Cisco offers Meraki Systems Manager (SM), an enterprise mobility management platform supporting the monitoring, provisioning and securing of mobile devices across an enterprise network.
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Jamf Pro
Score 8.6 out of 10
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Jamf Pro (formerly Casper Suite) is designed to automate device management for users while driving end-user productivity and creativity. According to the vendor, it is the EMM tool that delights IT pros and the users they support by delivering on the promise of unified endpoint management for Apple devices.
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Pricing
Cisco Meraki SM
Jamf Pro
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cisco Meraki SM
Jamf Pro
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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$3.33 per month per iOS device
$6.25 per month per Mac
Education and volume discounts available.
Onboarding
3-Day for Mac + iOS: $7,500
2-Day for Mac only: $6,000
4hr Remote for iOS only: $750
Billed Annually
The free tier of Meraki SM was excellent and we used it for a few years. We now use the paid version. Meraki SM is excellent for schools that need to manage large amounts of iPads without needing to maintain physical contact with them. We are a small primary school on a single site however Meraki SM is able to handle larger sites. Devices are able to be configured so that the permissions are automatically set depending on the current user, or the current location. This allows for excellent customization. In my experience, Meraki SM works best when used with iPads. It does have some features for managing other devices but I have not used it for this.
We run a technology lending program for students. Jamf Pro has been instrumental in allowing student staff to prepare the laptops in a systematic, consistent manner. The same can be said with iPads and deploying apps to the iPads is automated. Also, extra software titles are made available in Self Service (both for laptops and iPads). Additionally, putting policies in Self Service for IT student workers to deploy to sit-down machines to run as needed is quite useful as well. Less appropriate scenarios would be in cases where there are fewer than 10 to 20 machines. Looking at Jamf Now would probably be a better use of resources. Jamf Now is not as robust as Jamf Pro, but for smaller entities it would be a better fit and a better choice financially.
Currently the application addition to Meraki has gone through some changes that make it not as user friendly as it used to be but has improved some areas of the function such as easy of deployment.
It would be nice to have the ability to reset a users password from the control panel. This function is currently missing.
Some of the navigation within the panel is not the best. It is a little obscure at times where you need to go for certain functions. For instance, to manage users, instead of a nav feature just saying, Manager Users, you have to know to click on a link simply called, "General". This could be improved.
While already in progress, the Configuration Profile editor is a little unwieldy
User dialog messaging. While Jamf [Pro] helper is very useful, a more feature-rich utility with editor functions would be extremely welcomed to interact with the user while installing software.
Policies: I would desperately like to see the ability to organize the order of packages and scripts within a policy without needing to use names, numbers, and 'priority'. Just let me drag items in a policy around in order.
Policies: scripts can only be run before or after, please let me place them in between packages
We stepped away and are looking at different products that integrate with our entire fleet MDM solution rather than focusing specifically on Apple products. An all in one solution fits our needs better and is more cost-effective in the long run. Jamf Pro needs to improve some features and support but overall its a good product.
It has is easy to use overall and is very powerful. The learning curve for the system is very small and I have found it easy to train members of our team to use it. It can fit any size organization and the support is excellent. The ROI is well worth it. If you have a multiplatform ecosystem, this tool is near perfect.
Jamf Pro has done pretty much anything we've needed with little setup headache. If we hit a wall, the Jamf user community and tech support departments both are more than willing to help solve problems. Tech support is excellent, but the surprising thing is the user base is by far the biggest resource. Jamf users love to help each other, by directly chatting about issues, posting best practices, or just posting info on the forums.
We have found that Cisco Meraki has always had very good customer support. In the rare case, when we have needed assistance they have always been quick to respond and solve the issue.
Jamf Support is very responsive and usually assists in any challenge we are tackling. They are also very transparent when they are allowed to be. I personally love our Jamf Pro support rep and don't fear messaging their support team.
The training session was beneficial because it expanded my knowledge about Jamf products and really learn what I am capable of doing with Jamf Pro in terms of managing Apple computers and devices. Immediately after the training course, I was able to implement what I learn to our cloud instance.
Migration from an existing MDM requires device wipe and reenroll for full supervision of the device. It's somewhat painful. User enrollment makes things easier, but you miss out on full management.
I used TechPilot to manage mobile devices which was a great product and had some useful features. I say had, because after it was purchased by Securly the software support and functionary went downhill fast. Securly MDM is an inferior product.
Even thought we are using this solutions for different purposes (macOS device management VS mobile device management), I think at the end Jamf Pro is more focused or aimed for macOS management, and mobile device management is just a good addition to that. Same I can tell about Ivanty, is more about iOS/Android management rather than macOS
It’s scalable up to a point and will scale well from small to a medium business, however, as a business grows and policies get more mature or detailed, you might have to later upgrade to a more appropriate enterprise solution such as MaaS360 or AirWatch. This solution however, will last quite a long tome for a growing business.
It has come in handy several times, especially when it comes to remotely wiping a device that was lost or stolen.
This has allowed us to push applications to devices, which helps our employees to have easy access to tools related to Healthcare and Business Expense tracking.
Meraki Systems Manager is excellent at allowing us to remotely administer our wireless access points, but has been a source of frustration (at times) when trying to use as an MDM solution.
Jamf Pro has allowed us to minimize the time it takes to deploy devices. We can use zero-touch deployment methodologies which allow devices to go directly to end users and allow end users to get up and running without needing IT's help.
We have implemented both a third-party & macOS patching service, which allows us to ensure all apps and versions of macOS are updated and secure.
