So… Facebook launched several new pieces of their Portal hardware this week, and that’s not the story. The company also launched “Portal for Business”, which is a device management suite that is designed for management of the devices across a business. Specifically targeting the SMB, IT admins can manage devices setup by employees who have access to Portal for Business. Quoting further from Channel Pro NZ, “The platform allows them to deploy and manage the hardware, control work accounts, manage device settings, check device status and reboot devices remotely, regardless of where the workforce is based. From December, Facebook is also adding support for Microsoft Teams for all Portal devices, in a bid to entice more prospective customers, and entire organizations, who don’t buy into Facebook’s core collaboration platform. This also hints at more integrations with third-party services later down the line.
The platform already supports Zoom.
So, Facebook just launched a device management platform. I’d struggle to call this an RMM, but it’s a lot more like a Microsoft Endpoint Manager or Google’s Endpoint Management solutions for Chromebooks. Still, their designs on business feel like a hidden story, and as a chunk of SMB IT happens by accident, so I’d expect these devices to start just showing up too.
Look, I have several of these portal devices, and I use them for Zoom calls. They’re right to see a SMB play here. This is also another avenue for those exploring the “work” layer for their offerings.