Parallels, which specializes in cross-platform solutions, has announced results of its commissioned survey of more than 200 IT decision makers about their attitudes toward Macs in the enterprise.

The results are telling: almost half of businesses (45%) currently offer their employees Macs, and more than nine out of 10 businesses (95%) that don’t currently provide Macs would be more likely to offer employees Macs if they had a single central management system for both Windows PCs and Macs. Macs are in high demand – and respondents who already support Macs shared the top reasons why:
 
° Eight out of 10 businesses (77%) say Macs are more reliable overall than Windows machines.

° Seven out of 10 (65%) say they are easier to support.

° Seven out of 10 (65%) say offering Macs would likely help attract employees (a very important factor given the competition for talent).
 
However, there are also barriers against bringing Macs onto corporate networks according to survey respondents:
 
°  Seven out of 10 businesses (70%) cite the main reason they don’t allow Macs onto their network is because they lack the expertise to manage them.

° Seven out of 10 (68%) don’t allow them because they are unable to run Windows apps (and the vast majority of enterprise do have some Windows-only applications).

° Half (53%) cite the lack of proper management tools.
 
“This survey reinforces what we already knew: Macs are coming into the enterprise but often are supported only reluctantly and not managed efficiently,” says Parallels President Jack Zubarev. “With Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition and our Mac management plug-in for Microsoft SCCM, Parallels removes two of the biggest roadblocks to Macs in the enterprise: the ability to run Windows applications on the Mac and giving IT departments a single pane of glass to manage Macs and PCs.”
 
Parallels Mac Management for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) extends existing SCCM functionality to Macs, allowing IT department to leverage existing processes and skills to manage Macs. With Parallels Mac Management, IT departments can discover, enroll and manage Macs just as they would with existing PCs, through a single pane of glass. From deploying Mac OS X images to managing virtual machines running in Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition, Parallels Mac Management provides the tools for an IT organization to be Mac management experts.
 
Parallels also offers assistance programs for IT professionals as they go through the installation and implementation process with Parallels tools. These include a Hosted Test Lab program that lets IT professionals test out the Parallels Mac Management plug-in before they install it in their environment, and a Jumpstart program that comprises the Parallels Mac Management plug-in for up to 100 Macs and 10 hours of assisted installation and configuration support.
 
Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition enables IT department to use their Windows applications stack on Macs, run Windows side-by-side with Mac OS and always have their Windows and Mac apps available, online or offline. IT staff can also secure and mass manage employees Windows virtual machines through variety of configuration options.
 
The survey was commissioned by Parallels, carried out by Redshift Research, and was designed to measure respondents’ attitudes and behaviors about multiple platform environments. The research was conducted in March, 2014 using an email invitation and an online survey.

The survey was conducted among 200 IT decision makers or influencers whose work environment is primarily made up of Windows-based PCs. Those who currently provide employees with Macs, or those who are considering doing so qualified for the study. Go to http://www.parallels.com/enterprise for more info.