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Microsoft Intune securely manages identities, manages apps, and manages devices

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As organizations support hybrid and remote workforces, they're challenged with managing the different devices that access organization resources. Employees and students need to collaborate, work from anywhere, and securely access and connect to these resources. Admins need to protect organization data, manage end user access, and support users from wherever they work.

✅ To help with these challenges and tasks, use Microsoft Intune.

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based endpoint management solution. It manages user access to organizational resources and simplifies app and device management across your many devices, including mobile devices, desktop computers, and virtual endpoints.

Diagram that shows features and benefits of Microsoft Intune.

You can protect access and data on organization-owned and users personal devices. And, Intune has compliance and reporting features that support the Zero Trust security model.

This article lists some features and benefits of Microsoft Intune.

Tip

Key features and benefits

Some key features and benefits of Intune include:

✅ Manage users and devices

With Intune, you can manage devices owned by your organization and devices owned by your end users. Microsoft Intune supports Android, Android Open Source Project (AOSP), iOS/iPadOS, Linux Ubuntu Desktop, macOS, and Windows client devices. With Intune, you can use these devices to securely access organization resources with policies you create.

For more information, go to:

Note

If you manage on-premises Windows Server, you can use Configuration Manager.

✅ Simplify app management

Intune has a built-in app experience, including app deployment, updates, and removal. You can:

  • Connect to and distribute apps from your private app stores.
  • Enable Microsoft 365 apps, including Microsoft Teams.
  • Deploy Win32 and line-of-business (LOB) apps.
  • Create app protection policies that protect data within an app.
  • Manage access to apps & their data.

For more information, go to Manage apps using Microsoft Intune.

✅ Automate policy deployment

You can create policies for apps, security, device configuration, compliance, conditional access, and more. When the policies are ready, you can deploy these policies to your user groups and device groups. To receive these policies, the devices only need internet access.

For more information, go to Assign policies in Microsoft Intune.

✅ Use the self-service features

Employees and students can use the Company Portal app and website to reset a PIN/password, install apps, join groups, and more. You can customize the Company Portal to help reduce support calls.

For more information, go to Configure the Intune Company Portal apps, Company Portal website, and Intune app.

✅ Integrate with mobile threat defense

Intune integrates with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and third party partner services. With these services, the focus is on endpoint security. You can create policies that respond to threats, do real-time risk analysis, and automate remediation.

For more information, go to Mobile Threat Defense integration with Intune.

✅ Use a web-based admin center

The Intune admin center focuses on endpoint management, including data-driven reporting. Admins can sign into the admin center from any device that has internet access.

For more information, go to Walkthrough the Intune admin center. To sign in to the admin center, go to Microsoft Intune admin center.

This admin center uses Microsoft Graph REST APIs to programmatically access the Intune service. Every action in the admin center is a Microsoft Graph call. If you're not familiar with Graph, and want to learn more, go to Graph integrates with Microsoft Intune.

✅ Advanced endpoint management and security

The Microsoft Intune Suite offers different features, like Remote Help, Endpoint Privilege Management, Microsoft Tunnel for MAM, and more.

For more information, go to Intune Suite add-on features.

Tip

Step through a training module to learn how you can benefit from modern endpoint management with Microsoft Intune.

✅ Use Microsoft Copilot in Intune for AI-generated analysis

Copilot in Intune is available and has capabilities that are powered by Copilot for Security.

Copilot can summarize existing policies, give you more setting information, including recommended values and potential conflicts. You can also get device details and troubleshoot a device.

For more information, go to Microsoft Copilot in Intune.

Integrates with other Microsoft services and apps

Microsoft Intune integrates with other Microsoft products and services that focus on endpoint management, including:

Integrates with third party partner devices and apps

The Intune admin center makes it easy to connect to different partner services, including:

With these services, Intune:

  • Gives admins simplified access to third party partner app services.
  • Can manage hundreds of third party partner apps.
  • Supports public retail store apps, line of business (LOB) apps, private apps not available in the public store, custom apps, and more.

For more platform-specific requirements to enroll third party partner devices in Intune, go to:

Enroll in device management, application management, or both

✅ Organization-owned devices are enrolled in Intune for mobile device management (MDM). MDM is device centric, so device features are configured based on who needs them. For example, you can configure a device to allow access to Wi-Fi, but only if the signed-in user is an organization account.

In Intune, you create policies that configure features & settings and provide security & protection. Your admin team fully manages the devices, including the user identities that sign in, the apps that are installed, and the data that's accessed.

When devices enroll, you can deploy your policies during the enrollment process. When enrollment completes, the device is ready to use.

✅ For personal devices in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenarios, you can use Intune for mobile application management (MAM). MAM is user centric, so the app data is protected regardless of the device used to access this data. There's a focus on apps, including securely accessing apps and protecting data within the apps.

With MAM, you can:

  • Publish mobile apps to users.
  • Configure apps and automatically update apps.
  • View data reports that focus on app inventory and app usage.

✅ You can also use MDM and MAM together. If your devices are enrolled and there are apps that need extra security, then you can also use MAM app protection policies.

For more information, go to:

Protect data on any device

With Intune, you can protect data on managed devices (enrolled in Intune) and protect data on unmanaged devices (not enrolled in Intune). Intune can isolate organization data from personal data. The idea is to protect your company information using policies that you configure and deploy.

For organization-owned devices, you want full control over the devices, especially security. When devices enroll, they receive your security rules and settings.

On devices enrolled in Intune, you can:

  • Create and deploy policies that configure security settings, set password requirements, deploy certificates, and more.
  • Use mobile threat defense services to scan devices, detect threats, and remediate threats.
  • View data and reports that measure compliance with your security settings and rules.
  • Use conditional access to only allow managed and compliant devices access to organization resources, apps, and data.
  • Remove organization data if a device is lost or stolen.

For personal devices, users might not want their IT admins to have full control. To support a hybrid work environment, give users options. For example, users enroll their devices if they want full access to your organization's resources. Or, if these users only want access to Outlook or Microsoft Teams, then use app protection policies that require multifactor authentication (MFA).

On devices using application management, you can:

  • Use mobile threat defense services to protect app data. The service can scan devices, detect threats, and assess risk.
  • Prevent organization data from being copied and pasted into personal apps.
  • Use app protection policies on apps and on unmanaged devices enrolled in a third party or partner MDM.
  • Use conditional access to restrict the apps that can access organization email and files.
  • Remove organization data within apps.

For more information, go to:

Simplify access

Intune helps organizations support employees who can work from anywhere. There are features you can configure that allow users to connect to an organization, wherever they might be.

This section includes some common features that you can configure in Intune.

Use Windows Hello for Business instead of passwords

Windows Hello for Business helps protect against phishing attacks and other security threats. It also helps users sign in to their devices and apps more quickly and easily.

Windows Hello for Business replaces passwords with a PIN or biometric, such as fingerprint or facial recognition. This biometric information is stored locally on the devices and is never sent to external devices or servers.

For more information, go to:

Create a VPN connection for remote users

VPN policies give users secure remote access to your organization network.

Using common VPN connection partners, including Check Point, Cisco, Microsoft Tunnel, NetMotion, Pulse Secure, and more, you can create a VPN policy with your network settings. When the policy is ready, you deploy this policy to your users and devices that need to connect to your network remotely.

In the VPN policy, you can use certificates to authenticate the VPN connection. When you use certificates, your end users don't need to enter usernames and passwords.

For more information, go to:

Create a Wi-Fi connection for on-premises users

For users who need to connect to your organization network on-premises, you can create a Wi-Fi policy with your network settings. You can connect to a specific SSID, select an authentication method, use a proxy, and more. You can also configure the policy to automatically connect to Wi-Fi when the device is in range.

In the Wi-Fi policy, you can use certificates to authenticate the Wi-Fi connection. When you use certificates, your end users don't need to enter usernames and passwords.

When the policy is ready, you deploy this policy to your on-premises users and devices that need to connect to your on-premises network.

For more information, go to:

Enable single sign-on (SSO) to your apps and services

When you enable SSO, users can automatically sign in to apps and services using their Microsoft Entra organization account, including some mobile threat defense partner apps.

Specifically: