How north9 keeps its Mac users secure and compliant using Zappl

north9

north9 is a specialist travel digital marketing agency based in Leeds. Commercially driven and data-led, the agency works across the full digital marketing mix — SEO, PR, link building, paid social, email marketing, PPC, copywriting, and website design.

Their goal is to also help facilitate more access to education for those who don’t have it, and improve the experience of those that do but can’t enjoy it to its full potential. 100% of their profits go to good causes to help achieve this.

The Challenge

Running a Mac-based environment, north9 pairs its marketing expertise with a robust, security driven technology stack. Device management, endpoint protection, and identity access are handled through the Jamf platform including Jamf Pro, Jamf Protect, and Jamf Connect.

north9 has been using Jamf since 2024 as the cornerstone of their device management and security. For a business handling sensitive client data within the travel industry's increasingly stringent compliance standards, keeping every Mac application current isn't optional, it's a necessity. Yet throughout their Jamf usage from 2024, application patching remained a concern. Mac applications across the agency's fleet were inconsistent to current vendor updates.

Outdated applications meant unpatched vulnerabilities sitting open across the fleet, exactly the kind of exposure that Jamf was designed to flag. For the team it was  a frustration: strong visibility into the problem, but no standard automated mechanism to fix it. Compliance audits and client security questionnaires were driving a need for a new way of doing things, without committing more resources.

The Solution

north9 then adopted Zappl — the purpose-built Mac application patching solution designed to work natively alongside current MDM’s. Rather than introducing a new management layer or displacing their existing investment in Jamf Pro, Zappl slotted in as the dedicated automation engine for the one part of the workflow that had remained stubbornly manual.

Zappl continuously monitors a comprehensive library of macOS applications, automatically packaging and staging updates as soon as vendors release them. Deployed through the existing MDM, Zappl ensures that the applications running across every device are always current and free from known vulnerabilities.

The integration required minimal configuration and no disruption to day-to-day operations. Within a short onboarding period, the agency's entire application patching workflow had shifted from reactive and manual, to proactive and automated. The great Apple end user experience was maintained and productivity was protected for all users.

“Before Zappl, patching was always the thing that slipped. We had great visibility through Jamf into what was out of date, but actually getting everything updated consistently was a constant drain on time we didn't have. Zappl just closed that loop entirely — updates go out automatically, and I can see everything is current without having to chase it."— Claire McLoughlin, north9

The Results

Since adopting Zappl, north9 now achieves a consistently industry compliant security environment across its entire Mac fleet. Applications are now patched within hours of a new release becoming available, a transformation from the timings that had previously caused frustrations..

The compliance picture has changed too. Where security questionnaires and audit reviews once required careful qualification around patching timelines, north9 can now demonstrate with confidence that every managed Mac is running current, vendor-supported software.

For an agency working with clients who take their data security seriously, it’s just the solution that was needed.