Running Macs in a Microsoft 365 business, properly

Short answer. Macs work well in a business that runs on Microsoft 365, as long as they are managed like every other company device. That means four things: register them in Apple Business Manager, enrol them in device management (usually Microsoft Intune), enforce encryption and updates by policy, and control who owns the device when someone leaves. Done that way, a Mac gets the same email, files, Teams and security as a Windows PC, and the business stops treating it as the exception.

I am an Apple user myself and support Macs, iPhones and iPads for clients alongside Windows. This is the setup I use.

Why Macs end up unmanaged

Most small business IT grew up around Windows. When the first Mac arrives, usually for a director or a designer, it gets set up by hand with the person’s own Apple ID, Office installed from the website, and no management at all. It works, so nobody revisits it. Five years later a third of the office is on Mac and none of them are managed.

That is the root of almost every Mac problem I get called in for.

The four pieces of a properly run Mac estate

1. Apple Business Manager

Apple Business Manager is Apple’s free portal for organisations. It does three jobs:

• Automated enrolment. Devices bought from Apple or an authorised reseller are linked to your account by serial number. When a new Mac is switched on, it knows it belongs to you and enrols itself in management before anyone logs in.
• Managed Apple Accounts. Staff get Apple accounts that belong to the business, linked to their Microsoft 365 sign-in, instead of using personal Apple IDs on company devices.
• Apps and books. Paid apps are bought centrally and assigned to devices, then reclaimed when someone leaves.

If a business has more than a handful of Apple devices and is not in Apple Business Manager, this is the first fix.

2. Device management

Microsoft Intune manages macOS, iOS and iPadOS, and it is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium. For a mixed estate it means one place to see every device and one set of policies. Through it I push Wi-Fi, apps, security settings and the Microsoft 365 apps, and get a report showing every device’s update and encryption state.

Situation	What I usually recommend
Mostly Windows, some Macs	Intune for everything
Roughly half and half	Intune, reviewed yearly
Mostly or all Apple	A dedicated Apple management tool, with Intune for compliance
A few iPhones only	Intune, or user enrolment for personal phones

3. Security and updates by policy

On a managed Mac I enforce:

• FileVault encryption, with the recovery key escrowed to the management system, not written on a sticky note.
• macOS updates on a deadline, so nobody runs a version months out of date.
• A standard user account for everyday work, with admin rights only when needed.
• The firewall and endpoint protection, reporting alongside the Windows machines.

This is also what Cyber Essentials needs. A managed Mac passes the same five controls as a Windows PC. The Cyber Essentials upkeep post covers how that is kept current through the year.

4. Identity and Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 on a Mac should feel identical to Windows. With Platform SSO, staff sign in to the Mac with their Microsoft work account and stay signed in to Outlook, Teams and OneDrive. Conditional access treats a managed, compliant Mac as a trusted device and blocks unmanaged ones from company data.

iPhones and iPads

Company-owned iPhones go through the same route: Apple Business Manager, then automatic enrolment, with a passcode, updates and the ability to wipe if lost. For staff who read work email on their own phone, user enrolment creates a separate managed space for work apps and data. If they leave, the work data goes and their photos, messages and apps stay put.

The four problems I see most often

1. Unmanaged Macs. Set up by hand, never enrolled, invisible to whoever looks after IT.
2. Lost FileVault keys. The Mac is encrypted, which is good, until the password is forgotten and nobody saved the key.
3. Activation Lock on leavers’ devices. A MacBook set up with a former employee’s personal Apple ID cannot be reused without them.
4. Unsupported macOS versions. An older Mac that cannot run a supported version of macOS fails Cyber Essentials, exactly as an old Windows 10 PC does.

All four are avoided by getting the first two pieces right before the device reaches the user.

When moving to Mac is the wrong answer

Macs last well, need less support and staff like them. They are still the wrong choice if your core software only runs on Windows, as some practice management, CAD and accounting packages do. Check that before anyone orders hardware.

If you already have Macs and suspect nobody is really looking after them, or you are thinking about moving people across, Apple and Mac support is part of managed IT, and a free IT review is the place to start.