The story of National Design Mart Inc.

Introduction

In today's digital era, numerous SMBs are leveraging the power of Apple devices and its services to manage their operations and connect directly with customers. However, Apple's "walled garden" approach often creates challenges for IT teams responsible for managing and securing these devices. In this case study, we will witness how Hexnode addressed this challenge by simplifying Apple device management for the IT team at National Design Mart.

Background

Situated in Northeast Ohio, the National Design Mart is a one-stop destination for customers seeking wholesale prices on some of the best brands of flooring, countertops, and cabinets. With branches in Medina, Wooster, and Cincinnati, they are committed to making living space look great with the finest products.

Challenges faced

The IT team at National Design Mart was using Apple devices to carry out their ERP activities, including accounting, procurement processes, supply chain operations, and much more. Before implementing an MDM solution, the team manually installed apps and configured the settings for each of the devices. This turned out to be a cumbersome process and took away a lot of their productive time. Moreover, once deployed, the team needed a proper source to keep track of the devices. All these factors highlighted just one solution – an effective UEM.

Consideration of UEM solutions

Jim Thomas, IT Manager at National Design Mart, was in charge of finding the right UEM solution for the company. After a thorough research, Jim finally came across Hexnode.

Hexnode stood out to Jim mainly due to its comprehensive feature list and budget-friendly pricing. The main highlight for Jim was that Hexnode could easily be integrated with Apple Business Manager, which allowed him to streamline the overall enrollment process.

Adoption of Hexnode

By implementing Hexnode into the team's IT workflows, Jim could easily configure all the Apple devices with the Hexnode policies of his choice - right out of the box! All he had to do was add the existing or newly purchased devices into the ABM server and assign the MDM to Hexnode. This also allowed him to access Apple's VPP for easy distribution of purchased VPP or in-house apps in bulk to all the managed devices.

Moreover, Hexnode's intuitive UI and dashboard facilitated Jim and his team with all the essential device details, such as battery health, storage capacity, network status, and much more. This meant Jim could now have a comprehensive oversight of all his devices from a centralized platform, without having to physically interact with each device.

Hexnode also allowed the team to keep better track of all their device locations. Hexnode fetches the device location at periodic intervals and can be retrieved instantly when needed. To top it off, the geofencing feature allowed Jim to further strengthen security by setting custom location boundaries. This notifies him whenever devices leave the confined store premises.

Implementation and Results

Jim says the implementation of Hexnode has been a bliss for their IT team. Gone are the days when managing Apple devices was considered a hectic process. With Hexnode, the team now had a one-stop solution for all their Apple device management needs.

Conclusion

In summary, Hexnode significantly aided National Design Mart in effectively managing their Apple devices. With the integration of ABM into Hexnode, the team no longer had to manually configure individual apps and settings for each device. Furthermore, the location-based policies and app management features gave Jim complete control over all his devices. Jim is delighted with the services offered by Hexnode and believes that it has greatly improved the work efficiency and productivity of the team at National Design Mart.