Creating a proactive approach to your organisation’s IT systems is an important part of keeping up with technological change and managing varying demand. With many tools – including Microsoft’s 365 Business Premium – enabling superior endpoint management, it’s easier to stay at the forefront of the game.
Let’s take a look at why many businesses will be focusing on improving endpoint management in 2023, and why yours should look to do the same.
What Is Endpoint Management?
Endpoint management refers to the managing and securing of network devices such as desktops, tablets, laptops, mobile devices and more. These are all known as ‘endpoints’. It typically involves a number of tools and functions that aim to keep these endpoints secure, up-to-date, properly configured, and optimised for their relevant uses.
Modern technologies such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium and your business devices enable businesses to create a proactive, effective endpoint management strategy that brings a number of benefits to the overall operation.
Lower Costs With Proactive Support
Modern endpoint management solutions can actually help to reduce costs across your business thanks to enabling more proactive IT support, minimising the amount of IT support needed in order to keep processes running.
Being able to monitor your endpoints closely means that those responsible for managing them can easily detect issues before they become significant. Monitoring software, analytics, and reporting tools create the opportunity to proactively manage potential hazards before they ever make an impact, which can help you to avoid disruptions and the need for major fixes – both of which can be costly.
These tools can also automate many tasks that would otherwise need to be carried out manually on a regular basis, such as software updates, patches, and security scans. By having these automated, not only does it reduce the risk of security issues from cropping up, but it lowers the workload on IT support staff who no longer need to spend as much time on scheduling and managing such tasks.
With effective endpoint management in place, it’s also easy to create standardised configurations across different devices. In turn, this makes things like user error and the need for individual fixes and troubleshooting less common.
Improve Remote Working
A significant struggle that many businesses face is managing a hybrid workplace, with staff working more flexibly from home as well as in the office. With a modern endpoint management solution in place, it becomes far easier to manage remote devices with the same level of control and efficiency as those that are onsite.
Devices that are used remotely can be kept up-to-date, and be standardised to function exactly as any on-premises endpoint would. Users can be given access to necessary data and applications from wherever they might be working, allowing for seamless transitions between working in the office and at home!
Create Better Cyber Security Practices
Businesses are having to manage more endpoints than ever before with increased use of tablets, smartphones, BYOD policies and more remote working. With this, comes an increased need to focus heavily on cyber security as endpoints can often be vulnerable and leave the organisation open to unauthorised data access and sharing.
All user endpoints – whether they are kept onsite or used flexibly by your staff as part of a BYOD system – must be kept sufficiently secure at all times. Thanks to effective endpoint management solutions, this is no longer as challenging. Because these systems are cloud-based, IT support teams can easily apply security updates and measures to specific devices and apps on personal devices, regardless of where they are or who they belong to.
On top of that, endpoint management tools allow you to gain better control over data sharing and access across specific devices. As mobile phones or tablets are easier to lose and frequently used for remote and BYOD working, it might be a good idea to limit the data access available – keeping all of your most sensitive data protected in the event of device loss or an unauthorised access breach. Advanced tools also offer remote wipe capabilities for all managed devices and apps, should a device get stolen or lost.
Minimising your security risks helps to avoid costs that could otherwise occur, major disruptions to your operations, and potentially even legal trouble that could arise when losing customer data.
The Right Applications For The Right People
Efficient working can change your business’s output and help to improve profit margins, however it’s much easier said than done. Creating an efficient workspace with many staff who are likely to be carrying out different tasks is something that many organisations fail to achieve.
Modern endpoint management tools unlock new capabilities for your business that help to create more effective work environments for each member of your team. These solutions enable you to set up individual devices based on what the user might need, and manage their access to certain tools and apps as their demand or role changes.
By giving your staff the specific applications and setup that they need to best carry out their role, they can work more efficiently and collaborate better with others, even if they are working from home, as they won’t have to manage irrelevant requests and tools.
Utilising a modern endpoint management tool like Microsoft 365 Business Premium can transform your business’s operations in many ways. Unfortunately, many businesses fail to recognise the importance of proper, unified endpoint management and often experience the problems that come with this.
To keep yourself ahead of the game and start to see real improvements in your business’s processes, you should consider how your endpoints are currently being managed. If you have any questions about your current endpoint management or about upgrading to a modern solution that will improve your security and efficiency, get in touch with one of our advisors for free today.
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