Unified endpoint management for business: Why Microsoft Intune matters

What are the biggest endpoint management challenges for businesses?

The variety of devices that connect to corporate networks has ballooned in recent years. From laptops to smartphones and the growing trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, the boundaries of traditional office spaces have been broken. 

This creates a complex endpoint environment that businesses must secure, monitor, and manage at scale. Some of the most common endpoint management challenges include:

• Increased attack surface: each device opens a new door for cyber threats. As the number of endpoints grows, so does the attack surface, making it more challenging to secure every entry point against breaches.
• Data security and privacy: endpoints often contain sensitive business data. In the absence of stringent controls, this data is vulnerable to unauthorised access and leaks. 
• Remote and hybrid work environments: the shift to remote work has underscored the need for secure access to corporate resources from anywhere. This requires robust endpoint security measures to prevent unauthorised access and data loss.
• Patch management: keeping software up-to-date with the latest security patches is critical. However, ensuring that every endpoint is consistently updated is a significant challenge for IT teams.
• Compliance requirements: various industries are subject to strict regulatory requirements concerning data protection and privacy. Ensuring that all devices adhere to them is tricky.
• Resource-intensity: The time and effort it takes to manually manage, update, and troubleshoot devices can place considerable strain on IT teams, detracting from their capacity to engage in strategic projects.

To address these challenges, businesses need an integrated, comprehensive, and intelligent endpoint management solution, which is where Microsoft Intune comes into play.

What is the cost of poor endpoint management?

Poor endpoint management can quickly become a financial and operational risk. Unmanaged devices increase the chances of data breaches, downtime, lost productivity, compliance issues, and hidden IT support costs - with IBM reporting that the global average cost of a data breach reached USD 4.88 million in 2024. By bringing devices, apps, and policies under one unified endpoint management approach, businesses can reduce blind spots and contain risk before it disrupts operations.

How does Microsoft Intune improve endpoint management for business?

Traditional endpoint management can consume significant time and effort, especially across distributed teams and multiple operating systems. Microsoft Intune is Microsoft’s cloud-based unified endpoint management (UEM) solution, designed to manage user access, protect corporate data, and simplify app and device administration across mobile devices, desktops, and virtual endpoints. Here’s how it helps:

Unified endpoint management from the cloud

Microsoft Intune gives IT teams a single cloud-based console to manage endpoint devices, deploy applications, enforce policies, and monitor compliance across the organisation.

Intune supports Android, iOS and iPadOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows, helping businesses manage a diverse device estate through one unified endpoint management platform. It also integrates with Configuration Manager for organisations that still manage on-premises devices and want a co-management approach.

This unified approach ensures that policies are applied across all devices and that endpoint security risks aren’t missed. 

Simplified app management and deployment

Organisations use many different types of applications, including mobile apps, web apps, line-of-business (LOB) apps, and more. Intune streamlines app management by providing tools for deploying, updating, and removing apps across a variety of devices. 

You can create app configuration policies that automatically configure apps before they’re even installed on user devices. Users may not ever need to enter any configuration information when they open the app.

To mitigate any patch management issues, you can set policies for apps to be automatically updated. 

Policy deployment, compliance, and Zero Trust endpoint security

Intune allows IT administrators to create and automate policy deployment across security, device configuration, compliance, app protection, and conditional access. This helps businesses enforce Zero Trust principles, standardise settings, and reduce the risk of misconfigured or non-compliant devices.

A brilliant example of Intune’s policies in action is how Belgium’s national train operator, SNCB, was able to manage more than 21,000 devices with Microsoft Intune. 

The organisation was able to fully containerise SNCB applications on smartphones so that the company can’t access employees’ apps and data - allowing the safe use of BYOD devices and saving millions on potential work device deployment costs. 

Once policies like these are configured, they can be systematically deployed to user groups and device groups within the organisation.

Self-service tools that reduce IT workload

Microsoft Intune includes self-service capabilities that help employees resolve common device issues without relying on IT support for every request.

Through the Company Portal app, users can reset passwords and PINs, install corporate applications, join user groups, and even troubleshoot common issues. 

This autonomy not only enhances productivity but also reduces the burden on IT support teams. You can even use Intune’s customisation options to apply your company’s branding to the Company Portal, ensuring a cohesive experience for your users. 

Integration with the wider Microsoft security and productivity ecosystem

Intune integrates with a broad set of Microsoft technologies, creating a connected management experience for IT and security teams. It works alongside Configuration Manager for co-management, supports Windows Autopilot for streamlined provisioning, and helps keep Microsoft 365 applications updated across devices.

It also integrates with Windows Autopilot for streamlined OS deployment and ensures that all Microsoft 365 applications are kept up-to-date.

Endpoint Analytics provides data-driven insights into device performance, startup times, app reliability, and remote work readiness, helping IT teams proactively identify and resolve issues before they affect productivity.

Additionally, Intune's connection with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint fortifies your cloud network.

Why businesses should act now on endpoint management

As work environments become more distributed and device estates more complex, endpoint management is critical to business resilience, security, and productivity. Microsoft Intune offers a robust cloud-based platform to simplify device management, support hybrid work, protect corporate data, and strengthen compliance. For many organisations, however, implementing and optimising Intune can still be a challenge. That’s where working with a Microsoft Partner like OneAdvanced can add value. With expertise across Intune and the wider Microsoft ecosystem, OneAdvanced can help your business design, deploy, and manage a secure endpoint strategy that fits your goals. Get in touch with our team today to see how we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is endpoint management?

Endpoint management is the process of monitoring, securing, configuring, and updating the devices that connect to your business systems, including laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets, and virtual endpoints.

Microsoft Intune is used to manage devices, deploy and protect apps, enforce compliance policies, support BYOD, and control access to business data across multiple operating systems from a single cloud-based platform.

2. What is the difference between MDM and UEM?

Mobile device management (MDM) focuses mainly on managing and securing mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Unified endpoint management (UEM) takes a broader approach, allowing businesses to manage mobile devices, desktops, laptops, apps, users, and security policies from a single platform. Microsoft Intune supports UEM by helping organisations manage a wider endpoint estate across operating systems and working environments.

3. Can Microsoft Intune support BYOD?

Yes. Microsoft Intune supports Bring Your Own Device strategies through mobile application management and app protection policies, helping organisations protect company data on personal devices without requiring full device enrolment in every scenario.

4. Does Microsoft Intune work with Microsoft 365?

Yes. Microsoft Intune integrates with Microsoft 365 and other Microsoft security tools, including Configuration Manager, Windows Autopilot, Endpoint Analytics, and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.

5. Why is endpoint management important?

Businesses are managing more devices across hybrid work environments, while facing greater pressure to protect data, maintain compliance, and reduce operational complexity. Effective endpoint management helps address all of these priorities.