Why more businesses are choosing Apple
A decade ago a Mac in a small business usually meant the designer. Now it is often the managing director, half the consultants and every new starter who was asked what they wanted. iPhones are already the default work phone in most UK offices. The hardware lasts, the security is strong out of the box, and people like using it, which matters more than most IT departments admit.
The problem is that a lot of IT support is still built around Windows. Macs get set up by hand, left out of device management, patched whenever their owner gets round to it, and treated as a favour rather than a company device. That is how a business ends up with a FileVault key nobody can find, a leaver’s MacBook still signed in to the company iCloud, or a Mac that quietly fails Cyber Essentials.
The person behind it
I am an Apple user through and through. I work on a Mac, carry an iPhone, and build software for the platform: FM Talk, a native iOS app on the App Store for a client, was adapted for the iPhone Duo within days of the developer tools being released. That depth matters when a client asks why an update broke a printer driver, whether the new MacBook Air will run their software, or how to get Teams to behave on macOS. You are talking to someone who knows the platform from the inside, not reading from a Windows playbook.
How I set Apple up for a business
1. Apple Business Manager first. I create or tidy up your Apple Business Manager account, link it to Microsoft 365 so staff sign in with their work account, and connect your reseller so every new device is registered automatically.
2. Management before anyone logs in. Macs, iPhones and iPads enrol in device management during setup, not afterwards. Security settings, Wi-Fi, apps and Microsoft 365 arrive on their own. A new starter opens the box, signs in with their work email and is ready.
3. Security that matches the rest of the business. FileVault, updates, passcodes, firewall and endpoint protection are enforced by policy, with a report that shows every device’s state. Macs meet the same standard as the Windows machines, so the business passes Cyber Essentials as a whole.
4. Clean exits. When someone leaves, the device is wiped and reassigned, the Managed Apple Account is removed, and Activation Lock does not trap a £1,500 laptop under a former employee’s personal Apple ID.
Mixed Mac and Windows estates
Most clients are not all-Apple, and that is fine. The setup I use keeps both platforms in one Microsoft 365 tenant and one management system, under one set of policies. Mac users get the same email, shared files, Teams and protections as everyone else, and you get one view of every device the business owns.
If you are thinking about moving people onto Mac, or you already have Macs and suspect nobody is really looking after them, a free IT review is the place to start. Apple support sits inside managed IT at no extra cost, and the security standard is the same on every device.