Macinwork Cockpit: piloting your SMB's IT in one click

Tuesday morning, 9:17 am. Camille, the office manager of a Paris-based SMB, opens her inbox. Three new joiners next week, two laptops to order, an offboarding to organize for Friday, a request from the CFO for last quarter’s IT cost, and an email from the CEO asking where things stand on the leadership-team device refresh. She opens the shared Excel sheet she maintains, the IT Notion database, her calendar, and three Slack threads. This is the daily reality of hundreds of office managers in Paris-based SMBs. Macinwork Cockpit was built to replace this patchwork with a single interface.

Why we built it

Macinwork has run managed services for Paris-based SMBs since 2013. As our clients grew, one observation became unavoidable: the day-to-day of the office manager (and indirectly that of the CFO, CEO and internal IT manager) remained fragmented across spreadsheets, emails, tickets and chat threads. Modern IT management — Microsoft Intune, Kandji, Apple Business Manager, Windows Autopilot, EDR, Zero Trust — was tight on our side. But the view our clients had of it was always cobbled together.

Cockpit was designed to close that gap. It is not a new MDM, nor a competitor to Jamf or Intune. It’s a steering layer that sits on top of our managed service, aggregates the information a non-IT leader cares about, and lets you trigger common operational actions (orders, onboarding, expert booking) without sending an email.

What the office manager sees

Connected via SSO (Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace or Okta), the office manager lands on a view that mirrors their actual job:

• Real-time IT estate: every MacBook, iPhone, iPad, monitor or accessory is listed with its assigned user, MDM status, warranty expiry, last seen. No more Excel to maintain.
• People directory: who has what, who joins when, who leaves soon. Synchronised with your corporate identity — auto up-to-date.
• Pre-negotiated catalog: configurations validated with Macinwork (e.g. “Surface Laptop + consulting bundle” or “MacBook Pro 14” + creative bundle”), agreed pricing, no surprises at order time.
• Onboarding workflow: a 4-field form (name, team, start date, manager) triggers a zero-touch order via Windows Autopilot or Apple Business Manager. The machine arrives at home or at the office, already enrolled. The user opens it, the apps install themselves.
• Expert bookings: need an IT expert or project lead for a specific question? Three clicks, a slot, a Google Meet or on-site meeting based on preference.

Camille, Tuesday 9:17 am, does in 7 minutes what used to take 2 hours last May.

What the CFO sees

The CFO has a different need: financial traceability and budget predictability. Cockpit gives them:

• Real-time budget tracking by cost center, team or entity (multi-entity, multi-country supported).
• Streamlined chargeback: every order or user-month is exportable in an accounting-ready format.
• Hardware refresh forecast: Cockpit knows the age of every device and anticipates replacements based on your refresh policy.
• Per-user IT cost breakdown: hardware + licenses + service. The CFO stops asking the office manager to compile this.

This is typically the module that flips the conversation: a CFO who sees their per-head IT cost in real time stops dreading IT trade-offs.

What the internal IT manager sees (if there is one)

In hybrid setups (one internal IT + Macinwork as managed service), Cockpit gives the IT manager:

• A consolidated multi-site view of the estate, MDM status, security alerts.
• A complete audit log: every action (orders, onboarding, access changes) is timestamped and attributed. Useful for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 audits.
• Visibility on the run we operate: open tickets, deployed updates, closed incidents.

The goal isn’t to replace their technical tooling but to give them a readable window onto what we operate on their behalf.

Onboarding in 4 clicks: a concrete example

A Paris brand we support uses Cockpit to onboard new joiners. The typical workflow:

1. User creation (15 seconds): name, team, start date, manager. The role pre-fills the team’s standard config.
2. Machine + apps choice (30 seconds): selection from the pre-negotiated catalog — e.g. “MacBook Pro 14” 16/512 + creative bundle (Adobe, Figma, Slack, 1Password)” for a designer, or “Surface Laptop + consulting bundle (Microsoft 365, Teams, Notion)” for a consultant. If the order crosses your validation threshold, CFO approval is built into the workflow.
3. Zero-touch order (Macinwork side, automatic): we register the machine in Apple Business Manager or Windows Autopilot depending on the OS, pre-deploy the MDM (Kandji, Intune or Jamf), ship to the chosen address within 48h.
4. Activation (employee side): they receive the machine at home or at the office, open it, sign in with their Microsoft Entra ID credentials (or Google Workspace, or Okta). Within 20 minutes, they have Office or Workspace, Slack, their business apps, and the company security policies. On day one, they’re productive.

What used to take 2 office-manager half-days + 1 IT visit is now 7 minutes for the office manager + 0 minutes for IT.

Security by default

Cockpit handles sensitive data: who has what, what access level, what cost. The security posture is calibrated accordingly:

• EU-only hosting. No transfer outside the EU without explicit consent.
• Mandatory SSO: login via your corporate identity (Microsoft Entra ID, Google Workspace, Okta). No separate Cockpit password. MFA enforced, FIDO2 passkeys supported.
• Complete audit log: every action is timestamped and attributed. Export on demand for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 audits.
• GDPR-compliant: processing record, signed DPA per client, built-in user rights (access, export, deletion). Our DPO is reachable directly.
• Reversibility: at end of contract, you retrieve all your data in an open format (CSV, JSON). No retention beyond the contractual period.

For organisations subject to NIS2 or to client-driven requirements (annual audits, certifications), Cockpit provides the documentary evidence you need, without extra paperwork.

Not a public SaaS

Cockpit is not sold standalone. It is a tool reserved for Macinwork managed-service or outsourcing clients — it’s the natural complement to our offering, not an independent SaaS platform. The reason is simple: Cockpit only has value if the data behind it (estate, MDM, identity, security) is properly operated. Without Macinwork on operations, the interface becomes an empty dashboard.

Practically: Cockpit access is included in our managed-service contracts. A dedicated Cockpit package is available for tighter scopes, with a tailored operational framing.

How to get access

If you’re already a Macinwork client, mention it to your dedicated lead — a Cockpit onboarding takes 2 to 4 weeks depending on the maturity of your estate.

If you’re not, the conversation can start with a free initial IT audit at Macinwork. We review your estate, your identity, your MDM, your security — and if the conversation is useful, we walk you through Cockpit in a real demo using a client case adapted to your context (fashion, consulting, events, gallery, training, depending on your sector). The form at the bottom of the home, or a message to hello@macinwork.com, are built for that.