a way to report on anything.
• Extremely configurable. Just know that means it can be hard to find what you're looking for.
• Training and community resources are readily available.

• While already in progress, the Configuration Profile editor is a little unwieldy
• User dialog messaging. While Jamf [Pro] helper is very useful, a more feature-rich utility with editor functions would be extremely welcomed to interact with the user while installing software.
• Policies: I would desperately like to see the ability to organize the order of packages and scripts within a policy without needing to use names, numbers, and 'priority'. Just let me drag items in a policy around in order.
• Policies: scripts can only be run before or after, please let me place them in between packages

We stepped away and are looking at different products that integrate with our entire fleet MDM solution rather than focusing specifically on Apple products. An all in one solution fits our needs better and is more cost-effective in the long run. Jamf Pro needs to improve some features and support but overall its a good product.

Incentivized

Jamf Pro has done pretty much anything we've needed with little setup headache. If we hit a wall, the Jamf user community and tech support departments both are more than willing to help solve problems. Tech support is excellent, but the surprising thing is the user base is by far the biggest resource. Jamf users love to help each other, by directly chatting about issues, posting best practices, or just posting info on the forums.

Jamf Support is very responsive and usually assists in any challenge we are tackling. They are also very transparent when they are allowed to be. I personally love our Jamf Pro support rep and don't fear messaging their support team.

They made me more comfortable using the product.

The training session was beneficial because it expanded my knowledge about Jamf products and really learn what I am capable of doing with Jamf Pro in terms of managing Apple computers and devices. Immediately after the training course, I was able to implement what I learn to our cloud instance.

Migration from an existing MDM requires device wipe and reenroll for full supervision of the device. It's somewhat painful. User enrollment makes things easier, but you miss out on full management.

Even thought we are using this solutions for different purposes (macOS device management VS mobile device management), I think at the end Jamf Pro is more focused or aimed for macOS management, and mobile device management is just a good addition to that. Same I can tell about Ivanty, is more about iOS/Android management rather than macOS

• Jamf Pro has allowed us to minimize the time it takes to deploy devices. We can use zero-touch deployment methodologies which allow devices to go directly to end users and allow end users to get up and running without needing IT's help.
• We have implemented both a third-party & macOS patching service, which allows us to ensure all apps and versions of macOS are updated and secure.