Jamf CEO: Channel Expansion Planned Amid IPO, Apple Enterprise Growth

CEO Dean Hager tells CRN that Jamf’s IPO shows that ‘we are a unique and strong company for channel partners to work with.’

Jamf CEO Dean Hager is pledging to expand his company’s efforts with channel partners, following the big initial public offering from the Apple device management software maker this week.

On Wednesday, Jamf shares began trading after the company raised net proceeds of about $320 million in its IPO. The offering saw Jamf shares priced well above the company‘s expectations, and the company’s stock price surged more than 50 percent after trading began.

[Related: Jamf CEO: Mac Could Match Windows In Enterprise Within 10 Years]

In an email interview with CRN on Wednesday, Hager said the IPO shows that “we are a unique and strong company for channel partners to work with.”

“Today signifies we are in this for the long haul. Public companies don’t have an expiration date,” Hager said. “It gives us a long road to be there for our customers and our partners, and help them succeed with Apple and serve their end users long into the future.”

Jamf is a leader in the market for software used to manage Apple devices--including Macs, iPhones and iPads--within businesses. The company reports having more than 40,000 customers and managing more than 17 million Apple devices, including for prominent customers such as IBM, SAP and even Apple itself.

Hager pointed to the fast-growing market for enabling Apple device usage in businesses as a massive opportunity for Jamf and its partners.

In order to “capture a larger share of the market, expansion of our channel partners both domestically and internationally will be key,” Hager said. “Our channel partners are critical in helping us efficiently and effectively reach more market segments, and we believe our growth and expanded product footprint will provide them with more growth opportunities as well.”

Revenue for Jamf totaled $204 million in 2019, up from $146.5 million the year before, the firm has disclosed in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. First-quarter revenue reached $60.4 million, up 37 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Ultimately, “from a priorities perspective, we intend to both expand our partner network to extend our reach and market coverage and better enable our channel partners to be successful and grow their business,” Hager said.

What follows is the email interview with Hager on Wednesday.

What does the IPO signal to your channel partners about the opportunity with Jamf?

It’s an exciting day. Our team is very proud to take this next step. The IPO signifies two major things to our channel partners and our customers.

First, as you have seen throughout our filings, Jamf is the standard in Apple enterprise management. We have a few different proof points to back this up. We serve over 40,000 customers with 17 million devices, and we’ve built the world’s largest Apple IT community, Jamf Nation, which is 100,000+ members strong. We’re the only vertically-focused Apple infrastructure and security platform of scale in the world.

With that, we are a unique and strong company for channel partners to work with. Apple Enterprise Management is growing. Today, the total addressable market is $10.3 billion and will grow to $23.4 billion by 2024, which equates to a nearly 18 percent CAGR. This growth is fueled by Apple’s popularity with millennials and Generation Z, who make up the largest segment of today’s workforce, and want to use the same technology at work that they use at home.

Organizations offering employee choice programs are also fueling market growth, as according to a recent survey, more than 70 percent of employees surveyed worldwide would choose Mac over PC and iOS over Android. We believe there is a gap between employees who want to use Apple and those who currently do. Because of this, we believe we are very early in our story and growth cycle, and are a strong partner to work with.

Second, today signifies we are in this for the long haul. Public companies don’t have an expiration date. It gives us a long road to be there for our customers and our partners, and help them succeed with Apple and serve their end users long into the future. We are still Jamf, and our commitment to the tightest community in all of high tech, Jamf Nation, is unwavering. As long as we perform, we can continue to be Jamf and support Jamf Nation forever.

How will going public help you to do more with channel partners in the future?

As our business and customer base grow, our network of channel partners, service providers, and system integrators will also expand to match this growth. As a public company, we intend to continue to expand our geographic presence and expand the depth and breadth of our product offerings to better serve specific industries and use cases. To successfully achieve these goals and capture a larger share of the market, expansion of our channel partners both domestically and internationally will be key. Our channel partners are critical in helping us efficiently and effectively reach more market segments, and we believe our growth and expanded product footprint will provide them with more growth opportunities as well.

What are a few goals or priorities for working with channel partners over the next year as a public company?

We rely on channel partners for the sale and distribution of a substantial portion of our products. For the year ended December 31, 2019, approximately 46 percent of our bookings were through reseller partners and service providers. We anticipate that a vibrant partner ecosystem will continue to be an important part of our sales strategy to sell, market and deploy our products. Especially as we continue to focus on building unique vertical value that is only available on the Apple platform, aligning with the right industry specific partners will be an important part of a customer’s journey with Jamf. From a priorities perspective, we intend to both expand our partner network to extend our reach and market coverage and better enable our channel partners to be successful and grow their business.