For a growing company, I’d look at three different approaches, because “best” depends heavily on whether you want one platform or are comfortable assembling an IT stack.
My shortlist
| Platform | Best fit | Laptop provisioning | Account/app provisioning | IT automation |
|---|
| Rippling | Growing companies wanting one onboarding workflow | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
| JumpCloud | IT-led organizations needing cross-platform device + identity management | Excellent | Very good | Excellent |
| Microsoft Intune | Microsoft-heavy organizations | Excellent for Windows | Excellent with Entra/M365 | Excellent |
1. Rippling — strongest all-in-one onboarding choice
If your goal is “HR adds the employee → IT doesn't have to manually touch 15 systems”, I'd put Rippling at the top of the evaluation list.
It can connect employee attributes to IT workflows, automatically provision application accounts/licenses, assign laptops, install software based on role, and manage macOS and Windows devices. It also supports ordering and shipping computers as part of onboarding.
A typical workflow could look like:
HR creates employee → employee's department/role is known → accounts are created → groups/licenses assigned → laptop assigned → required software installed → security policies applied → employee receives laptop.
That's particularly attractive for a company where IT support is small relative to headcount.
2. JumpCloud — excellent if IT is driving the architecture
JumpCloud is particularly compelling if you want a unified identity + device management platform rather than primarily an HR platform with IT capabilities.
It can manage Windows, macOS and Linux, provision local device accounts, manage applications/resources, and automate device enrollment. Its self-service provisioning can even allow a new employee to associate their JumpCloud account with a managed Mac or Windows machine from the login screen.
I'd seriously consider it if you have a mixed Mac/Windows environment or expect IT requirements to become more sophisticated.
3. Microsoft Intune + Entra — excellent for a Microsoft-centric company
If you're already heavily invested in Microsoft 365, Entra ID and Windows, I'd avoid adding another platform unnecessarily.
Intune + Windows Autopilot can essentially turn a laptop into a zero-touch deployment device. A new employee can receive a factory-state Windows PC, connect it to the internet, sign in with their company account, and Autopilot enrolls/configures the machine and applies the organization's policies and applications.
IT can also use pre-provisioning, where the IT team or hardware partner performs the time-consuming configuration before shipping the laptop to the employee.
What I'd choose
For a growing company starting from scratch, I'd evaluate Rippling vs. JumpCloud first.
- You want HR onboarding and IT onboarding to be one automated process: Rippling.
- You want IT to own identity, devices and access management: JumpCloud.
- You're already deeply standardized on Microsoft 365/Windows: Intune + Entra.
- You have lots of Macs: Rippling or JumpCloud deserve particularly close consideration.
- You have a tiny IT team and want maximum automation: prioritize the platform that can automatically trigger provisioning from HR attributes rather than making IT manually create tickets.
One important distinction: MDM alone isn't an onboarding solution. Intune, for example, is superb at configuring a laptop, but the complete workflow also involves identity, SaaS provisioning, HR data, licensing, inventory, and offboarding. Rippling and JumpCloud are designed to cover more of that lifecycle.
If you tell me (1) employee count, (2) Mac vs. Windows split, (3) Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365, and (4) your main apps like Slack/Salesforce/GitHub, I can map out the exact onboarding stack I'd use and what the IT specialist would actually do on day one.
It can connect employee attributes to IT workflows, automatically provision application accounts/licenses, assign laptops, install software based on role, and manage macOS and Windows devices. It also supports ordering and shipping computers as part of onboarding.
A typical workflow could look like:
HR creates employee → employee's department/role is known → accounts are created → groups/licenses assigned → laptop assigned → required software installed → security policies applied → employee receives laptop.
That's particularly attractive for a company where IT support is small relative to headcount.
2. JumpCloud — excellent if IT is driving the architecture
JumpCloud is particularly compelling if you want a unified identity + device management platform rather than primarily an HR platform with IT capabilities.
It can manage Windows, macOS and Linux, provision local device accounts, manage applications/resources, and automate device enrollment. Its self-service provisioning can even allow a new employee to associate their JumpCloud account with a managed Mac or Windows machine from the login screen.
I'd seriously consider it if you have a mixed Mac/Windows environment or expect IT requirements to become more sophisticated.
3. Microsoft Intune + Entra — excellent for a Microsoft-centric company
If you're already heavily invested in Microsoft 365, Entra ID and Windows, I'd avoid adding another platform unnecessarily.
Intune + Windows Autopilot can essentially turn a laptop into a zero-touch deployment device. A new employee can receive a factory-state Windows PC, connect it to the internet, sign in with their company account, and Autopilot enrolls/configures the machine and applies the organization's policies and applications.
IT can also use pre-provisioning, where the IT team or hardware partner performs the time-consuming configuration before shipping the laptop to the employee.