Tech that connects: Endpoint solutions for the modern business

Microsoft Partners

17.12.2022

An ever-expanding digital attack surface.

With hybrid work here to stay, effective endpoint management has never been more crucial. Numbers of dispersed employees are increasing, with 58% agreeing they would highly consider looking for a new job if they could not continue working remotely . In addition to a growing frontline base, this is driving the need for organisations to secure all endpoints, especially mobile. Ultimately, as hybrid working introduces more opportunities for both employees and employers, it also increases the digital attack surface, along with the complexity of keeping this secure. When it comes to equipping employees, historically IT teams had two of three different devices to choose from. Now exists a much wider pool of physical devices or virtual tools, designed to cater to many different workstyles and scenarios. In addition, working from home during the pandemic blurred the lines for many people, between their personal and professional lives. Personal devices were used for work, and vice versa. IT teams must be supported to ensure they can adequately protect all devices, while the devices themselves help empower people to securely do their best work, from any location. But beyond mobile devices, endpoint security and management must include a much broader range of scenarios. Whether considering personal devices, desktop computers, servers, virtual machines, or embedded devices, IT teams must understand how many endpoints are on the network at any given time. Knowing where they are located and what activity is being conducted on each is also crucial, to reduce risk of data leak or cyber-attack. The question is, how do you choose the right devices for your employees, with so many different workstyles and workspace requirements? And how do you then control and manage the way they’re deployed and used?

Driving productivity without compromising on security.

Businesses across all industries now have employees located outside traditional physical and network perimeters. To reduce exposure to risks while driving productivity, it’s imperative to have the right device management and security governance. Your aim should be to get the best productivity apps and features quickly into the hands of your people, without compromising on security – especially with 64% of organisations experiencing one or more endpoint attacks that compromise data or IT infrastructure . Exacerbating this need is the proliferation of smartphones and tablets used in the workplace, compared to a time where employees used only company-issued devices. This creates higher potential for an employee to introduce security risks. So, when modernising your endpoint security, ideally you want a solution that helps keep organisational data secure and defends against cyberthreats by enabling you to:

Eliminate blind spots – discover unmanaged and unauthorised endpoints and network devices, secures assets using integrated workflows.
Discover vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in real time – threat and vulnerability management to help quickly discover, prioritise, and remediate vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Block sophisticated threats and malware – defend against never-before-seen, polymorphic and metamorphic malware, and fileless and file-based threats with next-generation protection.
Detect and respond to advanced attacks – with deep threat monitoring and analysis that spots attacks and zero-day exploits.
Secure mobile devices – using mobile threat defence capabilities.
Eliminate risks and reduce attack surface – offers attack surface reduction to minimise areas that could be vulnerable to threats.

Protecting endpoints is critical as the hybrid workforce continues to grow. As a result, endpoint security has vastly evolved to include more advanced, cloud-powered, and comprehensive solutions. The right tools can help detect, investigate, and respond to threats while enabling IT to easily manage apps, devices, and people. With effective endpoint security, IT can also better support a diverse bring-your-own-devices (BYOD) ecosystem and follow a Zero Trust security approach – all without disrupting the business.

The advantages of taking a cloud-focussed, automated approach

Making the move to automated, cloud-based endpoint solutions offers a multitude of benefits compared to traditional dated approaches. Especially in the face of cross-sector cost constraints. For starters, being able to see, manage, and secure all endpoints in one place saves time and resources, by centralising and simplifying endpoint management. In fact, solutions like Azure AD are reported to achieve up to 123% ROI when used to secure apps. Moving endpoint management to the cloud can undoubtedly help drive IT efficiencies and reduce costs. Employee productivity can be improved, with the ability to offer remote access to apps and deliver the best possible experience through zero-touch deployment. Managing both company and employee-owned devices from the cloud also provides IT with greater control across devices and operating systems. Users and groups of users can be added, licenses assigned, devices deployed, and apps protected. This flexible, non-intrusive management approach can help contribute to a better hybrid work experience and lower total cost of ownership — not to mention complexity — when endpoints are managed with a single, unified tool.

Streamlining IT onboarding with automation.

When it comes to user onboarding, automated IT provisioning can equip employees with the tools they need, with greater speed and accuracy. IT teams can also see what’s happening in real-time and adjust as needed. In today’s job market, this could be the difference between attracting and retaining top talent — or losing out to your competitors. The best solution is one that leverages an intuitive user interface and provides real-time insights to make the onboarding process as streamlined as possible. For example, being able to configure user systems to a default setting can help simplify initial onboarding. And with a holistic view of all network devices, updates can easily be pushed as needed. Solutions that automate IT onboarding and provisioning can also make processes easier to scale as your organisation grows. IT can execute a unified approach with the click of a button from any device and reduce the risk of human error that may lead to a security breach. And in terms of the employee experience, automation can eliminate the need to sit around and wait for manual access clearance. Meaning new hires can begin working as soon as they’re ready, be productive faster, and enjoy an overall smoother onboarding experience with minimal friction. Done right, automated endpoint provisioning can relieve the strain on your IT team and systems and create new efficiencies for both administrators and end users.

Expert help to modernise your endpoint strategy

Making the right solution choices to manage and protect your endpoints choice can understandably be daunting. That’s where expert help really matters – together with the right endpoint modernisation strategy. SCC can help with every stage of your journey. We provide management and deployment support through our configuration centre, engineering teams, and deep Microsoft capabilities, along with the extra steps needed to deliver outstanding results. For example, for one customer onboarding new starters, we packaged all user devices into a neat presentation box. Each new employee received everything they needed to be productive – including a laptop, keyboard, mouse, and all apps pre-installed. They simply opened the lid and were ready to go, enjoying a fast-onboarding experience that made a lasting impact from day one. Perhaps you need an easy-to-use endpoint management solution that provides maximum control, keeping your organisation secure no matter how much it grows. Or a platform that enables IT to view every device on your network from one place, with the ability to find, fix and automate updates through a cloud-based architecture. Whatever your endpoint requirements, our goal is to expand your in-house capabilities, and help define the strategy and vision around your next steps. We’d love to hear from you and understand where you are on your journey, so please get in touch for a chat about how we can help drive your business forward.