What is our primary use case?
Its primary use case is mobile device and workstation management.
It is a platform, so there is not really a version per se.
What is most valuable?
It allows our clients to have the confidence to centrally manage policies for security. It helps them in securing the organization from a technology aspect.
It is scalable, and it is fairly portable for customers, particularly for those who are already involved in the Microsoft stack.
What needs improvement?
Its configuration is fairly complicated. You have to do quite a bit of discovery to be able to deploy it for a customer. You have to ask them a lot of questions. So, its initial deployment is the biggest challenge. They should make it easier to deploy with the use of Wizards or something else. During the deployment stage, there could be profiles for the customers who are particularly wanting to use certain feature sets of Intune.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution over the past year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Its stability is pretty high. Once you get it deployed, it typically works pretty well. You might have the occasional snafu, but overall, it works pretty well.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There are no issues with scalability. It is cloud-based, and we've not seen any issues or limitations regarding scalability.
We have a handful of clients who use Intune. We're seeing more and more adoption. It's not widespread yet, but it's growing. We look for opportunities where this is a good fit for the customer.
We've had organizations as small as 20 to 25 users. We've had organizations with 200 to 300 users. It is used across the board.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't had to use technical support, so it'd be hard to evaluate that.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
There are some customers that have switched from other products, and typically, it's because they just couldn't get the other product to work. Miradore is one in particular that many of our customers had, and I like them
How was the initial setup?
Its initial deployment is probably the biggest challenge. It is complex because Intune encompasses so many features and things that you can do with it, and it is so broad in scope. There are a lot of different things you can do with it, and there are a lot of different ways in which you can deploy it, which makes deploying it for a particular customer's environment complicated. It takes some time. I would rate it a three out of five in terms of the ease of setup.
We've had deployments that took weeks. We've had some simpler deployments that took days. So, it varies. The product is so big, and it encompasses so much. So, it depends on what the customer is implementing. One of our most recent customers wanted to use it for a lot of things. So, it was pretty complex. It took us time to get all the devices onboard and registered and so forth.
We might have multiple people working on a deployment, but that doesn't mean it takes that many. Overall, it doesn't take that many people to deploy it, but it typically takes a higher technical level person to deploy. You don't need a bunch of folks, but they have to really know what they're doing.
What was our ROI?
I don't have any statistics, but from a qualitative assessment, there is absolutely an ROI. Customers on Intune seem to keep it and be happy with it. It does offer significant security advantages for customers. We've seen customers really happy with the product once it is up and deployed.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft offers some licensing where it's included at no extra cost when customers are already using the licenses. In such a case, it's a really good value. If you have to buy the licensing for it, it's probably on par with other solutions. It isn't substantially more or less expensive. The great thing is that it is included in some of Microsoft's licensed packages. So, some customers don't have to spend additional money for it.
Typically, most providers that support Intune do charge a management fee of some sort or some fee. Certainly, we're no exception.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise making sure that you look for vendors that have a lot of experience in deploying Intune. Make sure that you're working with an experienced vendor with a lot of experience. There is a fair amount of change and improvement in the application. It is constantly being changed and updated, so you really have to get somebody who is familiar with it.
Overall, I would rate it an eight out of 10. The challenges with deployment lower its rating a little bit.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner