Hi David,
i don't know an automated way yet. The only thing i know is (if i remember correctly) the MDM we use is working on something to configure eSIM but this will also only take place after device is enrolled already.
And to be honest, i don't know how it should work (in both cases) as you would need to have some kind of unique QR for each device then or somekind of mechanism working in the background in order to make this happen. Just because of the different providers you could choose from and everything behind it.
And i guess that's why you need to do that in settings (if your OS provided to your devices doesn't ask for eSIM during enrollment itself).
My best guess is that eSIM is still too new and not really considered to be managed and if your devices doesn'T request that during enrollment, you may need to contact the manufacturer of your devices to add this as a step during enrollment, so the employee can scan the QR from the provider to add the eSIM details.
Be aware that those QR-codes very often one-time use, so if something fails it could happen you need to order a new QR-code for that "account".
Indeed it's an immature technology. I've been struggling with the same requirement for a few weeks and have gotten to the point of engaging with the OEM to help in tandem with carrier.
It may be something Knox Configure or a similar solution, aimed at preconfiguring devices before EMM, could handle, but because we don't have a "deploy subID" in the QR payload to use, it's tricky.
And to be honest you would need 2 things in my opinion (in order to automate it):
- the provider knowing which eSIM should get which contract, so they need a list of all eSIM's to be used.
- the enrollment system/mechanism needs to get to know which provider to contact and how (which URL,...)
So, it sounds like an easy task but it's more tricky than it seem to be to automate it.
