Beyond the user experience, the internal IT team was struggling with a lack of visibility and administrative overhead. Ayoub Bakhtar, Senior IT Officer, noted that because they didn't have direct access to their Iru (formerly Kandji) instance, they were essentially operating in the dark.
"We weren’t the owners of Kandji at that moment... We were paying the license, but we had to follow up (with the MSP) on every activity to see if it was going according to the request. It was costing us a lot of time just checking invoices for duplicates and reporting them for refunds." — Ayoub Bakhtar
The organisation was facing a reality where: Onboarding was a hurdle: Users often received devices that weren't "ready to go." Causing delays on their first day when they should be concentrating on learning their new role. Simple tasks were difficult and costly: Updates and reminders were lagging, plus a simple password change would set them back financially. Frustration was the norm: "We were having to push the MSP very hard to do simplistic tasks... and we weren't really making much headway. There was a lot of frustration," Mark recalls.
Unlike a traditional "black box" support model, Remitech’s approach was to join the ECF team as an embedded subject matter expert. They reviewed the whole instance and saw opportunities to improve.
David Remington, Founder of Remitech, explains the philosophy:
"Rather than it feeling like you're shipping tasks out to a different team to get things done, the approach we take is: how can we be the experts that join your team? Not just to solve problems, but to share that knowledge and teach you to fish."
Bringing management of the Iru environment in-house delivered immediate cost and efficiency benefits.
Previously, even routine tasks such as password resets incurred external costs. By internalising these processes, the team eliminated unnecessary spend while gaining greater control and responsiveness. Requests can now be handled immediately, without delays or additional charges, significantly improving both service speed and user experience.
Beyond direct cost savings, the transition enabled meaningful knowledge transfer. There had been limited understanding of how complex, or in some cases, how manageable, the Iru environment actually was. By taking ownership, the team developed a deeper technical understanding of the platform, its capabilities, and how it could be leveraged more strategically. This has strengthened internal expertise and reduced reliance on third parties. It also transformed the perception of Iru internally, and the IT team started loving it.
Operational efficiency vastly improved. The IT team no longer needs to manually chase users to complete updates, an activity that added little value and diverted time from higher-priority work. Software and OS rollouts can now be deployed directly through Iru, with automated reporting providing real-time visibility of progress and compliance.
As a result, update cycles are smoother, less stressful, and more controlled. The team can confidently push changes at scale, monitor adoption through generated reports, and proactively address any gaps with the help of Remitech.
A key milestone in the transformation was reclaiming ownership and visibility across the organisation’s Apple environment.
They were able to roll out Iru Passport, which was completed smoothly, with no complaints from either new or existing users. At the same time, the legacy Blueprints were removed and replaced with a new, standardised Assignment Map structure. This provided greater clarity, improved understanding, and a significantly cleaner configuration. Previously, the environment relied on multiple blueprints that appeared to perform the same functions. This duplication created unnecessary complexity and made the system difficult to manage. By consolidating and standardising these configurations, the team eliminated confusion and reduced administrative overhead.
The team also implemented a standardised device naming convention. Macs were renamed according to a consistent naming convention based on asset tags, replacing informal or personalised names. This not only improved professionalism but also strengthened asset tracking, reporting, and lifecycle management.
The rollout of iOS updates, including the deployment of Tahoe, was well received. With a more structured and controlled environment in place, the team is now in a position to make strategic decisions about how future updates are deployed. Rather than reacting to changes, they are able to define and control the rollout approach.
By taking ownership of their Iru instance and working closely alongside Remitech, Ayoub and Mark gained the transparency and control they had previously lacked. They now are able to see the art of the possible.
"Now we have the ownership. We have access and we now know how it looks, how it’s functioning. This is very important." — Ayoub Bakhtar
One of the most profound impacts was on the team's internal meetings. What used to be a weekly session of troubleshooting and complaints has transformed into a collaborative discussion about improvement.
Mark Storey describes the shift:
"Every week when we had our catch-up meeting, we used to talk about the problems we were having... Now, the shift I’ve seen is from: 'This is really annoying and can’t do this' to: 'Wow, this is working really well. What else can we do with it that could improve our lives?'"
The relationship with Remitech’s technical lead, Joe, provided the "safety net" ECF needed to implement complex features like Iru Passport and automated OS updates. ECF had an idea of where they wanted to get to and Remitech were able to advise on how we could get there.
"The changes that Joe has made have really helped... He really helped us migrate. It’s a very friendly, really helpful approach. We got to a solution and we fixed it." — Mark Storey
by removing chargeable IRU admin tasks.
not troubleshoot, through ongoing weekly support meetings
monthly automated campaigns replacing ad-hoc tests, with measurable results and a fraction of the admin.
By partnering with Remitech, ECF successfully brought their Apple management in-house without the risk of “going it alone.” What started as a technical clean-up became a broader transformation of control, clarity, and confidence.
Legacy complexity was removed and replaced with a streamlined, standardised, and scalable environment. Onboarding is now consistent and professional. Devices are properly structured and named, updates are managed proactively, and reporting provides clear visibility across the estate. The IT team has shifted from reacting to issues to leading with strategy.
The impact goes beyond technology. ECF has reduced unnecessary costs, improved response times, strengthened internal expertise, and regained full ownership of its environment — all while maintaining the reassurance of expert support when needed.
As Mark concludes:
“I always recommend that whatever solution you're looking at, you should have a partner of some kind… someone you can reach out to and get help if needed. That’s what Remitech has been for us.”
If you’re thinking about deploying Iru (Kandji), or would like us to do a free review of your Iru instance to see where things can be improved, then contact us today for a chat.