The complete IT toolbox you need to manage Macs in the enterprise – Computerworld

Intego — Intego provides a number of different security tools, including malware detection, secure device wipe, network traffic content monitoring, and VPN service.

AVG Security — AVG is a well-known player in the device and data security management. For Macs, it provides malware-detection tools and additional security features to block potential phising attacks, content blocking and firewall features.

Avast — Like others on this list, Avast provides malware detection, content filtering, accessory (webcam) blocking, and ad blocking. 

Norton 360 — Norton is a veteran of the cybersecurity battle. One of the most respected enterprise security vendors, it sports a wide range of personal, small business and enterprise security solutions for Apple and other devices. 

Bit Defender — Bit Defender is an anti-malware company focused on the small business (and consumer) markets. 

Sophos — Another veteran of the security crusade, Sophos provides enterprise malware detection.

Kanji EDR — Kandji is one of the top Apple-specific MDM providers; it’s developed a solution that uses AI to monitor device traffic for patterns of malware or a device-based security threat. It can proactively take corrective action, if possible.

Remote support tools

Remote access tools are essential in today’s IT landscape, particularly as we’re still in a time when remote work remains at relatively high levels. These tools offer various levels of remote support: Putty; Apple Remote Desktop; HelpWise; TeamViewer; GetScreen; and Apple’s Face Time. 

Deployment tools

Munki — Munki and its related tools are excellent options for deploying software and packages to Macs in an enterprise environment.

MIST — Mist is a Mac utility that automatically downloads macOS firmwares and installers.

Payload-free Package Creator — A tool for creating, inspecting and managing macOS packages.

ProfileCreator — An open-source macOS app, Profile Creator offers a way to create standard or customized configuration profiles.

InstallApplications — InstallApplications is an open-source tool that can dynamically download packages for use with InstallApplication. This is handy for DEP bootstraps, allowing you to have a significantly reduced initial package that can easily be updated without repackaging the original.

S.U.P.E.R.M.A.N. — S.U.P.E.R.M.A.N. optimizes the macOS update experience for businesses.

Onboarding tools

DFU Blaster — This tool from TwoCanoes can be used to put a Mac into DFU mode with the press of a single button and restore any version of macOS the Mac system can support.

DEP Notify — DEPNotify is a small, light-weight notification app that was designed to let your users know what’s going on during a DEP enrollment.

MDS — Also from TwoCanoes, this tool can set up and provision Macs out of the box; it sports zero-touch configuration, similar to what’s available with MDM or Apple Business Essentials. It can also manage local storage and Recovery mode/volumes. 

Backup and restore 

Erase-install — This open -ource script automates downloading macOS installers and optionally erasing or upgrading macOS in a single process.

Carbon Copy Cloner — The grandaddy of back up, restore and disk cloning, Carbon Copy Cloner from Bombich has been a trusted Mac support tools for decades. CCC Mobile Backup is the iOS sister to Carbon Copy Cloner; it the handles volume management, encryption, verification, and backup versioning.

User self-service options

Self-service options that allow users to find the answers they need on their own (and that allow IT to communicate directly with users), have become key tools as users have grown more technically literate. Responding this way saves a lot of overhead, and it gives users a safe/curated resource instead of something random they might find by searching Google or asking ChatGPT for help.

Hello-IT — Hello-IT is a set of self-support apps that can be provided by IT services to end users.

swiftDialog — Another open-source tool, swiftDialog creates user-focused messaging and notifications.

Virtualization tools

Virtualization is at a crossroads on macOS at the moment. Intel Macs could easily virtualize Windows to run Mac and Windows apps side by side. But Apple Silicon Macs, since they aren’t x86-based, pose problems. It’s possible to virtualize the ARM version of Windows and Parallels has announced an emulation feature to run x86 Windows versions, but the feature is in an early beta state at the moment. 

Virtualization can also be used to create macOS VMs for testing and related purposes. This ability continues on Apple Silicon, but there are some limitations, particularly if you need to virtualize older macOS versions.

VirtualBox — VirtualBox is Oracle’s free virtualization tool. It isn’t anywhere nearly as full featured as other options, but it avoids potential costs. There are preview builds of the software for Apple Silicon, but they currently only support running ARM-based Linux distributions. 

Parallels Desktop — Parallels makes the premier virtualization software for macOS and has even been named an authorized and trusted solution by Microsoft. The company offers various versions of Parallels Desktop, including Pro, Business and Enterprise editions that deliver varying feature sets and remote deployment and management of VMs in a business or enterprise environment. You can use Parallels to virtualize ARM versions of Windows with, as mentioned, support for x86 versions a work in progress.

VMWare Fusion — Fusions feels like the forgotten middle child of virtualization. It gets more updates than VirtualBox and can run ARM-based versions of Windows and Linux (though not macOS), but its feature set isn’t as robust as Parallels — particularly for enterprise environments.

I’ll admit that this list is quite long (and took a while to compile), but every tool here will be useful in some way to many enterprise operations, big and small. The key is to find the tools that you need as an Apple IT Pro and decide which works best in your specific environment.