In the present day marks a big shift in endpoint administration and safety. We’re launching the Microsoft Intune Suite, which unifies mission-critical superior endpoint administration and safety options into one easy bundle. The brand new Intune Suite can simplify our clients’ endpoint administration expertise, enhance their safety posture, and maintain individuals on the heart with distinctive person experiences. Microsoft Safety and Microsoft 365 deeply built-in with the Intune Suite will empower IT and safety groups with knowledge science and AI to extend automation, serving to them transfer merely and rapidly from reactive to proactive in addressing endpoint administration and different safety challenges.
Microsoft Intune is an industry-leading, unified endpoint administration resolution that organizations depend upon to make sure their gadgets, working methods, and apps are up-to-date, protected, and performant. But evolving work habits and safety threats, more durable financial local weather, and rising variety of gadgets imply that organizations want extra assist in lowering complexity. Think about this: in a current survey, two-thirds of respondents had been utilizing greater than ten instruments to handle and defend their digital property.1 Extra particular person instruments imply extra administration overhead, extra assault floor, and extra licensing prices—all issues organizations want to cut back.
On this weblog, I wish to share three the explanation why the brand new Intune Suite will matter to you:
- Even higher safety by lowering assault vectors.
- Simplification by means of consolidation and automation of IT and safety operations workflows.
- Financial savings by means of decrease administration overhead and lowered assist prices.
I’ll additionally share some outcomes from our newest survey of practically 4 hundred endpoint administration and safety professionals, which can present further context for this new supply.
What’s the Microsoft Intune Suite?
First, let’s overview what capabilities the Intune Suite affords. These vital capabilities have been in growth for some time, and chances are you’ll recall we introduced our plans at Microsoft Ignite 2022 to launch the Intune Suite in March 2023 with an preliminary set of superior options:
- Distant Assist is a software that may help helpdesks—particularly vital as employees are actually working away from the workplace extra typically. Distant Assistance is already out there for Home windows customers and also will come to Android and Mac endpoints in future releases. It allows IT helpdesk groups to remotely troubleshoot a person’s desktop and cell gadgets primarily based on a person’s current firm id. The additional Android assist will show notably helpful for managing frontline employees’ gadgets. Be taught extra about current Distant Assist updates for Home windows.
- Endpoint Privilege Administration, in preview in March 2023 and usually out there in April 2023, will allow the managed elevation of Home windows commonplace customers so safety controls don’t get in the way in which of productiveness. The suitable customers could have the fitting privileges on the proper time, to cut back the safety threat of overprivileged customers and cut back the burden on the assistance desk by permitting better self-serve for fundamental situations, like establishing an area printer. Be taught extra about Endpoint Privilege Administration first launch capabilities.
- The Intune Suite additionally affords superior endpoint analytics options, data-driven insights that assist IT directors perceive, anticipate, and enhance the person expertise for the employees within the group.
- There’s additionally Microsoft Tunnel for Cell App Administration, a micro-VPN that connects company sources from private iOS/iPadOS and Android gadgets, so staff can have entry to firm sources from their private cell gadgets when responsibility calls.
- The Intune Suite improves the administration of specialty gadgets, to present staff the flexibleness to decide on the machine they should get the job carried out with out these gadgets changing into factors of vulnerability.
- Following the March 1, 2023, launch, one other functionality that will probably be added to the Intune Suite is superior app administration, providing an enterprise app catalog and controls for simple app discovery, deployment, and automated updating to mitigate dangers launched by out-of-date apps. Later this 12 months, we may even introduce a cloud certificates administration resolution to concern and handle VPN and Wi-Fi certificates from Intune to gadgets with out on-premises infrastructure. We’ll proceed so as to add further superior capabilities to the Intune Suite over time, offering extra endpoint safety, automation, and management of the person computing panorama and expertise.
So, why is that this vital for you now? It goes again to higher safety, simplification, and financial savings.
1. Enhance safety and cut back assault vectors
Even when IT and safety organizations have gotten accustomed to supporting and defending distant and hybrid work, our surveys present there may be nonetheless a lot work to be carried out to enhance enterprise endpoint safety. Solely 43 % of endpoint administration and safety professionals mentioned that their group actively manages greater than three-quarters of their endpoints.1 Put one other approach, 57 % of organizations wouldn’t have visibility or management over 1 / 4 of their endpoints or extra. Additional, solely 37 % of organizations use patch administration, and solely 39 % use Endpoint Privilege Administration. As such, there may be clearly a chance to extend the breadth of gadgets organizations can handle to have a extra full view of the well being and efficiency of their digital property. There’s additionally a chance to enhance the depth of safety supplied by means of extra Endpoint Privilege Administration and extra common patch updates. This fundamental “cyber hygiene” is core to the way in which the suite improves safety and is foundational earlier than any Zero Belief initiative can actually achieve traction.
Safety professionals see tighter product integration as a key step. When requested in our survey how they may enhance their group’s endpoint safety, “integration” was the highest reply. The Intune Suite delivers integration on a number of ranges: between the assorted Intune Suite parts, with Microsoft 365, and with different Microsoft Safety property. Higher integration means fewer susceptible spots that could possibly be attacked. Microsoft has discovered to be intentional about creating built-in worth throughout its portfolio and with the Intune Suite, we’re dedicated to proceed constructing end-to-end worth for customers, IT, and safety operations.
One further benefit of utilizing a single vendor for extra of your endpoint safety wants is that there’s one single dataset reasonably than a number of disparate streams of information. Uniform, constant knowledge means higher safety analytics and visibility to potential vulnerabilities and anomalies. You may’t mitigate what you’ll be able to’t see. Bringing collectively the info and actionable insights in a single place will increase your means to evaluate, handle, and act on potential dangers throughout your machine panorama.
“The Microsoft Intune Suite goes to assist us consolidate our endpoint administration options, saving prices, making our lives simpler, and preserving the hospital knowledge safe. I might extremely suggest the Microsoft Intune Suite to any group trying to improve their safety posture.”—Ibrar Mahmood, IT Cyber Safety Supervisor, Milton Keynes College Hospital NHS Basis Belief.
2. Simplify endpoint administration
Many organizations have reported elevated complexity inside their IT surroundings over the previous few years. This is sensible: smartphones, deliver your personal machine (BYOD), hybrid work, and evolving safety threats can all improve complexity. But, the response to the present complexity has been so as to add extra level options, which is a step backward as extra options imply extra vendor integration necessities, probably creating further assault surfaces.
Given different prime IT priorities—cloud migrations, decreasing prices, AI, analytics, and employees retention—it’s comprehensible why endpoint instruments haven’t been consolidated but. Nevertheless, I consider that the simplification and consolidation of endpoint administration instruments is required rapidly. By selecting the Intune Suite, you’ll be able to simplify your method to superior endpoint administration, that means extra bandwidth to deal with different priorities in 2023 and past.
Simplification additionally allows the consolidation of your safety distributors—A Gartner® survey reported in September 2022 that 75 % of organizations are pursuing safety vendor consolidation in 2022, up from 29 % in 2020.2 This not solely presents the chance to cut back threat and direct licensing prices however saves time and psychological overhead in not having to handle so many provider relationships.
One instance of lowered psychological overhead: the Intune Suite additionally simplifies your IT and safety operations. One unified admin console means unified workflows. You not must hop from one admin console to the subsequent or sew collectively workflows.
We’re devoted to serving to organizations use the facility and knowledge of the cloud to additional automate and orchestrate IT workflows to chop complexity. As Omdia not too long ago put it, when rating Microsoft a frontrunner, within the Digital Office Administration/Unified Endpoint Administration Platforms, 2023 evaluation, “The sheer scale of alerts Microsoft has visibility of allows extra analytics, automation alternatives, and insights throughout the endpoint property than another UEM vendor.“3
3. Allow value financial savings
Many C-suite executives are searching for value financial savings in 2023—the Intune Suite delivers a number of methods to avoid wasting.
First, the Intune Suite reduces the overhead of negotiating and overseeing separate contracts with a number of distributors. It means much less integration of labor between parts and coaching on completely different instruments. It additionally means fewer prices from worker downtime as a consequence of a safety breach and decrease IT helpdesk prices by means of fewer inbound calls and sooner decision of remaining tickets.
Nationwide Railway Firm of Belgium (SNCB) simply manages greater than 21,000 gadgets with Microsoft Intune. “Intune is a big success story for SNCB,” says Bouke Stijns, Chief Data Safety Supervisor, SNCB. His group absolutely containerizes SNCB purposes on smartphones in order that the corporate can’t entry staff’ private apps and knowledge. He additionally appreciates that compliance with the Common Information Safety Regulation (GDPR) is constructed into Microsoft options and the Microsoft licensing mannequin, which optimizes the IT price range in an {industry} that allocates sources to passenger expertise reasonably than IT expenditure. “Our Microsoft license affords an in depth set of safety options that optimizes price range and reduces the variety of distributors we have to coordinate with,” he explains. Learn the complete buyer story.
Second, the Intune Suite bundled listing value is decrease than the sum of all the person capabilities of the Intune Suite and delivers Microsoft built-in worth better than the associated fee and overhead of managing various vendor options.
The bundle is on the market as an add-on to any plan that features Intune, which most clients get by means of the worth of their Microsoft 365 subscription. For added flexibility, the person options throughout the suite may even be out there as standalone add-ons to Intune, so organizations can migrate to the Microsoft resolution they prioritize primarily based on their wants.
Moreover, for superior options that stretch the worth of Intune past core endpoint administration performance—for instance, defending and managing specialty gadgets or Tunnel for Cell App Administration for unenrolled gadgets—we’re introducing a brand new plan, Microsoft Intune Plan 2, that you could purchase for particular, focused customers.
Be taught extra concerning the new Microsoft Intune plans and pricing.
“I’m eagerly awaiting the migration of all our cell gadgets to the Microsoft Intune Suite as our core UEM System. Wanting into the migration, we simply know—as a result of work the group and Microsoft put into Intune the final years—that we’re making an thrilling step ahead to an excellent higher dependable and built-in UEM platform for our cell gadgets, higher making ready us for the longer term and all challenges that lie forward.”—Florian Weisenberger, Product Proprietor Cell Office iOS, Audi.
The online impact of the brand new, complete Intune Suite, Intune Plan 2, and the only resolution add-ons to Intune supply organizations versatile choices to plan their budgets, IT and safety lifecycle, and vendor contracts in a deliberate and calculated approach—with safety, simplification, and financial savings in thoughts.
Be part of us at Microsoft Safe
In Omdia’s report, they wrote: “Microsoft’s focus is on bringing collectively this vary of mission-critical endpoint and utility administration and safety instruments right into a single cloud resolution. In delivering this built-in set of capabilities, the seller will assist clients simplify how endpoints are managed, strengthen safety postures, doubtlessly cut back complete value of possession, and enhance worker experiences.”3
The Intune Suite represents shift change in endpoint safety, simplification, and financial savings. I encourage you to be taught extra by watching the brand new Microsoft Mechanics video and visiting our Microsoft Intune Suite web page to find the increasing set of Intune merchandise. Lastly, please be a part of us at Microsoft Safe on March 28, 2023, the place our product management will add perspective concerning the Intune Suite and display the built-in innovation and worth of the brand new bundled resolution.
To be taught extra about Microsoft Safety options, go to our web site. Bookmark the Safety weblog to maintain up with our professional protection on safety issues. Additionally, comply with us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Safety) and Twitter (@MSFTSecurity) for the newest information and updates on cybersecurity.
1Endpoint Administration Vulnerability Hole, Enterprise Technique Group. Fieldwork was carried out in November 2022.
2 Gartner Press Launch, Gartner Survey Reveals 75% of Organizations Are Pursuing Safety Vendor Consolidation in 2022, Gartner. September 13, 2022. GARTNER is a registered trademark and repair mark of Gartner, Inc., and/or its associates within the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
3Omdia Universe: Digital Workspace Administration/Unified Endpoint Administration Platforms, 2023, Omdia. December 12, 2022.
