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Microsoft Simplifies Its Endpoint Management Stack With Endpoint Manager
Microsoft’s overlapping endpoint management solutions (System Center Configuration Manager, Intune) have confused users. Microsoft itself has acknowledged this problem and resolved it by uniting its co-management services under one banner: Microsoft Endpoint Manager.
Microsoft is quick to remind its users that Endpoint Manager is not a rebranding – rather it’s a bundle of services including SCCM, Intune, Device Management Admin Center, and Desktop Analytics.
It even released a handy video going over the change and apologizing for the confusion its products have caused in the past.
So what does this mean for users? Well, Intune licensing will be available to SCCM users to manage Windows devices, but if users want to manage non-Windows devices, they will have to buy an Intune license or subscribe to a service that includes one (M365 E3, for example). This is a licensing implication that will doubtless be welcome news for some users and could make things more expensive for others.
Microsoft is positioning its new offering as the formalization of co-management. The idea is that Intune and SCCM will co-exist as a permanent endpoint management solution.
Our Take
Through simplification, Microsoft has added some confusion. But it’s sorry. Endpoint Manager is intended to highlight Microsoft’s cloud-first approach as a value-add. As a combination SCCM, Intune, and a host of intelligent capabilities, it is both familiar and new. It is those intelligent capabilities (analytics) that will be the real test of Microsoft’s choice to consolidate this offering. Cloud users expect more. Endpoint Manager is Microsoft’s effort to offer it.