{"id":52049,"date":"2023-10-17T14:40:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T18:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-jc-marketing-site.pantheonsite.io\/?p=52049"},"modified":"2024-06-03T13:05:25","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T17:05:25","slug":"zero-touch-enrollment-device-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jumpcloud.com\/blog\/zero-touch-enrollment-device-deployment","title":{"rendered":"What Is Zero Touch Enrollment & Deployment?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2020, remote work took us all by surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, work-from-home and hybrid work environments are the norm, forcing IT teams to reinvent and reimagine their approach to device management. Without a physical office, device onboarding and offboarding can\u2019t happen in person. Deployment and provisioning have to happen remotely, at scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where zero-touch deployment comes into play, allowing IT teams and MSPs to leverage Infrastructure as Code (IaC) models and take a hands-off, efficient approach to device and user onboarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does \u201czero touch\u201d really mean, and how does it work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we explore the limitations of the traditional model of IT onboarding (provisioning and deprovisioning) and describe the future of device deployment and user onboarding with zero touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Zero Touch Deployment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zero-touch deployment is a method of configuring employee devices with company-specific protocols, programs, and settings remotely. This hands-off approach is becoming more and more important as organizations\u2019 cloud-based tech stacks and the volume of laptops, tablets, and mobile phones continue to sprawl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manually configuring devices with the right profile and application settings for every individual user takes significant time and effort that most IT and MSP teams don\u2019t have and end users don\u2019t have the patience for. However, ensuring proper configuration and employee offboarding procedures is critical to the safety and security<\/a> of company and customer data.
Zero-touch deployment tools enable IT and MSP professionals to schedule and automate the tedious, rote tasks<\/a> on their behalf, speeding up the onboarding and offboarding process tremendously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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\n \"JumpCloud\"\n <\/div>\n
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\n <\/p>\n

\n The Five Key Components of Modern Device Management <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

\n Read the Whitepaper<\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

The Limitations of Traditional IT Device Deployment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a traditional IT onboarding scenario, device deployment is centralized. Devices, whether new or redeployed, must funnel through the IT team on the way to a new user. Hardware is typically acquired by purchasing new machines or pulling existing machines from storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In both cases, IT is the initial recipient because the devices need human interaction to be configured, or wiped, and then configured. IT must then deliver the device to the user. There is significant time required for this, especially when remote employees are involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the configuration process followed by IT is time-consuming in and of itself. Not only do IT staff need to check all of the required boxes on the device setup list, they need to validate, return, and store that information for security purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of incoming employees further complicates these onboarding tasks because different teams need access to different resources, applications, and software. There may also be unique device configurations required for, say, employees with higher levels of security clearance or employees using devices out in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT\u2019s typical onboarding task list includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Obtain employee information \u2013 name, department, title, ID, start date, apps and access needs, equipment needs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Order machine or pull from storage, then set up manually \u2013 OS, budget, accounts, policies, connectivity, software, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Install software and create accounts for each application \u2013 Office, Slack, AWS, Atlassian, Salesforce, Adobe, GitHub, Dropbox, Google, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Configure licenses and\/or authentication for each app<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Deliver the machine to its new user, whether working globally, remotely, or in the office<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Ensure device is securely accessed and booted (with the temporary password changed, most importantly)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Train users on accessing work apps and troubleshoot issues<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Adjust roles, permissions, and access<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What happens when the onboarding cycle is disrupted? How are roadblocks managed in a timely manner with a distributed workforce or a hybrid workplace<\/a>? How do you address changes in IT personnel? Or the inevitable changes to user or system requirements?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Yes, documentation can help standardize a manual configuration process, but onboarding still ultimately relies on IT staff involvement. Plus, additional effort is required to keep documentation up to date and relevant, especially as an organization scales and evolves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If users are completely reliant on IT to configure devices, what happens when IT is unavailable due to time off or other competing priorities? Work doesn\u2019t happen. The traditional IT onboarding model can produce a bottleneck that inhibits employee productivity, and places undue strain on already understaffed and overutilized IT teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In contrast, the zero-touch model for IT onboarding eliminates this bottleneck by moving from centralized deployment to user-led deployment. It is a form of process automation that benefits IT teams, employees, decision makers, and the business as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What Are the Benefits of Zero-Touch Deployment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Zero-touch, automated endpoint management<\/a> is beneficial to IT and MSP admins in myriad ways, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n