Our customer spotlight series shares the unique strategies our customers use for their Mac deployments. It also offers insight into the different ways Macadmins are solving common problems.
What is MakeSpace, LLC?
Name: MakeSpace, LLC |
MakeSpace was born by solving a common problem: people have stuff but don’t always have space for it. In particular, residents in large cities have limited space and are often without cars. As a result, they are particularly affected by a lack of convenient and affordable storage solutions. In 2013, MakeSpace set out to change that by harnessing the power of technology and service.
Many people store data in “the cloud.” MakeSpace brings cloud storage to personal belongings. Nicolas Grasset, Chief Technology Officer, shares that MakeSpace “is much more than just a storage company. It’s primarily a technology company powering a moving service.” Their representatives pick up your stuff, move it, track it, store it securely, and then deliver it back to you at your convenience. Proprietary technology makes all of this possible.
MakeSpace's goals
The people at MakeSpace are the force behind pickups and drop-offs. However, MakeSpace’s technology enables the operational efficiency necessary for success. Specifically, apps are built by MakeSpace and used on iOS devices. Through these apps, employees can communicate with customers, coordinate pick-ups and deliveries, and record item storage status.
"To make our business work, we need our logistics to work efficiently and cost-effectively. We are able to do that thanks to our mobile fleet."
In addition to keeping devices updated, growth into new markets and an increase in services drove the need for a secure and reliable MDM solution. After trialing several MDM solutions, SimpleMDM was selected. When asked about how they made their decision, Grasset stated, “We studied pretty much every MDM on the market and SimpleMDM is by far the best solution.… It just has all the features.”
Tools used in MakeSpace's stack
The MakeSpace team relies on a few different tools to keep their customers’ belongings secure from the backend:
SimpleMDM
Apple VPP
Solutions
SimpleMDM’s ease-of-use was a significant contributing factor in their decision.
“When we migrated our devices over, it didn’t take long at all. We use Automated Enrollment (Apple Business Manager, formerly Apple DEP) to provision all of our new devices, and it’s just been super easy working with SimpleMDM.” He also positively noted SimpleMDM’s support team was “night and day” in terms of responsiveness.
Additionally, MakeSpace is able to use device groups to organize their devices by locality and provide management permissions to individuals managing different regions. The local managers then use SimpleMDM’s integration with the Apple Volume Purchase Program (Apple VPP) to distribute necessary apps specific to each team’s region. An example of this is city-specific parking apps.
Remote teams need access to the most recent technology. The iOS enterprise app distribution feature allows MakeSpace to test and deploy internal app updates faster. Then, MakeSpace’s apps utilize SimpleMDM’s API endpoints and allow users to request essential app updates.
Finally, MakeSpace knows that inevitably a device will go missing. To ease the pain and security risk when this happens, MakeSpace uses SimpleMDM to enable lost mode, set passcodes, add restriction profiles, and activate other security precautions on all new devices.
MakeSpace has already made a name for themselves by making space for others, but they’re not ready to rest yet. Currently, they provide services in 24 cities, with plans to continue expanding. As they continue to grow, innovate, and transform an industry, they expect SimpleMDM to play an important role in their development.
"Beyond geographical expansion, the types of services and technology we deploy [are] going to continue to evolve drastically, and I know that with SimpleMDM we will be ready to iterate quickly with us."
To see how SimpleMDM can make your Apple device management more sustainable, start a free 30-day trial or request a demo.
