Back in the day, it was easier for companies to keep track of their IT assets. They simply trundled down to the office and counted them up. But now, in our era of mobile devices and remote working, it’s significantly tougher to keep a firm grasp on an organisation’s entire IT estate.
Companies typically end up using a variety of different devices in their day-to-day operations – be they on premise or remote; PCs, laptops, or mobiles; company owned or employee owned (“BYOD”). It can be a real challenge to maintain mere awareness of all of these devices in our newly distributed workplaces, never mind keeping them secure and updated!
But there is a way that your IT departments (or your IT service provider) can keep all of your user devices under their watchful eye – so these endpoints may be out of sight but they won’t be out of mind: Unified Endpoint Management.
What is Unified Endpoint Management (UEM)?
Unified endpoint management (UEM) software allows IT administrators to manage and oversee all user devices (“endpoints”) from a central, unified dashboard. Using UEM tools, admins can manage device software updates; lock down lost or stolen devices; enforce security policies; and enjoy simpler device management and deployment.
You may have already heard of a related concept, Mobile Device Management or MDM. This is a subsection of UEM that solely deals with “mobile devices” such as smartphones and tablets. Another related solution is Mobile Application Management (MAM) – tools that control the applications (software) on mobile devices and the data those applications use.
Both concepts fall under the umbrella of unified endpoint or device management.
Core Features of Unified Endpoint Management Tools
Naturally, functionality varies between different UEM tools on the market, but most will provide the following visibility and control across laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
Manage Software, Settings, and Resource Access on Each Device
This is the big one. If individual users are given permission to manage settings and software installs on the devices they use, every device across your whole infrastructure would likely become a real mixed bag. People will be using different versions of the same software, they may have settings enabled that reduce security, and they may have access to resources they don’t need or use. Some may even end up using their own free software that hasn’t been signed off by the IT team.
This creates a security minefield. Older software versions will be less secure and more vulnerable to zero-day exploits than newer ones. It only takes a single infection on a single device in your infrastructure to create a potentially massive security incident. It’s a similar situation with “shadow IT,” software and devices that your IT techs don’t know about; when it’s not vetted by IT, there’s no telling what security flaws may be lurking within.
However, when the organisation uses UEM tools, user device software, updates, settings, security policies, and access can be centrally viewed, audited, managed, and kept on a tight leash – maintaining utmost security, compliance, and user experience at all times.
Automate Device Deployment & Retirement
Manually setting up new, individual devices ready for new hires is a hassle your IT team really doesn’t need – especially if you’re fortunate enough to be taking on multiple new team members at a time. Many UEM solutions allow you to onboard and pre-configure devices in line with user roles ready for each user to hit the ground running with the right software, security, and resource access from day one.
UEMs can also be used to remotely shut off software, settings, resource access, and even wipe data from a device if needed. This is invaluable when devices containing sensitive data, or with access to critical systems, get stolen or go missing. It’s also useful to shut down access to company systems ahead of notifying someone that they are fired.
Maintain BYOD Security Without Harming User Privacy
Some users rely on using their own devices to get their work done. This “BYOD” (Bring Your Own Device) approach can be useful, but it can also be fraught with security worries for the company, and privacy worries for the device’s owner.
However, UEMs can address both sets of concerns. Let’s start company-side first. You can set minimum security standards through many UEMs, which only allows devices to access your infrastructure if they reach a baseline level of security.
UEMs also help companies respect BYOD device owners’ privacy too. Many solutions offer some kind of “containerisation”, just giving the company oversight into the apps and data that apply to them, leaving the user’s private data fully private.
Review IT Deployment and Usage Analytics Org-Wide
There’s little point in having such granular insight into every device within your infrastructure without being able to peek in and analyse that data. UEM tools generally facilitate some level of usage analytics that lets IT decision makers explore how well the current IT infrastructure and policies are serving the company.
For example, are older devices creating productivity problems for certain users? Is a certain piece of software woefully under-optimised for the level of usage it’s getting? Are there any devices with configuration clashes or disharmonious updates? Some UEM platforms will help your teams explore trends like these and nip them in the bud before they become more widespread – potentially saving your IT teams from a deluge of support tickets!
Manage Devices in Line with User Roles and Groups
It would be a real pain if all of these UEM factors had to be managed separately per user – but UEM developers have thought of this too. Many endpoint management tools allow you to manage devices (be they company- or team member-owned) in line with individual roles, departments, and groups.
So instead of laboriously copying UEM configurations over manually, admins can group users together, giving them all access to the same software and data, and creating technical consistency across a whole department or org chart strata. This comes with the added benefit of being able to update whole groups’ IT provisioning automatically on the fly.
6 Crucial Benefits of Unified Endpoint Management
It’s an Essential “Control Tower” for Your IT Assets
A good UEM can be a critical part of a company’s IT asset management practices. It provides a single, central dashboard through which your IT admins can manage users’ access to data, manage the software they use, handle permissions, push through updates, deploy new tools, and much more across all user devices.
It Kills the Complexity of Remote IT Management
Understandably, since the world of remote and hybrid work has taken off, keeping a handle on all of a company’s devices has become much more complex. However, UEM solutions allow IT teams to manage devices from afar – whether that device is in the next room or a whole continent away!
It Creates Organisation-Wide IT Consistency
When all devices of a certain type are set up in exactly the same way between groups, with the same software, settings, and data permissions, this understandably creates a reliable consistency throughout a team’s (or a whole organisation’s) devices.
This consistency is useful on two fronts. The first is that when all devices of a certain type are configured in exactly the same way, that makes IT support and troubleshooting far more straightforward as there are fewer differences between devices that may be causing errors. The second front is that this consistency makes IT-related training a lot easier, as all devices are using the same software, on the same version, that looks exactly the same across devices.
It Helps Maintain a Strong Security Posture
Understandably, keeping all similar devices singing from the same song sheet in terms of security and policies is a positive boon for cyber and network security.
UEM can minimise the potential for users to be running older, insecure versions of software; it helps to keep control over BYOD endpoints that may otherwise expose your infrastructure to cyber risks (while respecting employee privacy) and it gives you the ability to securely wipe (or even sometimes locate!) devices that get stolen, lost, or are in the hands of outgoing employees.
Reduces IT Cost and Complexity
We’ve all sat there, watching that progress bar move slowly from left to right, waiting for a piece of software to install or an update to download. Now imagine your IT team having to do that en masse, for every update or new piece of software, on every single device in your infrastructure.
However, UEM tools automate otherwise quite manual tasks like installs, updates, data loss prevention functions, device provisioning, and so on. Without tasks like these on their plate, your IT bods can focus on more high-level, value generating activities, boosting productivity and potentially making the whole department more cost effective.
It Helps Organisations Make Strategic IT Decisions
Your endpoint devices generate huge amounts of invaluable usage data. When funnelled through a “single pane of glass” platform like a UEM, this data can help IT leaders track attempted device misuse; identify potential threats on the horizon; establish software or configuration snags that might be impacting productivity; and more, depending on the individual solution’s capabilities.
Our UEM Pick: Microsoft Intune
Of all of the UEM platforms on the market, we think Microsoft Intune sits at the top of the tree. Intune can achieve all of the awesome things we’ve talked about above and much more across devices running Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, or Linux. Also, as a Microsoft product, it works seamlessly with Active Directory and is totally compatible with Microsoft 365 and Windows Hello – Microsoft’s biometric authentication platform.
And it’s a great time to invest in Intune. Microsoft have recently released Intune Premium Suite which includes Endpoint Privilege Management, improved Remote Help functionality, streamlined mobile app management capabilities, compatibility with specialty endpoint devices, and new advanced analytics features such as anomaly detection.
And what’s more, it comes bundled with certain premium versions of Microsoft 365, so you might already have it!
Ready to take control of your company’s devices – whatever and wherever they might be? Chat with us about unified endpoint management tools! Simply request a call back from one of our boffins today.