Apple Enterprise Specialist Jamf Growing 'Immensely' Amid Channel Push

As Apple continues its campaign to win over the business world, Apple device management software maker Jamf is seeing strong growth through helping to enable the B2B push in Cupertino, Jamf executives told CRN.

And key to the growth, executives said, is that Jamf has significantly ramped up its efforts with channel partners lately.

[Related: Jamf CEO Dean Hager On Expanding Into Endpoint Security For Macs]

"This has probably been the greatest year of channel expansion that we've ever had," said Jamf CEO Dean Hager, citing momentum with large partners including SHI, Insight and CDW, "coupled with hundreds of geographic channel partners."

Minneapolis-based Jamf reports having more than 35,000 customers and managing 15 million Apple devices. Jamf's flagship product, Jamf Pro, is an enterprise mobility management offering for managing and securing Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV devices. Key elements include device deployment and management, app management and device inventory, along with security capabilities such as managing device settings and patching.

Jamf also serves smaller businesses with its Jamf Now offering, as well as education customers with the Jamf School offering.

Founded in 2002, Jamf has seen a significant expansion of its focus on channel-driven revenue in recent years, executives said.

In 2019, Jamf has doubled the amount of revenue that is going through solution providers compared with last year, said Isreal Lawstuen, manager of partner marketing at Jamf.

Jamf last disclosed overall revenue figures in 2017 with $113.6 million reported in revenue for the year, representing 118 percent growth over three years, according to the company's listing on the Inc. 5000 ranking for 2018.

“The company has grown immensely," Lawstuen said. “And the channel has outpaced the growth that our company has had overall.”

Currently, more than half of Jamf’s business is going through the channel, said Gianpiero Policicchio, manager for North American channel sales at Jamf.

"We've made leaps and bounds over the last year or two,” he said.

For both channel-driven revenue overall and the percentage of revenue going through partners, "you'll be seeing an increase on both those metrics” at Jamf, Policicchio said.

In its work with solution providers in recent years, Jamf has evolved from a "fulfillment type of model to more of a true partnership," he said. "What really what differentiates us is that we're an emerging partner and we're tied directly to that Apple ecosystem. And we do it better than anyone else."

Partners are drawn to Jamf because "No. 1, we're best in class when it comes to managing the Apple ecosystem. And No. 2, we're part of that solution sale, and part of helping round out your circle of margin around these opportunities," Policicchio said.

Along with assisting companies to improve their IT operations around Apple devices, partners that include Jamf in solutions for customers tend to sell more Apple hardware, Lawstuen said.

"I think we're in the equation for helping that customer experience. But we're also helping to sell more Apple devices, just by providing management and that great end-user experience," he said.

Leading With Jamf

Kevin English, director of mobility solutions at SHI, No. 10 on CRN's 2019 Solution Provider 500, said he has worked with Jamf for nearly a decade and seen the company grow from "a very small organization with not a lot of brand identity to something that's in almost every sales leader conversation we have."

As opposed to leading with the devices in sales conversations about Apple, "my sales leaders are actually starting to point to Jamf first," English said. "We know that managing, securing and deploying devices will lead to more hardware, which is really what we're after. And so we're starting to see our sales leaders pivot from a product conversation to more of a solution conversation—therefore leading with the capabilities, features and functionality of Jamf."

English also expects to see a massive increase in interest from customers in deploying Jamf in the coming years.

"I think it's going to be 10X from what I'm currently doing today, over the next three years," he said. "The market has accepted Apple. There's a lot more iOS devices and Mac devices that are in our customer base today. And No. 2, Apple is making a humongous, continued push toward Mac in the enterprise."

Employee choice initiatives, where organizations allow employees to choose between a PC and a Mac for their work device, are also expected to pick up steam and lead to greater Mac adoption in coming years, English said.

Already, Jamf software is seeing 30 percent growth year over year, which is ahead of the company average at SHI, he said.

"It's one of the fastest-growing software product lines we have," English said.

English also said he has not seen any incidences of channel conflict with Jamf, which he called a "very friendly" and collaborative vendor to do business with.

"The channel reps and sales reps from the Jamf side really partner with us in the market side," he said. "I would say I'm happy with the channel engagement and the friendliness of Jamf."

Apple OS Updates

Meanwhile, in recent weeks, Jamf has released new functionality that takes advantage of the advances for businesses in iOS 13, iPadOS and macOS Catalina, Hager told CRN.

"Apple has loaded up these operating systems with capabilities that are super attractive to the enterprise," Hager said. "And of course, Jamf's work then has been in really embracing that, and trying to create an even greater experience for the enterprise leveraging some of the things that they have."

The 2019 Jamf Nation User Conference—the major conference for Apple IT administrators—is set to take place Nov. 12-14 in Minneapolis.