What is our primary use case?
We use it to a small extent for approximately 1,100 devices. The biggest portion of it is used in the Aviation department, which is one of our departments. They have invested heavily in some customized software that they've developed in-house. It is put on the devices, and the devices are primarily used by field staff. It's basically a mixture of work order assignment and work order management, as well as record keeping. For example, I could have a technician who is assigned to go and do a preventive maintenance inspection on an HVAC component in one of the terminals. That request or work order is submitted to his device. When he gets there, he scans barcodes for the room he is in and for the piece of equipment that he is working on. So, they track their actual work order, work order status, workloads, and equipment life cycle, and that's all done through Intune.
How has it helped my organization?
It helps us in securing devices. It has eliminated a lot of paperwork. It has simplified record-keeping and maintenance of equipment, life cycle management, staff workload, work hours, et cetera. That's the biggest impact on us, and that's also where most of the devices are used.
What is most valuable?
Its security is most valuable. It gives us a way to secure devices, not only those that are steady. We do have a few tablets and other devices, and it is a way for us to secure these devices and manage them. We know they're out there and what's their status. We can manage their life cycle and verify that they're updated properly.
What needs improvement?
It doesn't economize when you scale up. We have over 14,000 employees, and we have between 7,500 and 8,000 city-owned or personal devices being used to conduct city business. Its price can be improved. It is not a cheap solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
It has been years since it was implemented.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its stability has been fine. We've had no issues at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I don't see any issues with it. We currently have only about 1,100 users and licenses for the Intune product. The largest portion or over 50% of usage is by our Aviation department for tracking and managing their work order, workload, equipment life cycle, etc. Other users are scattered in small numbers throughout a number of departments.
Our Parts department also uses it. One thing that's a little bit unique is that they also have these assigned to temporary workers. So, we provide the licenses for a number of temporary workers for the summer or for the winter, and then we take them back and reassign them to somebody else.
The other departments mostly use it for educational or small use cases where they think this will be a good fit, and it is the product that is available to them. I've heard nothing bad about it, and I have no problem at all with Intune.
In terms of future growth, we're currently looking at another product, but that doesn't mean we're going to go with that other product. We're working with a vendor on another solution, and that vendor also has a mobile device management product, but we're not yet ready to go there.
How are customer service and support?
I've no direct input on it. Right now, we're on unified support, but we've always had their premier support. If we ever have a problem with any of our Microsoft products, including Intune, we do have a way to reach out and get additional assistance.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm not aware of any other solution being used. I know there were one or possibly two failed mobile device management project implementations. I was not a member of the department then, so I don't know the details. I only know that both of the deployments failed. In other words, either the vendor promises were not met, or we found a function that was supposed to exist but did not exist.
How was the initial setup?
It was pretty straightforward. It was not a very long, complex, and involved process. It was fairly easy to set up.
What about the implementation team?
It was done in-house. For its maintenance, we have no one dedicated to it. Our client computing side takes care of that.
What was our ROI?
I've never tried to quantify an ROI for the program. We have just a small number of devices. At some point, we will look at implementing large-scale mobile device management, and that'll be a different case where we may look at Intune, Workspace ONE, or another product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is not a cheap solution. The price for a device when you start using it at a large scale can be improved.
It is covered under our enterprise agreement. We pay once a year. I am not aware of any additional costs.
What other advice do I have?
It meets the basic security needs and management needs for most organizations. It allows you to monitor the security of devices and manage those devices if they're organization-owned. It is fairly easy and straightforward to manage. It is not difficult. Some of the other solutions are a little bit more difficult.
I would rate it an eight out of 10. It meets all the basic needs that most organizations will have for device management and device security. I am not sure if it can provide the required level of security for different business scenarios that require additional security, which means you'd have to run two systems in tandem.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.