Apple Testing Small Business Subscription Service

<p><strong>CUPERTINO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi;<&sol;span> Apple has introduced <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;apple&period;com&sol;business&sol;essentials&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Apple Business Essentials<&sol;a>&comma; an all-new service that brings together device management&comma; 24&sol;7 Apple Support&comma; and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans for small businesses with up to 500 employees&period; The company also unveiled a new Apple Business Essentials app that enables employees to install apps for work and request support&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The new service is now in beta and set to launch in 2022&period; Apple Business Essentials will cost from &dollar;2&period;99 per month up to &dollar;12&period;99 per month depending on the number of devices per user&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Apple Business Essentials saves precious time for small businesses as they grow&period; Available in beta&comma; the service supports small businesses through the total device management life cycle — from device setup to employee onboarding and device upgrades — while providing strong security&comma; prioritized support&comma; and secure data storage and backup&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Small businesses are at the core of our economy&comma; and we’re proud that Apple products play a role in helping these companies grow&comma;” said Susan Prescott&comma; Apple’s vice president of Enterprise and Education Marketing&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Apple Business Essentials is designed to help streamline every step of employee device management within a small business — from setup&comma; onboarding&comma; and upgrading&comma; to accessing fast service and prioritized support&comma; all while keeping data backed up and secure&comma; so companies can focus on running their business&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Apple Business Essentials is a complete solution that makes employee onboarding simple&comma; allowing a small business to easily configure&comma; deploy&comma; and manage Apple products from anywhere&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Within Apple Business Essentials&comma; Collections enable IT personnel to configure settings and apps for individual users&comma; groups&comma; or devices&period; When employees sign in to their corporate or personally owned device with their work credentials&comma; Collections automatically push settings such as VPN configurations and Wi-Fi passwords&period; In addition&comma; Collections will install the new Apple Business Essentials app on each employee’s home screen&comma; where they can download corporate apps assigned to them&comma; such as Cisco Webex or Microsoft Word&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to streamlined setup and onboarding&comma; Apple Business Essentials provides a dedicated iCloud account for work&comma; providing simple and secure storage&comma; backup&comma; and collaboration on files and documents&period; Business data in iCloud is automatically stored and backed up&comma; making it easy to move between devices or upgrade to a new device&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Businesses have the option to add fast and reliable service for employee devices with prioritized Apple Support&period; When a business adds AppleCare&plus; for Business Essentials to its plan&comma; they get 24&sol;7 access to phone support&comma; training for both IT administrators and employees&comma; and up to two device repairs per plan each year&period; Employees can initiate repairs directly from the new Apple Business Essentials app&comma; and an Apple-trained technician can come onsite in as little as four hours to get their devices back up and running&period;<&sol;p><&sol;div>&NewLine;