Understand the purpose and value of the Microsoft Intune Suite
Microsoft Intune provides comprehensive device management capabilities for organizations managing Windows, iOS, Android, and macOS devices. The core Intune service includes device enrollment, configuration management, application deployment, compliance policies, and basic device protection. For many organizations, these core capabilities meet their endpoint management needs.
However, as organizations mature their endpoint management strategies and adopt Zero Trust security principles, they encounter scenarios that require capabilities beyond what core Intune provides. The Microsoft Intune Suite addresses these advanced needs with mission-critical add-on capabilities.
What is the Microsoft Intune Suite?
The Microsoft Intune Suite is a collection of premium add-on capabilities that extend Microsoft Intune's core functionality. These add-ons provide advanced endpoint management, security, and support capabilities that address specific organizational challenges.
The Intune Suite includes multiple components that you can license individually or together as a complete package. Organizations can start with the capabilities they need most and add others as requirements evolve.
Business value of Intune Suite components
Each component in the Intune Suite addresses distinct business challenges that go beyond basic device management.
Enhanced user productivity with least privilege
Traditional approaches to user productivity often create security risks. Users either run with local administrator rights (creating security vulnerabilities) or they run as standard users but can't perform necessary tasks without IT intervention.
Endpoint Privilege Management solves this challenge by allowing standard users to elevate specific applications and tasks when needed. Administrators define which applications users can run with elevated privileges, supporting Zero Trust principles while maintaining productivity. This approach reduces IT support tickets for software installations while preventing the security risks associated with permanent admin rights.
Secure remote assistance
Remote support creates unique security challenges. Third-party remote assistance tools might not integrate with your organization's identity and compliance systems. Helpers might gain excessive access to user devices. You need detailed audit trails for compliance and security investigations.
Remote Help provides enterprise-grade remote assistance that integrates directly with Intune and Microsoft Entra ID. Support personnel must authenticate with organizational credentials before accessing devices. Administrators control what actions helpers can perform through role-based access controls. Intune automatically logs all remote sessions with details about who accessed which device and what actions they performed. This integration ensures remote support aligns with your security policies.
Proactive device management
Reactive device management leads to user disruptions and increased support costs. Devices fail unexpectedly. Performance degrades over time. Support teams learn about problems only after users report issues.
Advanced Analytics provides AI-driven insights that help you anticipate and prevent device issues. The service identifies devices experiencing performance anomalies, predicts which devices are likely to experience problems, and recommends actions to improve the end-user experience. This proactive approach reduces support tickets and improves user satisfaction.
Streamlined application management
Managing Win32 applications requires creating installation packages, configuring detection rules, defining requirements, and hosting installation files. This process consumes significant time for each application your organization needs to deploy.
Enterprise App Management provides a curated catalog of popular Win32 applications with pre-configured installation settings, requirements, and detection rules. When you add an application from the Enterprise App Catalog to your Intune tenant, installation content is hosted in Microsoft storage and ready to deploy. This streamlines application deployment for commonly used business applications.
Mobile device security and connectivity
Organizations supporting mobile workers need secure connectivity to corporate resources. However, traditional VPN solutions require device enrollment, limiting support for bring-your-own-device scenarios.
Microsoft Tunnel for Mobile Application Management extends the Microsoft Tunnel VPN gateway to support unenrolled Android and iOS devices. Users can securely access corporate resources from personal devices without full device management, supporting flexible work arrangements while maintaining security.
Certificate lifecycle automation
Managing certificates manually is time-consuming and creates security risks. Certificates expire unexpectedly, breaking authentication and connectivity. Renewing certificates requires coordination across teams. Organizations must maintain on-premises certificate infrastructure.
Cloud PKI provides a cloud-based public key infrastructure that automates certificate issuance, renewal, and revocation for Intune-managed devices. This eliminates the need to maintain on-premises certificate authority infrastructure while ensuring certificates remain valid and secure.
Firmware management for specialty devices
Organizations using specialized devices like rugged mobile devices need regular firmware updates for security and functionality. However, coordinating firmware updates across distributed devices creates operational challenges.
Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) update capabilities allow you to remotely update firmware on supported devices wirelessly with granular control. This ensures specialty devices remain secure and up-to-date even when devices are in field operations.
Purpose-built device management
Organizations deploying specialized devices like AR/VR headsets, large smart-screen devices, and conference room meeting devices need specific management capabilities beyond traditional endpoint management.
Specialty devices management provides targeted capabilities for managing, configuring, and protecting these purpose-built devices, addressing unique requirements that standard device management doesn't fully support.
Aligning with Zero Trust principles
The Microsoft Intune Suite supports your organization's journey toward Zero Trust security. Zero Trust assumes breach and verifies every access request based on all available signals. Key Zero Trust principles include:
- Verify explicitly: Always authenticate and authorize based on all available data points
- Use least privilege access: Limit user access with just-in-time and just-enough-access
- Assume breach: Minimize blast radius and segment access
Intune Suite components directly support these principles. Endpoint Privilege Management enforces least privilege while enabling productivity. Remote Help verifies helper identity and monitors all access. Advanced Analytics helps you identify potentially compromised or at-risk devices. Together, these capabilities strengthen your Zero Trust architecture.