Microsoft Intune: An Overview

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based service that focuses on mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) for your organization. Intune is part of the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security suite. It helps organizations manage the devices that employees use to access company data. This includes mobile phones, tablet devices, and dedicated PCs. Intune also helps protect your company information by managing and protecting the apps that employees use.

Key takeaway: Intune provides unified endpoint management (UEM) for modern work environments, securing data across all devices and apps.

What is Microsoft Intune?

Microsoft Intune allows organizations to manage their users' devices and applications from the cloud. It enables IT administrators to deploy and manage applications, enforce device and application security policies, and ensure devices are compliant with organizational standards. Intune supports a variety of platforms, including Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.

Core Capabilities

Device Management: Enroll and manage devices, set up device configurations, and enforce security settings.
Application Management: Deploy, update, and remove applications, and manage app configurations and data.
Identity and Access Management: Integrate with Azure Active Directory for conditional access and single sign-on.
Security and Compliance: Define and enforce compliance policies, and monitor device health.

Why Choose Intune?

In today's diverse IT landscape, where employees use a variety of devices and access corporate resources from anywhere, robust management and security solutions are crucial. Intune addresses these challenges by offering:

Flexibility: Support for a wide range of devices and operating systems.
Security: Protection of corporate data through app-level and device-level policies.
Productivity: Enabling users to access the tools and data they need securely, from any device.
Integration: Seamless integration with other Microsoft services like Azure AD, Microsoft 365, and Configuration Manager.

Tip: Consider Intune for organizations that embrace a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy or require extensive mobile device management.

Key Scenarios

Intune is instrumental in various IT scenarios, including:

1. Mobile Device Management (MDM)

With MDM, you can manage the full device lifecycle. This includes enrolling devices, configuring settings, deploying apps, and retiring devices.

2. Mobile Application Management (MAM)

MAM allows you to manage applications without necessarily managing the entire device. This is particularly useful for BYOD scenarios where you want to protect corporate data within apps while leaving personal data untouched.

3. Conditional Access

Intune works with Azure AD Conditional Access to ensure that only compliant and managed devices can access corporate resources. For example, you can block access to email if a device is not enrolled or doesn't meet compliance requirements.

4. Windows Autopilot

Streamline the deployment of new Windows devices with Windows Autopilot. Devices can be pre-configured and enrolled into Intune automatically, allowing users to set up their devices with minimal IT intervention.

Important: Intune is a key component of Microsoft's strategy for securing and managing modern endpoints, empowering a flexible and productive workforce.

Getting Started with Intune

To begin using Intune, you typically need:

An Azure Active Directory tenant.
Appropriate Intune licenses (e.g., Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Enterprise Mobility + Security E3/E5).
An Intune subscription.

You can then start by configuring your tenant, enrolling devices, and creating policies to manage your endpoints and applications.

For more detailed information on specific features and configurations, please refer to the documentation links in the navigation pane.