Apple launched Apple Business Essentials yesterday, now in free public beta. Targeted at companies with less than 500 employees, the subscription-based service includes setup, onboarding, backup, security, support, repairs, and updates in a single subscription. Priced by user, it enables the enforcement of security policies, deployment of software and system updates, and backup to iCloud. When the service launches in 2022, there will be an option for onsite repair in as little as four hours.
This builds on the company’s acquisition of Fleetsmith last year, and combines it with the Apple Device Enrollment Program.
It’s a day of announcements in the space. ConnectWise also announced a new Asio platform, which is the unifed platform that brings together the ConnectWise product line. That product line now includes ConnectWise RMM, an offshoot of Command (which is the former Continuum product). Sharing code, this new version includes upgraded scripting, patching, policy monitoring and virtualizing, all brought into the new Asio platform. The company has not announced any end of life for Command or Automate (formerly LabTech).
I’m not sure I can totally do this justice in the daily pod, and will be giving this further thought and review. Apple just weighed in with a pretty bold offering, priced pretty aggressively. Like Microsoft, they are moving into the full support space. Unlike Microsoft, they’re a fully direct offering.
On the other end of the spectrum, ConnectWise now has… three? Products that look a lot alike. They now beat N-Able for the most confusing choices in the market. They stated no end of life for their products. Yet. There is no way they will be investing in three full product lines. I’ll be asking more questions here, listeners.
The landscape is reforming in this tools space. I don’t think it matters today, and looking to the future there are new ways to address your own needs.
Edit: The original names of products from ConnectWise was reversed, and incorrectly noted Manage. This text is correct.