What is our primary use case?
The solution is deployed on cloud. I'm part of the support team. There's another server team that works closely with Microsoft. They purchased an old 365 license, and Intune was one of the included features. We wanted to take advantage of the feature because it was part of the package. That's why our top management decided to save some costs by making use of Intune and not using AirWatch anymore.
We are enrolling through the Intune company portal, and then we are using the Outlook app to configure the email addresses of the company.
What is most valuable?
We are using the mobile feature, and we are also using MDM to lock the devices, to push restrictions, et cetera. Compared with AirWatch, I think it's easier to manage the devices and the profiles in AirWatch. Intune has a lot of options, but I've only been playing around with it for a few months.
What needs improvement?
In the past, I raised some tickets for the enhancement feature, which was missing in Intune. It can take a long time for these features to appear, or maybe they will just never happen.
There are certain things that I'm trying to replicate from AirWatch, and it's not possible.
In AirWatch, we have a launcher, which is like a container. You can choose single-app mode or multi-app mode. But in Intune, for example, you need to factory reset the device and then apply the MDM. If we choose multi-app mode, which is the kiosk multi-app mode in Intune, I cannot lock the application on the screen. For example, in the set mode, you have the option to set the leave Kiosk password. You can exit the kiosk. But if you choose Intune multi-app mode, you don't have this leave kiosk option. For us, it's very useful.
If you have this leave kiosk option in the multi-app, you should also have it in the single-app mode. We need this because we have an application that you run on a tablet in hotel rooms, and we want to lock the application in a single-app mode, but besides the application, we also need to have some background applications running, like we need to do some configurations in Knox from Samsung, and eFolder.
We have three applications that we need to push, but the guests will only be able to see one. Because I don't have the option to leave the kiosk in the single-app mode, I cannot do any configuration in the background apps. We have one app we cannot migrate to Intune from AirWatch because of this issue. This applies to more than 2,000 devices.
I think we need the leave Kiosk option available for the Kiosk single-app mode, because we are stuck with at least 2,000 devices or more because we want to completely retire AirWatch, but we cannot until this feature is available. The applications that we are using in our hotel rooms are not compatible with Intune. My bosses are not really satisfied because we still have expenses with purchasing a license with AirWatch because Intune cannot really fulfill our requirements.
This option is already available in the multi-app mode. It should not be a new feature. This feature already exists. They just need to apply the single-app mode the same way they're applying the multi-app mode.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Compared with AirWatch, Intune is not very stable because I haven't had to deal with these issues. With AirWatch, I would try to fix something and I would need to fine tune the settings, et cetera. But once I fine-tune and push everything, it will run and be stable. With Intune, we are new with this product, but it took some time for me to create a profile and test the devices. It has been working for a few months, but then suddenly this weird issue happened. It affected all devices at once.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In the Outlook application, the scalability is good so far. But there are some differences between on-premises mailbox users and cloud users. For example, let's say I'm my boss's assistant and I'm able to view my boss's calendar on my Outlook desktop. Let's say I want to view a shared calendar on my Outlook app. For the cloud-use mailbox, I'm able to do this, but if I'm an on-premises mailbox user, this option is not available. Usually the cloud mailbox users have more options than on-premise users.
We have around 2,000 users enrolled in Intune so far, not counting the MDM device. That includes just email, the one that I have enrolled in the Outlook email app.
Our plan is to keep the solution because our primary solution for email mobile is now Intune because we are retiring AirWatch. We have already retired the email for AirWatch, and we are just using AirWatch for MDM devices. Of course, the plan is to keep increasing usage. If more users request email on their mobile, we are going to offer Intune.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very responsive and helpful. There's another issue that I raised related to Adobe Acrobat. I'm not sure if it's a region issue, but I'm in Macau, and we also have some users in Manila, Hong Kong, and Cyprus. All of us are using the same profile. I make the Adobe Reader application available on the manage app store, but somehow the users in Macau, when they go to the manage play store, are not able to see Adobe Reader on the list. It's only happening in Macau.
I raised this issue. Support dragged the issue on for two months. Support said, "Because all the applications go through the Play store, maybe you need to reach out to Google." The issue was not really resolved because the issue might not be related to Microsoft but Google, et cetera. I just gave up.
Compared to AirWatch, I can upload APKs or I can just redirect the Play store link to push the apps. But in Intune for example, I'm forced to upload all the applications through the managed app store. To make it available is a different process, basically. There are some things that don't really stretch forward.
If I upload a custom APK in the manage Play store and then I want to remove it, I cannot remove it myself. I need to send an email to Google and ask them to remove it. Then they will ask me to unpublish the app for 24 hours first. These are very simple things that I should be able to control myself, and it wastes a lot of time.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I think if you have the money and want something more stable, you should go for AirWatch. I don't think Microsoft is offering the same stability as VMware at this point. On other hand, I think the support from Microsoft is better, particularly the support in Asia. In VMware, all the support is from India, and sometimes I have a hard time with them.
How was the initial setup?
Now that I'm starting to be familiar with the profiles, it's starting to get easier. A few weeks ago, there was a very odd issue that happened also related to MDM devices where we were using the manage home screen application to lock down the apps that we wanted to allow only the users to use, like the kiosk application.
We have configured the profile and have deployed to 200 or 300 devices. Some of our users called and said suddenly all the mobile devices were flashing. I don't know what happened, but it happened at the same time. The workaround that I had to do was to remove the manage home screen from the profile. Then all of the devices were kicked out and went back to the home screen of the devices. That was the only way they could resume the mobile devices. I don't know what happened, but something was wrong with the manage home screen app on that day because a few days after, I pushed back and everything resumed.
What was our ROI?
We have ROI because we are retiring AirWatch, so we're spending less and making the most of the free stuff.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 7 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.