Jamf gets into AI, APIs, and advanced DDM

IT services are changing. Their future will be defined by extensibility via APIs and artificial intelligence. It appears we’re moving toward a post-app digital economy, where personalization takes precedence over off-the shelf solutions. 

That seemed to be the message from Jamf at its 16th annual Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) in Denver, CO, where the company unveiled a new API ecosystem, AI capabilities, and automated software updates powered by Apple’s Declarative Device Management (DDM).

“This year marks a major evolution in how customers engage with Jamf,” Jamf CEO John Strosahl said in a statement. “These capabilities make it easier than ever for organizations to fully realize the potential of the Apple ecosystem — with features that matter, integrate seamlessly, and work the way customers need them to.”

When device management gets smarter

The company says these APIs should help its platform become a dynamic and flexible foundation for innovation. In essence, it means developers, admins, and security teams can use Jamf’s APIs to streamline automation, ease integration, and help manage/secure Apple devices at scale.

The idea is that organizations using the Platform APIs can build management tools personalized for the needs of their specific environment. This could be of use to IT and security teams building custom workflows as well as helping technology partners seeking to extend what Jamf can do with their own products and services. MacPaw is at JNUC to show how CleanMyMac Business already benefits from Jamf integration.

There seems to be an emerging rule that nothing in tech can be said unless there’s some mention of artificial intelligence, and Jamf is keeping to that exhortation. The company gave security protection an AI boost with Security Skill in Jamf Protect. It’s an AI assistant designed to help security teams by analyzing telemetry and events logs to provide plain-language incident guidance they can use, hopefully accelerating response. 

An extra security AI agent

“By simplifying complex frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK and CVE references into actionable insights, the new capability enables security teams to cut through alert fatigue and focus on what matters most,” said Jamf.

The company shared initial reactions to the new solution at JNUC, stressing that the tool was delivering real solutions to real problems. In one example, Jamf demonstrated an AI analysis of a Time Stamping security alert. The AI considered the alert, analyzed it, and provided remediation in just seconds for IT. The feature is expected to arrive later this year. Jamf also confirmed it is using AI across the company to help build code and run operations — even turning to autonomous code agents.

“Every efficiency we bring with AI translates into productivity enhancements for you,” a Jamf executive told the audience of Apple admins. “This is enterprise AI done right.”

API, AI, and…DDM 

Declarative Device Management was always described as being the future of device management on Apple; now, it’s become part of the present. Jamf introduced Blueprints at JNUC 2024 and has now extended this support with new DDM-based workflows, including automated software update settings declarations; they basically let a managed device handle its own system updates based on policies defined by IT. This automates one of the pain points of managing Apple fleets and reduces the need for oversight through better automation. 

Digital everything

Reading between the lines of Jamf’s news from its show, it seems the company hopes to provide customers with the kind of extensibility they seek alongside the rock-solid platform security Jamf helps provide. 

The question is, as device management services become API-driven, at what point might some IT admins migrate to open-source alternatives, which also provide opportunities to build a new approach? 

Jamf, of course, can point to the market-tested resilience of its own platforms in contrast to other approaches. But there’s little doubt this will be part of the discussion in this part of the Apple industry over the coming months – especially since open source MDM provider Fleet cast some shade over the Jamf event. The latter has now become the biggest single sponsor of the largest IT group in the industry, the Mac Admins Foundation. Of course, the growing competition in the space reflects the extent to which the Apple-in-the-enterprise world is growing.

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