Apple @ Work is solely delivered to you by Mosyle, the one Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the one resolution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all of the options essential to seamlessly and robotically deploy, handle & defend Apple gadgets at work. Over 45,000 organizations belief Mosyle to make hundreds of thousands of Apple gadgets work-ready with no effort and at an inexpensive price. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL in the present day and perceive why Mosyle is every thing you might want to work with Apple.
We’re simply previous the five-year anniversary of the primary Apple Silicon Mac (M1 MacBook Air), and the long-term impression of that transition is beginning to present up for each Apple and IT groups. MacPaw’s new Mac Admin Survey for 2026 paints a transparent image of what life appears to be like like for IT groups managing Apple {hardware}. Macs are lasting longer, IT groups are relying extra on automation and upkeep instruments, and AI is quietly changing into a part of on a regular basis IT crew workflows. On the similar time, useful resource gaps are rising, and most groups are understaffed. IT groups are being requested to help bigger fleets with fewer individuals, and they’re turning to group help and new instruments to maintain up with ticket quantity, and many others.
About Apple @ Work:Â Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT community from 2009 to 2021. By his expertise deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a cell system administration system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will spotlight methods wherein Apple IT managers deploy Apple gadgets, construct networks to help them, practice customers, tales from the trenches of IT administration, and methods Apple may enhance its merchandise for IT departments.
The Mac is lasting longer than ever
Some of the mind-blowing findings within the survey is how lengthy Macs now keep in service on the firms of these surveyed. Virtually half say their Macs stay in use for 3 to 5 years, which is a direct reflection of how wonderful even the M1 Apple Silicon chip is. M-series machines usually are not growing old the best way Intel {hardware} did. They run cooler, carry out the identical on day one thousand as they did on day one, and easily don’t have to be changed as usually. I nonetheless personal an unique M1 Air, and it nonetheless runs nice.
For IT groups, this shift modifications your entire rhythm of {hardware} administration. As a substitute of planning for normal substitute cycles pushed by efficiency points, groups are specializing in holding individuals productive and minimizing downtime. In some methods, this hurts Apple as a result of The longer lifespan additionally offers organizations extra respiratory room of their budgets, and in addition permits them a better time going for greater finish options (extra RAM, bigger storage, and many others)When a Mac lasts 4 or 5 years with out changing into a significant challenge, it lets firms spend money on higher administration instruments, stronger safety practices, and enhancements that help the individuals who depend on these gadgets every single day. The machines are holding up, so IT can deal with the expertise round them. In fact, Apple makes cash from promoting {hardware}, so there’s that to contemplate, however total, the Mac is at an unimaginable place {hardware} clever.
Doing extra with much less
I spoke to somebody within the IT business not too long ago, and we talked about how in IT, initiatives are by no means accomplished. Did your crew roll out new software program? You help it perpetually. Roll out new telephones? You’re now the cellphone division. The survey makes it clear that IT groups are being requested to do extra with much less. Almost 1/third of Mac admins say they’re already utilizing AI in elements of their workflows. That utilization will not be coming from a spot of pleasure. It’s coming from necessity. The report exhibits an increase in admins who really feel they don’t have the assets they want.
IT is deploying extra gadgets than ever. Safety is all the time a significant concern, tet staffing will not be scaling on the similar tempo. What’s filling the hole is a mixture of group information, IT automation, and a rising set of AI-powered instruments that assist IT admins troubleshoot sooner. The survey exhibits that greater than 1/2 of respondents at the moment are utilizing upkeep or optimization instruments to maintain Macs operating easily as properly.
When groups can’t rent, they begin to depend on communities and distributors that bridge the hole. Locations just like the Mac Admins Slack and Apple’s official help boards and documentation have gotten the primary place groups go for assist. The information exists, nevertheless it’s simply scattered internationally. AI will probably assist floor that information sooner, however the want is already right here. The Mac is simpler to help than ever, however the scale and the expectations hold rising. IT groups are adapting as a result of they haven’t any selection. I’ve extra concepts right here that I’ll develop upon in my article subsequent week.
Safety and Apple fleets
The survey additionally exhibits an 8% rise in admins who need less complicated patching and software program replace workflows. This isn’t stunning. Because the {hardware} turns into extra steady, the work shifts to sustaining a well-functioning software program stack. Customers hardly ever take into consideration updates till one thing breaks. IT groups always take into consideration them as a result of a single missed replace can create ripple results throughout a whole lot or 1000’s of machines if there’s a zero-day vulnerability. Apple has improved this story quite a bit with the trendy M sequence structure and higher enforcement of updates, however there’s nonetheless room for instruments that simplify what occurs between the consumer and the OS.
The Mac will not be onerous to safe, however the setting surrounding it’s changing into more and more advanced. AI-powered threats are right here as SaaS sprawl will increase. Extra work is going on within the browser as an alternative of native apps. With distant work nonetheless widespread, IT groups are anticipated to maintain all of their Macs secure and up to date with out ever bodily touching them, whereas additionally not bothering customers.
Wrap up
MacPaw’s survey exhibits a platform that has matured sooner than anybody anticipated. Macs are lasting longer, admins are relying extra on automation, and AI is slowly changing into a part of every day workflows. On the similar time, IT groups are understaffed, coping with extra complexity than ever. The Mac is holding up its finish of the discount, however the ecosystem round it continues to develop, and that’s the place the actual frustrations now reside.
Apple @ Work is solely delivered to you by Mosyle, the one Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the one resolution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all of the options essential to seamlessly and robotically deploy, handle & defend Apple gadgets at work. Over 45,000 organizations belief Mosyle to make hundreds of thousands of Apple gadgets work-ready with no effort and at an inexpensive price. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL in the present day and perceive why Mosyle is every thing you might want to work with Apple.
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