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Microsoft Configuration Manager pros and cons

Vendor: Microsoft
4.1 out of 5
Badge Ranked 1

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Valuable features of Microsoft Configuration Manager include configuration enforcement, compliance data gathering, and deploying standardized operating systems.
It effectively automates operating system, application, and update deployments, significantly reducing IT operations effort.
The ability to manage software, implement patch management, and enforce compliance with policy requirements adds great value to Microsoft Configuration Manager.
The integration with other Microsoft products is beneficial, enhancing functionality and providing seamless operations.
It is praised for its scalability, stability, and the ability to perform mass distribution, serving large user bases efficiently.

CONS

Microsoft Configuration Manager lacks the ability to integrate with multiple Microsoft Intune subscriptions, which limits user flexibility.
Users report issues with rebooting during patching, where errors are not communicated, leading to uncertainty regarding updates.
Compliance reporting within Microsoft Configuration Manager is noted as inaccurate, causing frustration due to inconsistent data.
Microsoft Configuration Manager does not easily support remote user management or provide sufficient automation options.
The deployment and operation process of Microsoft Configuration Manager is complex and resource-intensive, hindering efficiency.
 

Microsoft Configuration Manager Pros review quotes

CW
IT System Administrator at Frank, Rimerman & Co
Jul 5, 2018
Valuable features include configurations enforcement, compliance data gathering, and deployment of a standardized OS.
NM
Head of Department for IT Services at a government with 201-500 employees
Jul 8, 2018
There have to be made some improvement in WSUS and control in other non-Microsoft products updates.
it_user507216 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Jul 18, 2018
Automation of operating system, application, and update deployments massively reduces IT operations effort.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
880,315 professionals have used our research since 2012.
JS
Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Aug 9, 2018
With the right administrator, application deployment can do wonders.
Reviewer729 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 9, 2018
With the SCCM inventory, we found a lot of rogue applications. We were able to identify them, find out who was running them, and either put them on our application list or remove them.
DA
Senior Systems Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 15, 2019
It saves a lot of money when you can install things automatically and they are installed the exact same way on every computer.
Reviewer309 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Oct 4, 2018
There is a faster time to rollout. If we get a new PC, it can be ready for productivity right away.
VA
Software Engineer at NathCorp
Dec 12, 2018
It is a good choice for deployment that performs very well.
reviewer1059522 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Assistant at a international affairs institute with 10,001+ employees
Jun 1, 2019
The most valuable feature is the graphical-based reports of software updates that have been successful, the ones that have failed, and a summary of where the failures are what security breaches may occur.
RD
Systems Admin, SCCM Admin at National Instruments
Jun 20, 2019
This solution helps us by automating the patching of our system.
 

Microsoft Configuration Manager Cons review quotes

CW
IT System Administrator at Frank, Rimerman & Co
Jul 5, 2018
Built in PowerShell cmdlets would be a nice feature because managing clients remotely can be a pain without knowing the WMI calls to run.
NM
Head of Department for IT Services at a government with 201-500 employees
Jul 8, 2018
I would like to see some improvements in WSUS and control of other, non-Microsoft, product updates.
it_user507216 - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Architect at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Jul 18, 2018
It would be of benefit if Configuration Manager could be connected/integrated with multiple Microsoft Intune subscriptions rather than just one (the current limit).
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
880,315 professionals have used our research since 2012.
JS
Principal Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Aug 9, 2018
The main thing is that SCCM has to become an appliance instead of a server. When I say appliance, it has to come preconfigured so that it is drop-shipped into the enterprise and then you activate the feature sets that you want. It should pull down all the latest binaries. Once that is all there, it should have a discovery tool which goes out and discovers the assets within an enterprise. If the server, workstation, and applications are all coming from the same vendor, why not have the vendor do this work for us and automate it as much as it possibly can?
Reviewer729 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 9, 2018
There is a reboot issue with the patching. Sometimes, if patching runs into any issue whatsoever, it doesn't reboot but it doesn't tell you it errored out. It just sits there and we don't find out until the next day whether it patched or not. That was a big issue for us. We're working through that. They added some stuff in there now where you can actually tell reboot is pending. But we still need some kind of notification that if something fails or is pending, we know. We shouldn't have to go in and look. They don't have anything for that right now.
DA
Senior Systems Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Jan 15, 2019
Our company would prefer not rebooting computers while people are using them. There seems to be no strategy behind it.
Reviewer309 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Oct 4, 2018
Troubleshooting in general needs improvement. There's just a ton of logs to go through, and so finding the error log that corresponds with that you're doing can sometimes be difficult.
VA
Software Engineer at NathCorp
Dec 12, 2018
The setup was complex and I faced a lot of problems initially because I was new to the solution.
reviewer1059522 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Assistant at a international affairs institute with 10,001+ employees
Jun 1, 2019
I would like to see an agentless version of the solution.
RD
Systems Admin, SCCM Admin at National Instruments
Jun 20, 2019
This solution should be simpler, and more consistent across modules/sections.