What does Intune Suite mean for SAM One?

On February 1, 2024, Microsoft announced that the Intune service has been expanded into an application suite, with several add-ons available for purchase. The additions to Intune are:

• Endpoint Privilege Management

• Enterprise App Management

• Advanced Analytics

• Remote Help

• Microsoft Tunnel for Mobile Application Management

• Firmware-over-the-air update

• Specialized devices management

Of these, one addition in particular seems to be of primary interest to SAM One - and that is Enterprise App Management.

With the standalone Intune Enterprise App Management extension, an application catalog is made available to the organization's Intune tenant that controls applications in the organization. EAM is a tool that allows organizations to standardize application flora by controlling the deployment and management of applications. EAM consists of a flexible and growing collection of Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications, the purpose of which is to create an application catalog (the so-called Enterprise App Catalog) for large organizations.

The purpose of having an application catalog is clear - it increases security by standardizing where applications are retrieved from and when and which versions will be used in the organization.

When an application is added to the Enterprise App Catalog, it is possible to configure a range of settings for that application that, if necessary, can apply to everyone in the entire organization. For example, the app can be set as the default application in the organization, requirements on where/if the application needs to be installed, settings for tracking and more.

Why is version overview and management important?

Having an overview of an organization's installed versions is important for several reasons. It has direct links to the organization's IT security, as an important reason keeping applications up to date is to close potential security gaps.

With increasing amounts of intrusions, and associated costs, the important role of cybersecurity cannot be overemphasized. Thus, seeing which versions are used and where can be the difference between a successful breach and not. Users who still have or use unsecured applications are thus at risk of being exposed to breaches or leaks, the consequences of which can be enormous.

• Versioning makes it easier to discover the software versions that are present on the devices in your organization.

• Version listing makes it easier to standardize the organization's active versions - introduce new ones and phase out older ones.

• EAM makes standardized deployment of new applications much easier.

• SAM One makes insight and analysis of the installed applications easier.

Microsoft highlights both standardization of application flora and versioning of applications as major benefits.

• The organizational management of software is significantly simplified because applications can be managed directly from the Intune view. The entire Intune application library is available, making it easy to find new business applications that should be added for users.

• When application updates are released, it can be registered in Intune, making it easy for users to get the latest update.

• Automatic updating in applications is possible, which means that the organization can specify which is the minimum allowed version.
  

The impactfulness of EAM will be directly related to the size of the application library. The more applications, the easier it will be to manage the business use of the apps.

What can't Enterprise App Management do?

• EAM cannot currently track whether an application is actively running or not, only whether it is installed.

• Microsoft does not promise that any application can be brought into the Enterprise App Catalog, and makes no guarantees that app requests will be fulfilled.

• Intune cannot verify whether licensed software actually has a valid license.

The first step is that the desired application exists in the Intunes Enterprise App Catalog. If it does not, Microsoft recommends that organizations contact their Microsoft representative, or fill out a form describing the desired application.

All applications that are approved by Microsoft are stored by Microsoft, and the installation and application files are distributed from Microsoft sources. This means that the same application can be easily deployed throughout the organization. Of note, however, is that Microsoft makes no guarantees about the security or validity of the application.

Not much, actually. The benefits of SAM One remain exactly the same as before the launch of Intune Suite's Enterprise App Management.

EAM and SAM One are actually very good complements to each other, but with distinct areas - one does not detract from the other. Enterprise App Management makes it easier to manage applications, for example by deploying and updating apps, within the organization and SAM One makes it easy to see how application usage is complied with, in addition to all the other insights and benefits of the insight report.

Especially regarding version management, SAM One has a clear purpose; it becomes easy to see which previous versions of an application are still installed. Even if new versions are published, and even downloaded/used, installed older versions can pose a risk. In SAM One, it is easy to target efforts to those who need it, to remove older versions. Since all devices and their primary users that have a certain application can be listed, it is easy to identify where the risks are.

Conclusion

For SAM One, Intune Suite Enterprise App Management is not an obstacle, but rather an opportunity. The products are completely independent but can still complement each other, as EAM enables standardized management while SAM One opens up for analysis and compliance control. To get a deeper insight into SAM One, book a free demo meeting.