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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

Microsoft Configuration Manager is highly valued for its patch management capabilities, ensuring systems are up-to-date and secure.
It provides robust application deployment and task-sequenced imaging, streamlining software distribution processes.
Microsoft Configuration Manager excels in inventory management, identifying and managing rogue applications effectively.
It seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft products, enhancing the overall efficiency of IT operations.
Scalability and reliability are key strengths, supporting up to 50,000 users and maintaining stability across environments.

CONS

Microsoft Configuration Manager lacks effective support for mobile devices, necessitating integration with solutions like TeamViewer.
There are significant issues with the accuracy of compliance reporting, leading to discrepancies and a lack of dependability.
The patching system faces challenges, such as a lack of reboot notifications and inconsistent patch application.
Lack of scalability and inefficient load balancing are seen as key areas for improvement.
Microsoft Configuration Manager's deployment process is lengthy and complex, demanding more straightforward documentation and procedures.
 

Microsoft Configuration Manager Pros review quotes

it_user215724 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Senior System Engineer, Data Integrity and IT Pharma Automation systems migration consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Feb 29, 2016
In my opinion SCCM SP1 is great.
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.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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.
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.
 

Microsoft Configuration Manager Cons review quotes

it_user215724 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Senior System Engineer, Data Integrity and IT Pharma Automation systems migration consultant at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Feb 29, 2016
SCCM is a high CPU/memory consuming application and so it would be fine that Microsoft could improve performances.
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.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Configuration Manager. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
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).
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.