What is our primary use case?
I'm an IT manager contracting with a European company. We had to onboard Windows machines to the Azure AD, but they did not have an on-prem AD. I prepped the Azure AD on the cloud, and I started to migrate the laptops to Azure AD.
Once that is done, we need to apply policies, but group policies will not run from Azure AD because there's no on-prem AD to derive the policy from. Intune comes in handy there. It has multiple capabilities. You can create your configuration profiles in Intune that apply to Windows and Mac. You can create security profiles and configuration profiles, and you can apply browser settings to some extent. It isn't a small tool in terms of size or breadth of capabilities. It's very capable. Anybody who has used SCCM will see a lot of similarities.
How has it helped my organization?
Intune has many components that replace third-party products. For example, Intune creates an inventory of each machine. Otherwise, I'd need a third-party asset management tool. Intune can also tell me which users are accessing a given machine because it's integrated with Azure AD.
It's easy to deploy a configuration or policy to a system, especially when you don't have Azure AD. Now we are talking to all these small and medium-sized customers who don't necessarily have an on-premise Windows Active Directory. If they have invested in Office 365 Premium, this functionality becomes available to them.
That's considerable savings because you get Intune with Office, and you're getting slightly more advanced Azure AD capabilities. They also get MS Defender, which is there on the Windows client. This March, Microsoft introduced Defender for Business. They activated the business subscription with the Office 365 Business Premium subscription. If a customer is looking for an antivirus solution with a centralized capability, the product is already there.
Intune allows you to control the policy if you want to control hard drive encryption. We have third-party tools in the market that we used to invest in. Today, we have Windows-native BitLocker, and I can use Intune to manage that BitLocker encryption.
What is most valuable?
Intune can set policies on each machine. I can create rules and apply them to individual machines. It's much easier than using the Azure AD system.
What needs improvement?
Reporting in Microsoft solutions is pathetic. With Intune, I'm getting a free inventory tool, but I don't get a reporting tool. When I go to Intune, I can see one machine's entire data in terms of the hardware and the software running on it, but I cannot generate a report for all the machines in the organization. The reporting is the only feature holding back the functionality that is already there.
All the other third-party tools are doing the same thing, whether Atlassian, ManageEngine, or Ivanti. They all install an agent on your system. Intune also has an agent on your system collecting inventory details and sending them across the central console, but Microsoft doesn't have the reporting capability there. That is the only drawback I see.
For how long have I used the solution?
I started using Intune last year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Intune is perfectly stable. We've had zero downtime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Intune will scale because it's a cloud system. We are not installing anything. It's a Microsoft service. I have it running on around 200 machines.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Microsoft support nine out of 10. In the past year, I've made 20 or 30 support requests on the Intune platform. Each time, it has been smooth. Usually, they sort the problem out on the first try. Once, the ticket was open for about two weeks because they had to do some backend testing on their side.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used ManageEngine from a company called Zoho Corporation to do inventories and patching. Microsoft Intune lacks capabilities to patch Windows, Office 365, Acrobat Reader, etc. There is no way for me to apply and manage patches. I can create a patch configuration, but I cannot control when it has to be deployed and on which machines. If Intune adds patching, I don't need to invest in another patching tool.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Intune is pretty straightforward. There may be a few bumps in the road, but you shouldn't have much trouble if you're a system administrator or a pure IT guy. I did it by myself, and it took about two hours. You have to do the basic configuration.
For that, you need a bit of reading to understand how your configuration is working within your overall setup. Once you do the necessary tweaking, Intune is up and running. After that, you create policies and do a test run on one or two machines. Once you verify that everything is working fine, you deploy it all.
If you're not a techie, I could guide you step by step. It's as simple as that. After deployment, Intune doesn't require maintenance because it's a cloud product.
What was our ROI?
We've seen a significant return on the investment. Otherwise, I would have to invest in a regular Windows Active Directory. If I were running Office Standard, which lacks this feature, I would have to buy something like Intune and pay for it annually.
Plus, I have to manage another product on the desktop. For example, if you're using a VPN client, the VPN client has to be installed and requires maintenance if something goes wrong. I don't have that maintenance cost because it's part of the Windows operating system.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We don't pay for Intune because it is bundled with the premium subscription to Office 365. It includes Intune and Defender. I don't have to buy two extra products to manage my enterprise.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Intune eight out of 10. Some functionality needs to be improved, but I believe Microsoft is working on it. They're developing the tool, and those features will be added, but I will give it an eight today.
If you're thinking about implementing Intune, you should look at what you already have in place. For example, if I wanted to bring my laptops onto Azure AD, Azure AD will do the job for me, so I don't need to invest in a regular Active Directory server.
Either I buy the server and run it on the cloud or I upgrade Office and Business Premium gives me all of the features. Business Premium is the top license. You have Business Basic, Standard, and Premium. The Enterprise equivalent is E3 and E5.
The Business Premium is equivalent to E3. There is a limit on the number of machines. Per Microsoft's licensing model, you can do up to 300 machines on Business Premium. At 301, you have to switch to an Enterprise agreement.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.