Earlier this summer, Jamf — a Minneapolis company devoted to bridging the gap between Apple devices and the enterprise/education market — launched a successful IPO despite the pandemic. Once a niche player, the company has emerged as the go-to provider of management solutions that take over where Apple leaves off when it comes to Macs, iPads and iPhones in business (and education). As I noted two years ago, Jamf has become a de facto replacement for Apple’s enterprise support team, placing a strong emphasis on engaging with its customers.
For IT leaders, Jamf is a bit of an outlier. The company mostly resembles other enterprise mobility management (EMM) and unified endpoint management (UEM) firms, but with a catch. While EMM/UEM vendors typically support a wide swath of clients — anything from iOS and Android to Windows 10 and Chromebooks — Jamf has remained true to its roots in supporting only Apple devices. That contrasts sharply with platforms like VMware Workspace ONE, MobileIron, and Microsoft Endpoint Manager.
To some, Jamf is a confusing prospect and easily overlooked when evaluating EMM and UEM providers and platforms. Others see the company with a stigma lingering from the days when Macs weren’t really enterprise friendly, requiring a mess of management tools that weren’t needed for Windows PCs; Jamf was one of several companies making those management and deployment tools.
While some of its compatriots have fallen by the wayside or expanded well beyond device management, Jamf has stayed in the same lane.
That strategy has paid off. The company has grown in recent years, both in headcount and in the functionality of its services, through internal product creation and via acquisitions. Given the success of its IPO, it’s reasonable to presume it will continue to do so.
