“Time and tide wait for no man”, it is here, time to upgrade to ABM.
Apple has announced a date, 1st of May 2019, when all Apple business services will only be available via a single portal, the Apple Business Manager (ABM). Forget your DEP, VPP, it is all here under a single roof.
It has been a while since Apple has announced the introduction of ABM which is a web-based portal for IT admins to deploy their devices all from a single point.
As Android is working hard to improve its enterprise features with enhanced security, Apple is refining and fine-tuning their highly secure enterprise features. Apple Business Manager is more than just a unification of the Apple business services, you will find a run-through of the features below but if you need, a more detailed read is available here.
Apple’s DEP (Device Enrollment Program) had already been integrated into ABM in December. Now, with the announcement of VPP also being moved to the single portal (ABM) from 1st May 2020, customers are compelled to migrate. If you are an educational organization and use DEP and/or VPP, it’s time to migrate to Apple School Manager and you should migrate to Apple Business Manager if you are a business organization.
What you should do to upgrade
If you have enrolled in Apple Deployment Programs on or after February 26, 2014, you can upgrade your organization to Apple Business Manager from desktop Safari or Chrome. The supported browsers for enrolling your organization to Apple Business Manager are Safari version 9 or higher on macOS, Google Chrome 35.0 or later and Microsoft Edge version 25.10 or higher on Windows.
To take the step up to ABM, go to deploy.apple.com or business.apple.com using your Apple Deployment Program agent account. The upgrade process is quick and takes only a few minutes. You will need your business D-U-N-S number, an email address that hasn’t been used as an Apple ID for any Apple service or website, and your company website.
Now you have to use the ABM portal to access your data as the Apple deployments website won’t be available. If you only use VPP (Volume Purchase Program), then enroll in ABM and invite existing VPP users to the new ABM account. Organizations with VPP accounts can be invited to join the ABM account.
What’s new
Your ABM account will have the following after the upgrade:
- Accounts
- Account Credentials
- MDM server
- MDM devices
- Server Tokens
- Device Orders and
- Any other items associated with your account
There are changes in the roles associated to the users:
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- Agents are now admins
- Admins are now managers
- Single users can have multiple roles in ABM
- When previous agents and admins are signed into the ABM account for the first time, their Apple IDs are converted into managed Apple IDs.
Unification of VPP and DEP
Users get managed Apple IDs based on the organization’s website domain
Steps to migrate from VPP to Apps and Books
- Contact your MDM vendor and confirm their support for apps and books features.
- Invite your existing VPP purchasers to join your organization before you migrate to apps and books.
- All purchasers should migrate at the same time.
- Each purchaser should migrate their own account by selecting the Get Started in the Apps and Books section.
- Once the migration is complete you will have full access to the Apps and books features.
Why wait?
With less than 3 months to go for the VPP migration to ABM on May 1st, 2020, it is now or never. Upgrade your organization to ABM to manage your business seamlessly from a single point. Why say no to better security, saving time and cost, easier configuration, look-back capability and more. Upgrade your organization now!!!
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