Universal Search & A New Paradigm for Enterprise IT Products

In the world of enterprise software, we've long equated complexity with capability. The more buttons, toggles, and configuration screens a product has, the more powerful it must be—or so conventional wisdom suggests. But as AI transforms how we interact with technology, this paradigm is shifting dramatically. Let's explore what this means for the tools IT teams use, how we are driving at the leading edge of this major shift.

From Complexity to Clarity: The Enterprise Software Evolution

For decades, enterprise software has worn its complexity as a badge of honor. The most "powerful" tools often require weeks of training, certification programs, and years of experience to master. When it comes to much of the everyday tasks, there are two basic ingredients to being able to get the job done:

1. Knowing what you want to do.
2. Knowing all the right places to go and levers to pull in order to do it.

In line with this, job descriptions routinely list specific software expertise as a requirement, essentially saying: "You need to be an expert navigator of this complex system before you can even apply."

This approach created a dynamic where technical proficiency with a specific tool became a career-defining skill:

• Moving up the ladder as an IC meant mastering increasingly intricate systems.
• Hopes of having a greater strategic impact rested on getting into leadership positions, leaving others to take up the torch and run through the labyrinth.
• Job security was boosted by the complexity.

But is complexity still necessary? Or was it simply a limitation of technology that we accepted and built entire career paths around?

AI: The Great Simplifier

Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing this equation. The future of enterprise software isn't about forcing choices between every possible configuration option—it's about understanding user intent and delivering results without forcing users to become system architects to deliver results.

A clear example of this shift is in comparing the actions of “Googling” for an answer vs asking ChatGPT. While Google is not complex, it still presents you with a variety of possible answers and forces you to put together the pieces in a way that allows you to find the answer. ChatGPT, understands your intent, puts the pieces together, and gives you a cohesive path to an answer, providing sources which you can use to dig deeper if needed.

Kandji's Philosophy: Build for Intent > Build Big Interface

At Kandji, this vision isn't new to us—it's been our north star from day one. While traditional IT and Infosec products presented admins with a vast array of building blocks and left them to figure out the construction, we took a different approach.

Our automations like Auto Apps, Managed OS, Profiles, and Liftoff were designed to intelligently handle the various edge cases and implementation details, only presenting configuration options that directly map to the admin’s intent. For example, navigate to the Zoom Auto App, and with just a few selections an elegant automation deploys it to devices and keeps it up to date: "Enforce Zoom installation, install updates within a week of release, add to dock."  No need to translate that intent into technical configurations—Kandji does it for you.

Universal Search: Intent at Your Fingertips

In keeping with this theme, we recently released Universal Search in Kandji. This new feature, accessible with a CMD+K keyboard shortcut, puts the entire Kandji platform at your fingertips.

Instead of navigating through multiple screens and menus, you can now type what you're looking for and go directly there. At launch, Universal Search allows you to find Blueprints, Library Items, Integrations, and devices based on their device name, serial number, asset tag, user name, or email. It gives you new ways to find what you need in Kandji without needing to know where to navigate.

But this is just the beginning. In future iterations, Universal Search will expand to support actions directly from the search interface and integrate with our Kai AI agent. Need to lock a device, deploy an application, or enforce a security control? Soon, all of these tasks can start with CMD+K.

The Future Is Intent-Driven

The way IT teams will exponentially increase their output and strategic impact in the coming years will be driven by tools that operate in this new paradigm. Easier to use software and automations combined with an intent-driven approach to managing and securing devices will bring speed and scale to the leanest of teams. The value of IT professionals will increasingly be measured by their ability to understand business needs and translate them into outcomes, rather than by their technical proficiency with specific tools. They will be able to drive more and more strategic value—even as an individual contributor.

This doesn't mean complexity is disappearing entirely. For power users who need granular control, that depth will still be available. But it will be optional rather than mandatory—a choice rather than a requirement.

We’re committed to be at the leading edge of this transformation, pushing the boundaries of what device management can be in the age of AI. Universal Search is just one more step on our journey to create a platform that works intuitively with you—one that understands your intent and helps you achieve it.

About Kandji

Kandji is the Apple device management and security platform that empowers secure and productive global work. With Kandji, Apple devices transform themselves into enterprise-ready endpoints with all the right apps, settings, and security systems in place. Through advanced automation and thoughtful experiences, we’re bringing much-needed harmony to the way IT, InfoSec, and Apple device users work today and tomorrow.