What is our primary use case?
I use it in a K-12 school environment with 1:1 iPads in K-5 and Shared iPads in Upper School. The staff uses MacBook devices and there are also iMacs for student use. In this set-up, we cater to users from 4/5 years old to Staff with 30+ years of service with ease.
Whether we need app-like icons (web clips) on iPad devices or complex printer solutions on Mac devices, users simply open Self Service, and, with a single click, the magic happens. For the youngest users, everything gets pushed silently overnight and sings and dances in the morning.
How has it helped my organization?
It is easy, fast, and reliable to set up, maintain, and change settings/new apps/profiles/printer settings for all our devices.
Having reporting functions and Smart Groups to give a real-time and up-to-date status on the progress and installations is a must in a large environment. Students and Staff rely heavily on up-to-date devices, OS, and apps - whether they are on the school campus or studying remote from their homes.
With the sudden lockdown scenarios and little time to prepare for Remote Learning in a school, it was so comforting to know that the tech wouldn't be an obstacle (as school administration feared).
What is most valuable?
The fact that devices just need an internet connection [anywhere in the world] that allows them to check into the Jamf Software Server allows for identical management as if on campus or remote, has proven to be golden during the pandemic. Also, from a user point of view, everything remains the same, despite not being able to attend classes in person! As it was quite a task in general for staff and students to have to do teaching and learning from home, their tech (and our support) remained the same.
What needs improvement?
The more educational tools, bells, and whistles, the merrier. Jamf has (in my opinion) always been the go-to-MDM for education and despite Pro's higher prices, it is a must for administrators.
The cheaper Jamf School is also a product that has been acquired and decked out to meet more educational needs for a good price. Some features of Jamf School aren't (yet?) available in Jamf Pro and for educational users/customers of Jamf Pro, it would beneficial to have these available in the Pro version too.
Buyer's Guide
Jamf Pro
February 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution since 2013.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Having moved our on-premise server to Jamf Cloud was a very good move for us. As mentioned before, having to spend time and energy to update and maintain [on-premise] servers for various OS-patches and Jamf-updates which often causes downtime, is a risk (when doing it yourself). Having Jamf's own experienced engineers monitor their cloud instances and take care of patches/updates/downtime is always faster and better than me trying to do it myself! Since the move to the Jamf Cloud, we have not had any downtime, besides the announced and scheduled update windows that come directly from Jamf. In case of incidents in the Jamf-cloud, these have been resolved mostly within the hour, whilst hardly noticing any downtime on the user's end! When changes are made during a rare downtime-window, the targeted devices will still receive the command(s) and content as soon as the services are back up (or the incident has been resolved)!. This adds to the overall reliability and stability of this solution!
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scaling up or down is a breeze. Just add users/devices to the existing scope of workflows and apps and it does what you expect (remember to add licenses when scaling up).
How are customer service and support?
They are always quick and accurate on their responses. Even for more complex issues, a timely and solid solution is given.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We looked at Apple's Profile Manager in the server-app back in the days of Lion/Leopard/Snow Leopard, however, it wasn't reliable and had a tendency to 'break' with every OS/server-app update, which led to having to re-enroll all devices every time.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is straightforward with help from Jamf to make sure you do not just install a server, but also tailor it to the needs of the (educational) organisation.
What about the implementation team?
We did our jumpstart with help from Jamf (Katie English) and she rocked it. She is very knowledgeable.
What was our ROI?
It's invaluable to measure the time I get to spend with users to help them, as opposed to muttering about an on-premise server. We have continued this setup for the last 5 years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Although it might seem expensive, it is such a time-saver. Many overlook the fact that people's work hours cost money too. At the end of the day, it is cheaper to have a rock-solid solution that you can rely on and not have to troubleshoot, versus a cheaper solution that requires constant attention from technicians - I'd rather spend the time with the user to up their ante.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We didn't look at other options; Jamf was the go-to tool at the time and was Apple-oriented (unlike Mobile Iron).
What other advice do I have?
It's the best Mobile Device Management on the market for Apple devices in my opinion.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.