Introducing the Microsoft Intune product family
Microsoft is noticing IT leaders and administrators using Microsoft Intune to power productive and secure at work and the number of windows, android & IOS devices managed by Intune grew up 60%. Nearly 80% of windows 11 endpoints managed by Intune and 50% of Microsoft managed endpoints are cloud managed, compared to less than 20% in 2020. Microsoft is investing more in Microsoft Intune to enhance features, performance, and integration with Microsoft 365. Microsoft Intune will be the name of product family for endpoint management.
Microsoft is building suite of advanced endpoint management solutions in the cloud which comes under the Intune product family. Microsoft configuration manager will remain part of Intune product family and using co-management capabilities, it will migrate workload to the cloud. Microsoft will use Microsoft Intune for cloud management and Microsoft configuration manager for on-premises management. Microsoft Intune is cloud based endpoint management and managing Windows, Android, iOS & Linux operating systems. Intune is enabled and integrated with Microsoft security products to deliver security and compliance as part of Zero-trust architecture. They are investing into data science and AI to enhance data driven capabilities for automation and remediation. The advanced management capabilities in Intune helps to reduce cost of ownership.
Microsoft is planning to release the new advanced endpoint management plan in March 2023, and it contains Remote Help (currently generally available), Microsoft Tunnel for Mobile Application Management (expected to be generally available January 2023), Endpoint Privilege Management (public preview expected early 2023), as well as advanced endpoint analytics, app patching and packaging, and more…
Configuration manager will be updated regularly and can benefit from all features coming to Intune by connecting to cloud. Currently, device compliance, configuration settings & endpoint protections workloads used by cloud connected configuration manager devices.
The below is the Microsoft Intune product family solutions, organisations can use the solutions which are benefits to them.
Remote Help for Windows and Android
Remote help for windows launched in last April, and new enhancements to windows experience will be added as part of the advanced management suite with the release in March 2023. ServiceNow integrations helps to bring the incidents information into Intune to resolve issues for users quickly. The better messaging information to display the reasons for device non-compliance. IT helpdesk technician will be able to hear voice of the person who is receiving remote assistance. This release also includes enhanced elevation, requiring alternate admin credential using User Account Control to resolve the issues quickly. Another major enhancement for Android devices, Help Desk technician will be able contact android users and work with him and remotely troubleshoot the issue.
Endpoint Privilege Management
Organisations who are using Microsoft Intune will be able to use Endpoint Privilege Management in public preview in the early 2023 and we can automate and manage when workers have permission to use admin privilege for specific tasks on both Windows cloud connected and co-managed endpoints. With this, end users will have admin privilege for specific approved tasks and no need to add the users in local admin. IT admins need to enable users in organisation to self-serve with principles of Zero trust architecture using least privileged access.
Endpoint privilege management will provide ability to set rules and parameters in Intune for standard users to configure permissions, be self-managed and set to require authentication so that users can perform tasks like installing approved apps, printers without contacting IT help desk which save the time, money.
Microsoft Tunnel for Mobile Application Management
Microsoft Tunnel for MAM provide convenience for end users to use one personal device for both corporate & personal. Device enrollment is not required, and corporate data still be protected. This will allow the companies to adapt BYOD program instead of purchasing company owned devices for all users. It further extends our VPN gateway to unrolled iOS and android devices for secure access to on-prem apps and resources using single sign-on, modern authentication and conditional access. Users will be able to securely access the apps on their unmanaged iOS and Android BYOD devices. This new functionality will not require device enrollment and it extends on our existing tunnel capabilities.
Android apps will be integrated with MAM SDK which auto start VPN for apps and the users can go to Microsoft Edge and sign in with their organisation account. The VPN auto-starts and they connect to intranet site. Edge connects to the VPN when signed in with an organization account to protect privacy and use APP policies for data protection. Microsoft Tunnel for MAM will be available in March 2023 as part of new suite release.
Advanced endpoint analytics
The existing endpoint analytics provides intelligence and automation to empower admins to analyse the health and performance of endpoints and take actions for improvement. The new suite of advanced management solutions will include advanced features to improve experiences for IT admins. They can explore and address the needs of devices with improved drill down capabilities. AI, and machine learning and automation real time visibility in the new anomaly detection capability. With anomaly detection, admins no longer to monitor customs dashboards and manage alert. Instead, they can reply on early warning mechanism to proactively learn user impacting issues before the users starting reporting to support channel and this helps to minimize loss of productivity. Anomaly detection will automatically identify anomaly such as unexpected machines reboots, application crashes and hardware failures, these anomalies categorized based on severity and includes relevant information to investigate the issue on affected devices. With new capabilities with advanced endpoint management suite, IT admins will be able to run remediation scripts on demand devices.
Further value with this new advanced solutions management
With this new suite, organisations simplify how they deploy apps automatically reducing the risk those apps out of date. Currently, organisations spending hours to package each application and make them ready for deployment. Intune will provide catalog of apps in premium plan so that organisations will no longer to spend on packaging apps and keeps the applications up to date.
Microsoft Defender and Azure AD integration, Microsoft can identify endpoint vulnerabilities on the device and set policies through Intune to automatically update apps. With this new suite, Microsoft planning to introduce Mobile Application Management to support multiple company, managed account in the single device which will be useful for lawyers, bankers, accountants who are client facing. Using Microsoft Endpoint manager admin center, you will be able to see premium add-ons and what licenses applied to your tenant and billing information.
March 2023 will mark the start of a step-change in Microsoft’s endpoint management offer so get your team ready and talk to account team, Microsoft partner for more information.
You can learn more about Intune in the articles, “Microsoft Endpoint Manager – Intune Compliance Policies” by clicking here. or the official site of Microsoft InTune here.
