Many corporations provide iPhones and iPads to their employees as Apple is highly preferred, it being a technology leader. However, deploying hundreds or thousands of these mobile devices can be a logistical headache for any IT department.
However, Apple had foreseen it and has come out with the Device Enrolment Program (DEP), an explicit method of gatekeeping Apple devices.
What is Apple DEP?
The Device Enrolment Program (DEP) is part of the Apple Deployment Programs (ADP), which help businesses and educational institutions easily deploy and configure iOS devices. DEP provides a fast, streamlined way to deploy company/institutionally owned Apple devices that are purchased directly from Apple or participating Apple Authorized Resellers or carriers. It simplifies initial setup by automating enrolment with the iOS mobile device management (MDM) solution such as Scalefusion and supervision of devices during setup and enabling you to configure the devices remotely.
Seamless large-scale deployment
Apple DEP is only available for devices that the organization purchases through Apple or authorized resellers to provide to employees. IT administrators of the organizations can preconfigure device settings and set devices to automatically enroll in the company’s mobile device management (MDM) solution of choice. This implies, that devices enrolled in DEP do not require manual configuration, and users never have to click on MDM links to enroll the device.
It also prevents users from getting out of MDM from their devices. Thus, DEP provides a zero-touch configuration you don’t need to physically access each device to complete the setup, and large-scale deployments of iPad, iPhone, and Mac happen seamlessly.
Thus, one of the requirements of DEP is an MDM solution. To complete a DEP registration, organizations must have an approved MDM solution. However organizations often have a tough time differentiating the features and capabilities of similar solutions. Selecting the right MDM goes beyond feature comparison, and the process of picking the right solution begins with identifying the requirements of the organization and how it will be used. This is exactly where Scalefusion fits in as it is just right for your requirements and does not overload you with features that you might never use.
Saves IT time and money
No longer IT is swamped with requests for configuring devices or installing applications, nor are IT professionals busy with establishing profiles on every new device. DEP enables uniform profile creation and quick rollouts, and because each device is enrolled with MDM, updates are pushed out uniformly without delay. Together, these capabilities free up IT to focus on other priorities and enhance the overall IT ecosystem.
Again, wireless supervision provides a higher level of device management for company/institution-owned iOS devices. It allows additional restrictions, such as blacklisting certain apps and whitelisting websites and it provides additional device configurations and features, and single app mode. With DEP, you can wirelessly enable supervision mode on a device as part of the setup process.
Moving forward with DEP
Overall, an organization that enrolls in DEP, and that uses the right and simple Apple MDM solution such as Scalefusion can save time and money through regular content pushes and enrolments that both enhance employee productivity and create more time for IT professionals to focus on the overall IT ecosystem.
