Methodology & Sources
Every figure in this tool carries a source, a date, and a confidence tag. This page documents the full assumption register, the pricing inputs, and how the ROI model is computed, including where it relies on vendor-commissioned research.
How the Model Works
The calculator separates hard savings from modeled savings, because they carry very different levels of certainty.
- License cost delta between the current and proposed MDM, with per-user licenses (e.g. Intune) normalized to per-device cost at 1.2 devices per user.
- IT labor: hours saved per month at your stated IT hourly rate.
- One-time implementation cost, subtracted in year one.
- End-user productivity uplift, discounted by a recapture factor (only a share of saved time converts to real output).
- Security incident reduction, valued at your stated cost per incident.
- Onboarding time saved through zero-touch provisioning.
ROI is computed as net savings divided by the investment (license cost plus implementation). Payback is reported unclamped: if the model produces a payback longer than the analysis horizon, or none at all, it is shown as-is rather than capped to a flattering number.
Caveat on Forrester TEI 2024: the “Total Economic Impact of Mac in Enterprise” study is commissioned by Apple. Productivity accounted for 61% of that study’s total claimed benefit, which is exactly why productivity is shown separately here as a modeled (not hard) saving, with an adjustable recapture factor. Treat vendor-commissioned figures as optimistic bounds, not neutral benchmarks.
Horizon note: the Mac-vs-PC device benchmarks are calibrated so the default 3-year comparison lands inside the defensible $200-650-per-device band derived from IBM and Forrester hard-benefit data. Because the annual operating delta is linear, 4-5-year projections trend somewhat above that band's top. Read longer horizons as directional rather than point estimates.
Assumption Register
Vendor Pricing Inputs
| Plan | Price | Unit | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jamf Now Plus | $4.00 | device/mo | Jamf official, 2026-03 |
| Jamf Pro (Mac) | $7.89 | device/mo | Reseller list (Tekpon), 2026-03 Jamf is quote-only since 2025; reseller-reported list price. |
| Jamf for Mac (Pro+Connect+Protect) | $12.50 | device/mo | Jamf official, 2026-03 |
| Jamf Business | $13.65 | device/mo | Jamf official, 2026-03 |
| Intune (M365 E3 allocation) | $2.00 | user/mo | Forrester TEI of Intune 2023 cost allocation Attributed share of the E3 bundle, not a standalone SKU price. Full E3 is $36/user/mo. |
| Intune (M365 E5 allocation) | $4.00 | user/mo | Proportional allocation Attributed share of the E5 bundle. Full E5 is $57/user/mo. |
| Intune Plan 1 | $8.00 | user/mo | Microsoft list, 2026-03 |
| Intune Suite | $18.00 | user/mo | Microsoft list, 2026-03 |
| Mosyle Business | $1.00 | device/mo | Mosyle.com, 2025-10 |
| Iru Business | $6.00 | device/mo | Iru.com, 2025-10 |
| Workspace ONE Essentials | $9.45 | user/mo | Omnissa.com, 2025-10 |
| Addigy MDM | $6.25 | device/mo | Addigy.com, 2026-03 |
| Fleet Premium | $7.00 | device/mo | FleetDM.com, 2025-10 |
Primary References
Forrester TEI of Mac in Enterprise, April 2024 (commissioned by Apple)
Forrester TEI of Microsoft Intune, 2023 (composite: 20K employees, 30K endpoints)
Tekpon verified Feb 2026 + Jamf official pricing pages
Forrester $2/user/mo E3 allocation + SAMexpert March 2025 pricing
IBM Mac deployment: 200,000 Macs, $273-543 saved/device/4yr