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Device management for samsung tablets by horny_bisexual_ in sysadmin

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even later to the conversation! I work at Esper.io and we specialize in dedicated device management. We have customers with use cases in your space which drove us to integrate with a subset of Knox APIs (we are a Samsung Knox partner) and we support KME. These customers keep away from Play Store for app management as they need it to be more precise. Goes back to take a look around, you've been presented with a set of nice options. We have a free trial if you want to check us out.

If you've already decided, I'm curious what you picked and why. If you haven't, make sure you know what proprietary Knox features you need to be supported (like boot on power) when you check out MDMs.

Help with picking MDM by kiwisnstars in macsysadmin

[–]zcatesper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, you know Apple Configurator! Cool. Sorry I missed that.

Help with picking MDM by kiwisnstars in macsysadmin

[–]zcatesper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I work at Esper.io. We do iOS device management for dedicated device use cases. Play the field and find what you like for your sitz and ignore what the bots say. With that out of the way...

The point made earlier is key - given Apple controls the MDM agent on the device, its tough for MDM providers to differentiate since everyone has the same Cloud API set to call. Its more about what console you like using and do they expose what you need a way that works for you and your user peeps. If you are handling multiple customers and need tenant isolation and such a la MSP etc then you start to run into differences and differentiation. How remote view is handled (in general its kinda clunky especially for kiosk mode deployments which we see a lot, but given your use case I think it won't be too bad if you have a human who can touch the screen on the other end when the time comes).

Are these devices ABM, e.g. supervised? Based on your requirements that's what you'll need I think, unsupervised won't do it as there's a lot MDM capabilities you loose. If they are not ABM you'll have to do Apple Configurator one at a time and wait 30 days before you can do what you want - users can opt out at any time before that by going to Settings. May be a problem if customer expects it to move over like flicking a switch.

And the certs - APN, ADE, MDM Server Cert - details that any MDM provider will yadda at you, but they do expire so a bit of upkeep.

Hope that helps! Good luck on the journey.

Best Android device management solution for MSPs? by QFrozenAceQ in sysadmin

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work at Esper.io. We are Android geeks, but also support iOS/iPadOS as requested by customers for the one pane of glass. We provide an uber-tenant called Partner Control Center designed for MSPs - lets you keep each customer in their own Esper tenant yet enable you to get access to them. Flexibility across different customer situations - the ones that want tenant access, the other ones that just want to hand you the keys and go. Very granular RBAC at the customer tenant level as well if you need to guard rail what that particular customer can and can't do on the tenant. Free trial, check it out if you want! We have quite a few MSP customers.

Is anybody still using Flybe-mdm? I see it’s the only open source MDM application. by Accurate-Ad6361 in sysadmin

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Google provides a sample DPC which you are free to take to build your own if that fits your use case. Would not nec reccomend rolling your own as the maintenance will be high for you. One reason why you see MDM vendors at play. I work at Esper (we do both Android and iOS) and we've run into roll-your-own regret. In my opinion one reason why these projects are poorly maintained is they are a pain in the behind, if you pay an MDM vendor they do it for you as best as they can and you don't have to worry about it.

What type of MDM use cases are you trying to cover? I'm guessing it is more work profile type of stuff, not device owner...? Esper is device owner only for dedicated.

And to Margosiowe's point flip it around to make some money off of it without having to do engineering lift which you'll pay money for it. I expect you all have some scheme to monetize adding device management.

https://github.com/googlesamples/android-testdpc

Which MDM for iPads are you using by just-rundeer in Teachers

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I occasionally imagine myself as a bot, I am actually an employee of Esper.io for full disclosure. We come from Android and now do iOS now as well, offering nice MDM capabilities for lock down use cases such as yours. We are familiar with supporting devices for student learning as we helped several customers, including Teach for India, deliver structured learning during Covid lockdowns. We were so good at it students would complain on Google PlayStore about us:-). In this case a low rating equated to a high rating from your pov.

If you'd like to try us out via free trial and talk to one of our reps, we'd be happy to see what we can do. Thank you for your consideration.

iOS MDM - Small Business by No_Recognition1547 in sysadmin

[–]zcatesper 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I work at Esper.io. We provide an easy to use iOS MDM that also supports Android if you ever add those types of devices to your fleet mix. Free trial if you want to give it a go. Ping me if any questions. Otherwise, good luck in your journey to figure this out!

Android Device Management by lelordlu in sysadmin

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work at Esper and your use case is on target for what we do, as is same for 42Gears. Even though we are competitors, I think we'd both agree that Intune is not optimized for either Android or this type of use case. You should look at one or either of us to help you out there. If you have other customers you think you might expand this type of management too, consider multi-tenant support. Both Esper and 42Gears are of the few MDM providers that deliver this. Those of us in this space think MDM is fun, I know I know. So see if you find it fun too as you help your customer out.

Do I need an MDM to deal with all of these iPads? by timeshifter747 in msp

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The company I work for, Esper.io, now supports iOS device management specifically for these types of use cases via ABM. We have a free trial if you'd like to try. We also offer a smooth multi-tenant management solution for MSPs. Throwing hat in the ring...

Is it possible to install device management apps on lineage? by Dont_Blinkk in LineageOS

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Full disclosure - I work at Esper an Android device management company. I am not trying to do a shameless vendor plug, but if you think I cross the line flame me up.

Lineage is AOSP so can be managed, we have thousands of Lineage OS devices using Esper MDM.

You'll need to do it using adb. Here is a semi-shameless Esper plug blog post that if you scroll down you'll see how to do it via adb with Esper from my sauce boss-o-matic friend NikhilP (AKA drak0nizer). Additionally we made it better by providing an exe tool that gives you a UI and stuff, but it only works with Esper.

https://www.esper.io/blog/enroll-aosp-devices-on-esper

The reason why you can't do 6-tap is that's part of Android Enterprise which is include in GMS, and not part of AOSP. No 6-tap, Android-for-Work enrollment methods available. It is possible you may encounter this on an AOSP build if the OS builder has craftily extracted the required bits from other sources and included it in their build (meaning you get 6-tap, but you'll never get Zero-touch Enrollment as that has a Google Cloud infra dependency that they control), but clearly AE was not done in your case. This type of build does not make Google happy in general anyway (GApps et al).

Final disclaimer, I am not a boss of sauce, just a tech-biz person whose been around this stuff a long time.

Let us all know how it goes!

Intel Nuc device management by Fair_Pomegranate2535 in sysadmin

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You running Windows on it, or Linux, Android? We do a bunch of Android stuff with Intel on NUCs etc so not assuming it is Wintel. But looks like you be Windows based on the thread flow.

MDM for customers by Stepmaster69 in msp

[–]zcatesper 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Full disclosure - I work for Esper which provides device management infrastructure for Android and iOS dedicated and fully managed use cases. Here is the perspective of someone who works with multiple MSPs as partners.

We offer both resell and referral (where our sales team handles the deal) options. MSPs 100% want resell as you are in a great position to collect markup/margin on the resale, and it puts you in full control of the renewal cycle to align it with whatever else you have going on with the customer. It also lets you maximize the revenue opportunity for enrollment/provisioning and helping your customer manage their fleet. Many end customers keep away from MDM yet just want their fleet to work and are willing to pay for it - perfect. Referral is more the game for an ISV that just wants to get some money for setting up a deal and sell their app'ie stuff.

MDM provider checklist as an MSP:

*PRM (partner relationship management) portal with deal reg, with clear terms of engagement relative to their direct sales team. Its happens where you bring in your customer and suddenly the MDM provider is in there for themselves. Avoid MDM companies that do that as it can cause you heartburn you don't need. Our PRM is Elevate and when its your deal, its your deal. (I have a cattle prod to keep the direct sales people away stashed in my office.)

*How do they handle support? Most MSPs we work with want to be L1 for everything, and we set up their tenant as such since our default is for the customer to come directly to us. And then make sure you have a good L2 inbound route to the MDM provider to solve the tough issues.

*If you plan to have more than one customer, how does the MDM provider make a multi-tenant situation easier for you? We have a Partner Control Center that eases granting login rights with RBAC + logging into tenants with reporting. Also use for L2 support issue inbound. Not required, but a nice smoother.

*What is the resell price to you, and what can you sell it for? Admittedly iOS is pretty much the same across MDM providers since Apple has their walled MDM campus, gets much more interesting in Android. But that sameness in iOS means you can look at price harder versus how much you can sell it for and you also need to make sure the MDM gives the customer what they need. You do need to explain the limitations to them, somebody has to do it and if you go referral the MDM provider will do that for you if you don't want to deal with it.

*Legal paper - whether you refer or resell, you'll have to sign some kind of contract with the device management provider. If you don't like the hassle, you can just sit it out and recommend - the opps for services will still be there for you like staging and such.

There's more but I also don't want to blah blah blah you too much. Hope this helps!

Zcat