By the time Steve Jobs passed away in October 2011, concepts like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Consumerisation of IT were about to make an entry. Till that point, the IT department had tight control over the enterprise, allowing only the devices they wanted… let’s say, what they could accommodate. On the other hand, a revolution was happening. Consumers were increasingly using iPhones, iPads and Macs at home and were bringing them to offices. The IT department had to accommodate and things started changing rapidly and Apple’s enterprise dreams began to strengthen.

Today, Apple is a powerful (and, very importantly, flexible) platform for business, be it at the office or factory. Hardware, software and services meld to help employees find solutions.

Take the case of the global software company Zoho, which continues to make India proud. It creates software products to help businesses. In February, the company was mentioned in Apple’s earnings call. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said Zoho “offers its 15,000 plus global employees a choice of devices, with 80 per cent of their workforce using iPhone for work and nearly two-thirds of them choosing Mac as their primary computer”.

Give employees autonomy

The Mac is playing an important role in helping Zoho increase productivity and build world-class software, including dozens of native apps for iOS and macOS. “Empowering communities and developing a strong workforce in India are critical not only for Zoho — but also for our economy and the rural areas that make India, India. This is why we choose Apple technology,” said Sridhar Vembu, founder and CEO, Zoho Corp.

Apple technology helps Zoho Corp run its device management solution to streamline deployment. IT reports 50 per cent fewer support requests for Mac than for PC. Apple

“People-centricity is a core tenet of Zoho Corp, and employee retention has been critical for us over our 28-year journey,” said Rajendran Dandapani, director of technology, Zoho Corp. “We have had thousands of colleagues who’ve been with us for over a decade and hundreds who’ve been with us for over two decades. We offer all our employees a choice of tools they would like for their mobile and laptop/monitors, including Apple, Dell, Linux, and so on. We believe in giving employees as much autonomy as possible; it only empowers them and enhances their sense of belonging. Additionally, those employees who picked Apple stated that they did so given the privacy-focus and performance the products offer.”

The Mac is ubiquitous among Zoho employees. In fact, 65 per cent have chosen Mac… and for a reason — there are 50 per cent fewer support requests for Mac than for PC.

Macs are proving to be a boon for business, especially when you consider the security it offers compared to days when device management involved different teams running different tools.

“We pride ourselves in being a privacy-conscious and security-centric company. Additionally, the company follows the hub and spoke model of operating, therefore device management and remote collaboration are a priority for us. Given the breadth and depth of our portfolio and our philosophy of leveraging our own products for operations, we use ManageEngine Endpoint Central to automate Apple device management. It provisions devices, handles software installation, and enforces security standards. Apple Business Manager simplifies enrolment, and zero-touch configuration speeds up deployment,” said Dandapani.

Apple developer platform is rock solid

What makes Apple a smart choice is its offerings. The App Store has a large number of apps or you can build your apps using cutting-edge technology for whatever the business needs. The Apple developer platform is rock solid. Helping the process is Apple Business Manager, which makes Apple devices easy to deploy and manage. The IT department can push apps and create Managed Apple IDs, and employees can customise their devices on their own. Key security features, like hardware-based device encryption, can’t be disabled, even by mistake. Further, Touch ID and Face ID make devices secure.

We are living in the AI era and the Apple silicon can help Zoho come up with solutions that create regional prosperity.

“Given that Zoho Corp is an R&D focused company, we have built everything in our tech stack from scratch, including our AI engine, Zia and our products. Many of our employees saw better performance after getting the M Series processors. Additionally, given that a predominant part of our workforce focuses on building products, they saw that creation time reduced, and many appreciated longer battery life, which helped with uninterrupted work. Additionally, with Apple silicon we saw 50-100 per cent faster build time compared to others,” said Dandapani.

The Apple silicon not only increases Zoho Corp’s energy efficiency, it reduces the company’s overall power consumption. We turn to what Rajalakshmi Srinivasan, director of product management, Zoho Corp, said: “I believe that we shape our tools and in turn the tools shape us. Using Apple products has changed the way we consider and approach product design.”

By working with Apple tools, there has been an increase in productivity. “We have seen an increase in productivity for designers and programmers, and for the IT team, the support requests are fewer in number. From an operational POV, Macs see 50 per cent less laptop failure,” said Dandapani.

Continuity is an important tenant of Apple’s philosophy. Developers can design, render and create easily across Mac and iPad. Further, Mac powers rapid context switching in apps like Xcode, Sigma and Sketch. There are many designers who sketch ideas on an iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, and then refine them on Mac. What does that translate into? To enable workforce readiness opportunities across India, Zoho Schools of Learning offers programmes across design, technology and business to help identify and empower local talent.