Deploying multiple ipads in business

[Banzai_Joe]

Hi all,
so we're going down the ipad route for our site managers.
I've just bought 10 ipad Airs (wifi+3g).

However, connecting each one to a computer to activate with itunes is gonna be a nut-ache. Not to mention installing a selection of apps of each and using enough security to stop users putting their own garbage on them. Then configuring exchange for them yadda yadda yadda!

Anyone got experience with deploying them in a business?

With our current iphones and the odd ipad or two, i tend to setup an itunes account for that user.
Not sure that's good practice tbh. With their own itunes account they are free to install whatever they want (which i don't want). Plus employees come and go, so i then have to change the password on their itunes account should they leave.
The other way would be to activate each device with a generic company itunes account, but not sure that's an acceptable method either.

We run a windows based network, so no macs/macservers etc, but i assume there may be some management software available to admin this?

Any advice on a decent and sensible way to handle this would be most appreciated, thanks.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

We use Meraki here. Pretty good piece of software, all cloud based.

Gives restrictions for pretty much everything you need as well as Exchange setup, VPN etc.

Thanks. I've installed this and on first glance it seems to do what i want.
I've got my Galaxy S2 and one of the new ipad air's being managed by it.
Pretty nifty........considering it's free.
Be good if they can support WP8 too

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Can't see us ever using more than say 20 ipds in the business. Even so i think Meraki will do us just fine.
Tracking the devices is very useful.

I will, however look into Airwatch, so thanks for the heads up.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Ok, so playing with meraki.
Seemed good at first, but then i hit some snags.
I bought an ipad app for deployment, and chose the deploy by MDM option rather than the Redemption code option as it seemed to describe my needs perfectly.
However Meraki only seems to support redemption codes. So looks like i've wasted some money there. So i bought the app again using the redemption code option.
It allowed me to push the app to an ipad but the ipad then asked for appleID credentials.
Now, unless i'm missing something here, wtf is the point of MDM for deploying software if it requires user interaction to input an admin password to actually allow the install? I can't see the sense of that. Surely when the central admin has pushed it out, it should be a silent install?

I then updated spiceworks to v7 and that has 'free' mobile MDM for all platforms including WP8.
Cool, or so i thought. Because to use any features above a basic overview of the device requires a paid for service of £4pcm per device, which for 50+ devices is £200pcm.....bugger that!
It's support for WP8 isn't that good anyway and we use Nokia Lumias as our main smart device throughout the company.

I'm wanting to manage our devices centrally, but don't have the budget to pay crazy amounts of money.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

Yeah, but that makes no sense. AS the admin of the MDM i should be able to push apps/whatever to the device silently without user intervention. Surely that's the whole point of centrally managing devices. Otherwise the user gets to know the appleID, or if they use their own, then they can install all sorts of crap willy nilly.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

It could also be worse - imagine you had 400+ iPads just given out randomly to staff and students with no management or tracking. Some of these staff and students then upgrade to iOS7 of their own accord and Activation Lock these iPads to their own Apple accounts....

They can do that anyway seeing as they require an itunes password to install the apps the MDM pushes out to them.
That was kind of my point, the particular MDM i'm trialling doesn't fully manage the device from an I.T. pov. Not sure if others are different, as i still had to get a certificate from apple.

Personally I'd return the lot. The amount of money and effort I see wasted time and time again trying to integrate iPads into Windows networks is incredible. The back end is Windows and your smartphones are Windows Phone - so who's idea was it to throw iPads into the mixer?

Some eejit in sales no doubt. Usually someone on the board who has the MD's ear. That said, just had a chat with the boss over porridge (wtf?) and he agreed to buy a couple of MS Surface tabs. However they don't have cellular, so that's a big negative for the way we need to use the tablets.

Anyway your best bet is probably to pick up a cheap Mac (something like a Mini) for your configuration tasks. It's a one time purchase and suitable for managing a relatively small amount of devices. I've seen a lot of places go that route and seems quite cost effective.

You think that would solve my issue with users having to input a password to allow the app to install?