MDM Migrations - Moving your Macs to Addigy for Support

Photo by Anthony Choren on Unsplash

Congratulations on choosing Ntiva to support your Apple technology! If you have an existing MDM (Mobile Device Management) platform, it will be necessary to migrate your devices from there into our Addigy instance so our team can support them. Let's review some questions surrounding this process, an "MDM Migration."

Common Apple MDM providers include:

• Addigy
• Jamf
• Kandji
• Mosyle
• Fleet

Can Addigy support our devices in our current MDM?

Nope - Ntiva's Apple Team can offer you the best experience with your devices if they're leveraging our tools and technologies. From special projects to daily calls to the support desk, Addigy is the cornerstone of our Apple support. If your devices are currently managed in a different MDM (or your own Addigy instance), plan on an MDM Migration for those devices to take advantage of all that Ntiva has to offer.

Can Addigy do what our current MDM does?

Most Apple MDM platforms share some core capabilities - if you can do it in one of these platforms, chances are we can do it in Addigy. Common features include:

• Automated Device Enrollment (ADE)
  We can register your Apple Business Manager account with Addigy and your Apple eCommerce Storefront (or help you set one up). Purchasing through this workflow ensures that new devices are owned by your organization, not just the person whose name is on the invoice. ADE allows for proper device supervision and enables auto-enroll with support during unboxing.
  
  
• First-time setup experience
  Addigy Assist provides a helpful and concise interface to see what apps are being installed during your new device setup. This is comparable to Kandji Liftoff and Mosyle Embark.
  
  
• Cloud credential login
  Addigy Identity allows users to sign into their computers with their Microsoft, Google, or Okta credentials. This is comparable to Jamf Connect, Mosyle Auth, and Kandji Passport
  
  
• Self Service
  Addigy's MacManage application allows users to install approved applications with one click or run helpful maintenance scripts. This is comparable to Jamf Self Service
  
  
• Managed settings
  Most Apple MDM platforms allow for the creation, import, and deployment of MDM Configuration Profiles to manage the settings on your devices. If your existing platform allows profiles to be exported, we can import them into Addigy or recreate them by hand.
  
  
• Deployed applications
  Apps can be installed from many different sources - most frequently from the App Store and via custom packages. These can range from web browsers to more complex security tools that require registration keys or activation scripts. Addigy can support all of these installation and update mechanisms. 

If you have specific questions about feature parity, reach out to your Account Manager for more information.

Can I access Addigy to review my devices?

No need - we have a robust, secure platform called Vision-Bot for this. Vision-Bot allows you to stay informed about your Addigy-enrolled Macs, iPhones, and iPads. Please let us know when you need to make any changes to your fleetwide configurations. While your devices are under support, we'll focus on those management tasks so you can free up your time for other things.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

The MDM Migration Workflow

1 - Prerequisites

Before migrating your devices, we'll need to prepare your Addigy infrastructure. This means you'll need all the usual prerequisites to manage Apple devices organizationally:

• A verified Apple Business Manager account

• A custom Apple eCommerce storefront

• A support agreement with Ntiva for your Apple technology

For more information, check out our guide on Starting Apple Support.

2 - Configuration

With the prerequisites taken care of, our team will create your Addigy policies. You have a few options here, based on what makes the most sense for your team:

• We can start you off with a clean slate, default policy. This is the most straightforward option and can be helpful if your existing MDM hasn't been under recent maintenance or assessment.
  
  
• We can work together to discuss what you would like your "desired device state" to be for your Apple devices and build a fresh policy hierarchy, profiles, and app installers to meet your needs. 
  
  
• We can work with you to assess your existing MDM to see what policies you'd like to continue using and what older items can be left behind. This can be a more time-consuming process based on the complexity of your environment.

In some circumstances, proceeding with a default policy may be best. Changes can be handled after your fleet is enrolled to build out your desired device state. However, if there are many requirements that must be in place before the first Mac is enrolled, we'll work together to make it happen.

3 - Enrollment

With your infrastructure and policies prepared, your users can either enroll their Macs manually, or we can leverage your existing MDM to run a Support Migration app to help guide them through the steps. Either way, the enrollment process for a Mac usually takes less than five minutes. We look forward to collaborating with you to ensure your MDM migration is a smooth and efficient experience.

Please note the enrollment process for iPhones and iPads is quite different than Macs - please see our guide on iOS Enrollment Types for more information.