Autotrader runs toward Macs, not Windows, for its digital transformation

Autotrader has evolved from its roots as an automative magazine to become the UK’s largest automotive marketplace, a tech business that is now 100% using Apple products. 

Autotrader isn’t the first to move to Mac; the opportunity to move from a Windows ecosystem to Macs is being seized by a rapidly growing number of enterprises in response to Microsoft’s push to drive customers to Windows 11 following the CrowdStrike disaster.

Accelerating Apple adoption

The company has shifted to Apple products over the last couple of years, after becoming a 60% Mac environment in 2023-24. “User experience is everything to us and is one of the reasons we choose Apple technology,” Lee Skade, enterprise IT engineer at the company, said in a short video clip explaining its embrace of Apple technology. (The video is available here.)

At that time, Autotrader’s own internal data showed that 72% of all business employees would choose a Mac above all other devices, and 78% of millennial employees believe that access to the tech they like makes them more effective. We know data like that reflects findings at companies worldwide, from Cisco to IBM to Rituals, SAP, and elsewhere. With digital experiences becoming the primary employee experiences, these lights show the road.

Autotrader gets this and as a title focused on methods of transport seems to understand that the direction is accelerating to become the norm, which is why since publishing that clip, the company has gone all in and now operates a 100% Mac fleet. 

The transformation of IT

To help manage and support its Mac fleet, Autotrader is now looking for a Senior Mac Engineer, a role in which it intends to help optimize the user and employee experiences Apple tech brings to any company making the migration. This isn’t seen as a reactive role for troubleshooting tech problems, but as a leadership position intended to nurture positive deployments of technology for real business challenges.

This reflects one of the big trends in IT right now, particularly within Apple-based ecosystems in which the culture of IT moves away from support toward enablement. At this stage of the tech evolution, support should be seen as a business investment rather than a cost, Autotrader believes. “Tech’s not an afterthought anymore. Our people are driving what they want out of tech,” says Holly Redman, technology experience partner at Sync, which assisted Autotrader’s deployment.

“We believe in consistent, high-performing, collaborative experiences (and let’s be honest, we love a good trackpad gesture),” said Autotrader Technology Resource Partner Claire Isherwood.

It’s more than trackpad gestures, of course. Autotrader is a solid illustration of a company that understands that well-applied digital technologies can generate major business transformation. In this case, it has helped the title transition from a print business to become an all-points technology service. 

How Mac shapes up for business

The move to Mac implicitly empowers this. Apple Silicon, for example, supports the company’s development teams when building apps and services for its millions of users. These M-series processors easily handle the demands when building and supporting apps for multiple platforms. The video also explains who the adoption of Apple products benefits, how it helps the company in terms of sustainability, and how it enables a better corporate focus. 

Autotrader joins a growing number of companies to have successfully moved from Windows hardware to Macs, from high street brands like Rituals to accelerating deployments at PayPal and Roche. Banks, most recently including Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand, are also migrating to Apple’s products.

When they do so, they benefit from significantly lower software licensing costs and significantly more secure computing experiences. They also get to offer incoming and existing employees’ access to the tech they use at home, boosting productivity and engagement. None of these claims should surprise anyone, of course — they are all reflected in last year’s Apple-sponsored Forrester Research report which identified that the adoption of its products in business boost digital employee experiences, decrease support costs, improve security and bolster productivity.

This is the reality that continues to drive change in enterprise IT.

Long may it continue.

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