Zero-Touch Mac Deployment at Scale

When I started at my current company, deploying a new Mac meant hours of hands-on setup. Image the drive, install apps, configure settings, pray nothing breaks. Multiply that by 500 devices and you've got a full-time job that adds zero strategic value.

Now? A Mac ships from Apple directly to an employee's home. They open the box, connect to WiFi, and everything else happens automatically. No IT touch required.

The Stack

The foundation is Apple Business Manager and Jamf Pro. ABM handles device enrollment—every Mac we purchase is automatically assigned to our MDM. Jamf takes over from there with PreStage Enrollments that define exactly what happens during Setup Assistant.

But the real magic is in the policies and scripts. We use a bootstrap package that kicks off a sequence: install core apps, configure security settings, set up FileVault, join our identity provider, and notify the user when everything's ready.

Lessons Learned

Test everything on real hardware. VMs behave differently. What works in your test environment will find new ways to fail when an employee is waiting for their laptop on day one.

Build in resilience. Network drops happen. Apps fail to download. Your scripts need to handle failures gracefully and retry intelligently.

Communicate status. Users get anxious staring at a progress bar. We built a custom splash screen that shows exactly what's happening: "Installing Slack... Configuring security..." Transparency builds trust.

The Result

Average deployment time went from 3+ hours to under 30 minutes—most of that just waiting for large apps to download. IT involvement went from required to optional. And employees can start their first day with a fully configured machine, wherever they are.