How to Decide if Your Organization is Apple-Ready

Macs® are invading the enterprise … whether you’re ready or not.

While many organizations traditionally discourage the use of Apple® products due to perceptions of higher costs and incompatibilities with the Windows architecture, many feel the tide has turned. In fact, according to Forrester, almost 50% of North American and Western European businesses now issue Macs to their employees.

One of the key drivers of this trend is the consumerization of IT, something Apple’s largely been credited with starting. One doesn’t need to go further than your own office to see this trend in action. Walk down a hallway or visit the lunchroom, and you’ll see people using their own iPhones® and iPads® to do work. The question you need to ask is – how ready is your business for this consumerization trend?

Does your organization put more energy into the type of technology people use, or on what people do with the technology?

If you’re investing the time and infrastructure in BYOD, then you need to consider supporting Macs to increase employee productivity and satisfaction. However, while consideration is important, the reality is not every company is ready, willing nor able to use Apple technologies.

Register for our upcoming "Are you Apple-Ready" Webinar

To make it easier for you to determine if your organization is ready for Apple technologies like Macs, iPads and iPhones, we’ve put together this handy infographic for you to use.

Download a handy PDF version of the infographic by clicking the infographic below!

Download a hi-res version of the "Are you Ready for Apple" infographic scorecard

Is the iPad Mini the ideal tablet for business? [ Apple ]

Is the iPad Mini the ideal tablet for business?

Beyond the fact that it’s a brilliant product for consumers, the new iPad Mini may be the ideal device for those “hard to reach places” in the business world. Already we’re hearing it fits nicely into a lab coat pocket exciting doctors and scientists around the world. But what other fields could the iPad, in any form, find it’s way into that hasn’t already been tried? Your first step on this journey starts with Softchoice and our upcoming webinar series on Security, Deployment and Management of Apple devices for your workforce.

There’s no shortage of inspiring stories of businesses incorporating iPads into their environment for productivity. However some businesses are still barely tolerating iPads, rather than encouraging their use. The iPad Mini’s form factors will attract a lot of users, but is there a way for IT to both manage AND promote iOS devices in one fell swoop? [Read more...]

How to manage Apple in a Microsoft World

New devices and OS adoption in the enterprise is booming. In one example, one of the largest premium Exchange hosting providers discovered that 57% of ActiveSync activations were to iPhones and 21% were to iPads. Apple’s Mac Business sales grew 51% at the end of 2011. You are likely looking to accommodate these devices in your organization if you aren’t already. What you may not know is how well all of these devices can work with your Microsoft network and applications.

Did you know that over the last few releases Apple has added the following features: DFS Support, Profile Server, Captive Network Detection, Cisco VPN… to name a few? Did you know that you can use Microsoft System Center 2012 platform Configuration Manager to manage your mobile devices? [Read more...]