A Chat with Adam Pettit, CEO and Co-Founder at Apple Device Management Platform: Kandji

Kandji is the next-generation device management and security platform that helps IT teams manage all their Apple devices centrally from Macs, through to iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs. Employee use of Apple devices is on the rise but the move to remote and hybrid work means that IT teams must be able to add new team members, maintain security settings, deploy software, and keep all systems up-to-date without ever touching these devices. Kandji addresses this and saves IT teams countless hours of manual and repetitive work by enabling them to effectively manage and protect their employees’ devices entirely remotely.

Two recent innovations that illustrate this are Kandji Liftoff and Kandji Passport. Liftoff transforms a freshly unboxed Mac into an enterprise-ready computer with the right apps, settings, and security controls in place. Passport is an authentication product that provides a seamless, one-password sign-in experience for all users. In total there are more than 150 pre-built automations, apps, and workflows in Kandji that IT teams can use.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
Kandji’s founding team previously managed fleets of Apple devices for large enterprises. We used every enterprise-grade device management solution out there—but grew frustrated with the existing solutions.

None provided a scalable way to keep devices in a desired state and compliant with modern security standards. Too much time had to be spent in the weeds, scripting, and building complex workflows. Those demands held us back from delivering on projects and doing more strategic work.

Most Mac admins face similar problems, and our founding team realized there was a need for a direct, automation-driven approach to device management. And so Kandji was born.

Kandji helps enterprise and midsize companies protect and manage Apple products, including Mac computers as well as iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV devices. Apple is becoming increasingly prevalent in the workplace, research indicates that the Apple enterprise management market is increasing by 17.8 percent CAGR and is forecast to reach $23 billion by 2024.
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
On 18 November we announced our Series C funding round of $100m – our third in just over a year. The shift to remote and hybrid work driven by the pandemic has driven an uptick in Apple usage in the enterprise, and we’ve seen a corresponding increase in demand for our device management service as IT teams are working overtime to support, manage, and protect all employee devices.

We believe that hybrid work will continue to be the norm for many organisations and that this will drive an increased preference for Apple devices. We carried out a global survey earlier this year which showed that 95% of IT professionals reported that managing remote devices is challenging. Respondents listed remote troubleshooting, onboarding, and security as the top challenges. The survey also revealed that 70% of companies more than doubled the number of remote or hybrid workers in the past two years, while 76% of respondents reported employee use of Apple devices also increased in that same time period.
 

What can we hope to see from Kandji in the future?

 
Kandji’s new funding follows continued company and customer growth during 2021, including a 700% increase in year-over-year revenue. Over 1,000 companies in more than 40 global industries are using Kandji to deploy, secure, and manage Apple devices among their distributed workforces. Customers include Allbirds, Attentive, Belkin, Lacework, Monzo, Noom, Rackspace, Remitly, and Segment.

Kandji is also jump-starting its European expansion, opening a new London office. The focus will be go-to-market hiring, including a recently hired General Manager, EMEA. As Apple continues to grow both in the enterprise and throughout EMEA, Kandji will address a real market need in the region.

During the next year, the company plans to hire an additional 50 local team members, and invest at least $100M over the next five years. The new London-based team will provide regional support to existing customers and partners across Europe. Also, customers in the EU region will be able to use Kandji’s new European data center in Frankfurt.

We are pushing the limits of innovation in the fast-growing Apple enterprise management ecosystem so that modern businesses can thrive, whether in a meeting room, on the road, or working from home.