Every story tagged Apple Business Manager, curated for CIOs and IT leaders — ranked by source credibility, engagement, and freshness.
4 stories · open in the command center
The podcast episode discusses how AI agents are poised to transform finance departments, with particular focus on spreadsheet-based workflows that underpin most business operations. For CIOs, this signals a critical inflection point where AI automation could fundamentally reshape financial operations, data management, and cross-functional collaboration that currently relies heavily on manual spreadsheet processes. Organizations should evaluate how AI-powered tools can modernize legacy spreadsheet workflows while considering data governance, integration with existing Apple device ecosystems, and the need for change management as finance teams adopt these technologies.
Apple's new free device management platform in Apple Business removes cost barriers for small businesses to implement basic device management, but lacks the enterprise-grade capabilities required for compliance, security, and advanced IT operations. While this free tier establishes a necessary baseline for the Apple ecosystem and eliminates excuses for leaving devices unmanaged, it does not replace commercial MDM solutions that provide automated remediation, granular reporting, identity provider integration, and comprehensive security protection. IT organizations should view this as complementary to, not a replacement for, existing enterprise MDM investments.
PocketMDM introduces mobile accessibility to Apple Business Manager, enabling IT administrators to manage Apple device deployments and configurations directly from smartphones, reducing dependency on desktop-based management tools. This capability addresses the growing need for remote and mobile-first IT operations, allowing CIOs to streamline Apple device management workflows and improve operational flexibility across distributed teams. The tool represents an evolution in Mobile Device Management (MDM) platforms, with broader implications for how organizations approach Apple ecosystem governance and IT staff productivity.
A new open-source tool (add2abm) enables IT teams to enroll existing, in-use Macs into Apple Business Manager for Automated Device Enrollment without wiping devices—addressing a significant pain point for organizations managing legacy fleets, merged company assets, or consumer-purchased devices. This capability eliminates employee downtime and data migration hassles that traditionally required full device erasure and restoration, though the process requires physical device access and Recovery Mode operations. The solution is particularly valuable for IT organizations with mixed deployment models or those integrating acquired devices into centralized management platforms.