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Not long after I joined the team at JumpCloud I attended an event in the UK. Old colleagues and friends were keen to find out what I was up to so I was asked a lot of questions like. . .
Where are you now?
What are you up to?
Are you still in the channel?
Is it your turn to buy the beer?
So, I took great pleasure in saying that I’m now at JumpCloud and we are the new big thing for MSPs, we have an Open Directory Platform and it means that MSPs can now offer SSO, MFA, Patch Management, Identity Management to their clients all from one place for an amazing MSP-friendly price!
I could barely wait to get this out as I was so excited. I practically had the order form in my hand ready to sign.
However, the response that came back quite a few times was, “It sounds cool, but it’s not for us as we don’t do Macs.”
What? I don’t know how you add a record scratch sound into a blog, but if I did it would be there!
You don’t do Macs. That’s great (although, why not?). But we aren’t just about Macs! In fact, the majority of devices that our current MSP partners manage are Windows. Yes, Windows. The very same Windows that you sell and deploy and manage on behalf of your clients, and probably also use internally.
I don’t know where the Mac only thing comes from, maybe because we are super-cool and shiny? Maybe it was the black turtleneck & round lens glasses I was wearing? Or maybe because we have an amazing story when it comes to Mac Device Management and because we can offer a directory service that treats Macs as equals in the corporate world.
Wherever it came from, it’s not true and I had to tell them so.
We love Windows but most of all we love identities, or users/humans. We need to be sure they are who they say they are on devices we know they own in locations that make sense. This is the same for users running Windows, Linux, MacOS, or even iOS.
It’s no longer a case of are you Mac or Windows, it’s a case of how do we secure the identity.
And, if you’re an MSP who doesn’t “do Mac”, then it’s time to take a fresh look. MacOS now has around 14% of the desktop OS market – too large to ignore. More and more businesses are allowing employees to CYOD (Choose Your Own Device) and people are choosing Macs.
At JumpCloud we don’t care if users choose Mac or Windows. I noticed at our recent All Company Meeting that there was a split between the two (and a few even running Linux). What we do care about is ensuring that the users have secure and seamless access to the applications and data they need. You should too.
To find out more about JumpCloud check out our website or reach out to our, Windows friendly, MSP sales team at [email protected]
