If you care about business continuity, get a Mac (or iPhone)

As Delta goes to litigation to try to claw back some of the money it lost as a result of the Crowdstrike disaster, a new report on enterprise IT shows once again that if you care about business continuity, you should invest in Apple’s products.

Conducted by Dimensional Research and paid for by Apple device management company Kandji, the annual Apple in the Enterprise survey is revealing. It confirms continued growth in the use of Apple products across the enterprise and reiterates that IT professionals continue to say Apple devices are far less likely to be affected by ransomware.

Just look at the data

Some of the data points are revealing, particularly around security:

• 77% of IT professionals agree Apple products are easier to secure than Windows and Android.
• 72% believe that Apple products are more secure than other end-user devices.
• 59% report that Apple products are less likely to be hit by widespread cyber outages. 

The findings come as Apple adoption in the business world continues to increase — apparently at a faster rate than comparable Windows or Android devices, at least in the enterprise. iPhone adoption continues to accelerate, too, the survey suggests. 

It’s no wonder, then, that 73% of organizations report the number of Apple products has increased over the last year, driven primarily by employee preference (76%), security (50%), and reliability (43%). Eighty percent of C-level execs say employee demand is forcing that transition, with increased use of iPhones and iPads in the workplace. It is also of note that 67% of IT professionals expect Apple Vision Pro to be a business productivity solution, not just a personal entertainment unit. 

The benefits of the Apple switch

Asked what business benefits organizations realized through Apple device provision, IT pros told the researchers:

• 65% saw increased employee productivity.
• 58% experienced improved security.
• 28% claim reduced TCO.
• And 21% created additional revenue opportunities.

The data also shows that the bigger (in percentage terms) a company’s Apple deployment gets, the greater the benefits realized. Companies where 50% or more of devices are Apple hardware claimed to have experienced the biggest security improvements, for instance.

Perhaps most important, the survey also confirms that most enterprise IT leaders believe that while artificial intelligence is important, it needs to be safely managed and deployed. Just consider the data:

• 92% of IT pros (and 72% of C-level execs) are concerned about AI, including worries about errors/inaccuracies (68%), privacy (66%), and security (64%). 
• 71% of IT professionals say Apple does more to protect end-user privacy with AI than other vendors. 
• 67% of companies have implemented restrictions around the use of AI.

Doing it best isn’t always doing it first

In other words, Apple’s approach to deliberate intentionality in such deployments is absolutely the right approach. And it matches what customers need. It confirms that IT pros already believe Apple does more to protect privacy than anyone else. In and of itself, it justifies Apple’s slow and steady approach to AI deployment across its platforms and shows the planks in the eyes of more starry-eyed AI aficionados.  

It’s only common sense, of course, to take deliberate steps when deploying a technology that could have such a deep impact on every part of life. And it makes nothing but sense to try to ensure that data concerning you or your company’s use of those services doesn’t suddenly become a tool to give your competitors insight into your company, your people, or your own personal life. You don’t want your productivity-enhancing AI-based services to steal your core ideas and replace your business, one generative AI prompt at a time.

Ultimately, every cloud-based AI service must be as secure as Apple’s Private Cloud Compute promises. The good thing is that IT professionals seemingly already recognize that. The need to mix trust with tech is Apple’s ace card in the AI game, and over time the value of that card will inevitably be better understood.

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