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Macs® are infiltrating enterprises around the globe. macOS® systems are popular for a wide range of use cases and user types. The traditional approach to Mac management has been to do it manually or leverage on-prem, enterprise-class tools. Neither of those approaches are all that appealing, but IT admins are wondering if there is a free Mac management solution that they can try.
Manage Macs for Free
The good news is that a complete Mac user and system management solution is available for free for 10 users and less. This cloud-based identity and system management platform is perfect for small organizations that need to run a tight ship from a security, productivity, and control standpoint.
Further, as the organization grows, the IT organization can simply purchase the license that they need and only pay for that on a monthly basis. This value proposition makes it easier for IT admins to manage their IT infrastructure and especially their macOS environment.
Why Mac Management?
Stepping back, many IT admins may be wondering the best way to manage not only their macOS systems, but Linux® and Windows® as well. Changes in the IT landscape have made system environments far more heterogeneous than they used to be.
Traditionally, IT admins have leveraged solutions such as Microsoft® Active Directory® and SCCM (now ConfigMgr) to control and manage their Windows systems and users. They would then extend those AD identities to non-Windows platforms by using solutions like: directory extensions, web application single sign-on (SSO), privileged identity management (PIM), two factor authentication (2FA), and more. Of course, these solutions added complexity and cost to the overall approach, which for cost-conscious small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would become a deal breaker.
Despite these draws, organizations still needed to find ways to manage their Mac systems and their users. As IT continued to change and evolve with the rise of the cloud, admins started to look at identity management more holistically. Instead of using several disparate solutions for the various facets of identity management, is there an affordable solution that can manage virtually all IT resources?
Free Unified Identity Management
Thus, the interest in a free Mac management solution, but really, a free identity and access management (IAM) solution that can also manage systems, arose. Thankfully, there is a solution available on the market that offers full system management for not only Mac systems, but Windows and Linux machines as well. This cloud identity management tool also provides web application single sign-on through SAML, network authentication with RADIUS, and more, creating a comprehensive identity management solution. This solution is called JumpCloud® Directory-as-a-Service®
What’s more, JumpCloud is available free for up to ten users, forever. That means that SMEs who are looking to improve their identity management posture can do so almost entirely free. For larger enterprises, this free cloud solution can be used to sandbox IT environments, which they can then pay to scale to the size of their organization.
Learn More
If you would like to explore free Mac management from JumpCloud, simply sign up today and get started. Drop us a line, and our product experts would be happy to help you through your JumpCloud journey. Check out our Knowledge Base for more information.
