There’s no doubt that if you work in the world of IT, you’ve been hearing a lot about modern management over the past few years. It’s clear that modern device management is the way to go for the future, but what exactly will it do for your IT estate?
In this blog post we’ll go over:
- What modern management is
- The benefits of adopting modern management
- Some of the common misconceptions we hear around modern management
So, what is modern management?
To put it simply, modern management is a new way of managing your devices by moving them from on premise management to cloud native managed devices.
Going cloud native means that your devices are no longer tied to an on-prem network and can move anywhere, while still securing users’ identity and data.
With modern management comes a new set of tools; Microsoft Intune for device management and Microsoft Entra ID (previously known as Azure Active Directory) for identity management. It’s important to remember that these are an entirely new toolset and don’t function the same way as ConfigMgr and Active Directory.
The benefits of modern management
We now know what modern management is, but what tangible benefits are there for IT teams and their users?
Save your teams time
Moving your devices to cloud native can potentially save your team lots of time. To start with, you’ll no longer need to spend engineering effort maintaining on-prem technologies. With modern management many of your old manual processes can now be automated, which not only frees up your time, but also means that there’s less chance of human error.
Improve your security posture
One of the main concerns that we hear when talking to IT teams about modern management is how security will be affected. On-prem networks are often targeted by cyber criminals due to them commonly having holes in their security. When your devices are all managed in the cloud there’s no need for on-prem networks, so you can entirely remove an attack vector.
Reduce your tech debt
It’s fair to say if your department has been running a long time, you’ve probably picked up more tech debt than you would like over the years. Moving away from your on-prem infrastructure means a fresh start, allowing you to bring over only what you need. Reducing the amount of tech you use will lead to a leaner, more efficient IT estate that’s easier to manage.
Empower your users
Say goodbye to locked down workstations, frustrated users and endless tickets. Free your users from the perils of overly restrictive policies and allow them to get on with their job. For example, if a user wants an application that isn’t currently on their device, they can self-service rather than having to submit a ticket and take up your time.
Common misconceptions
We hear a lot of misconceptions about what modern management is and how it’s achieved. Here are some of the most common:
Hybrid management is the way to go
Many teams aim for hybrid management rather than going full cloud native and think that’s good enough. There’s often the misconception that going fully cloud managed will lead to a loss in functionality – this simply isn’t the case.
You will still be able to access on-prem file shares by using AD connect and configuring a hybrid identity, this allows you to sync on-prem objects to an Entra ID identity.
If you still need to use ConfigMgr you can still do that on a cloud native device. You can co-manage any Entra ID joined device with both ConfigMgr and Intune.
You also don’t need hybrid to be secure, as mentioned before, on-prem file shares are a potentially vulnerable attack vector that can be removed with modern management.
Managing your devices in Intune means you’re modern managed
Having your devices managed through Intune is a good start but unfortunately it doesn’t mean you’re modern managed, as they are still tied to your on prem infrastructure. Devices can only be considered modern managed once they have been rebuilt and joined via Entra ID.
Modern management is just an EUC project
It’s easy to assume that the adoption of modern management should be an entirely EUC driven project. This is far from the truth; modern management affects your entire IT estate and how it’s managed, so you’ll need buy in from every department and team member, no matter what each member is responsible for on a day-to-day basis.
Or as PowerON’s own David Brook puts it, ‘get in a big room, with a big pizza and align the proper goals going forward’.
All of your devices need to be modern managed
When researching and talking about modern management, it might seem like you need to make sure that every single device in your estate is cloud native. It’s likely that most of your devices do need to be transitioned over but if it makes sense for some devices to be left managed on prem, that’s fine.
Conclusion
By understanding and adopting modern device management, IT estates can enjoy a range of benefits including enhanced security, reduced tech debt, and empowered users which will pave the way for a more efficient and streamlined future.
PowerON Team
Share on:
