Managing a productive yet secure IT infrastructure has quickly become an overwhelming task for today’s organizations. Companies are taking their enterprises beyond the office, beyond the home, and beyond the wire. This growth has created an unparalleled need for powerful, yet seamless, endpoint management. IT teams are faced with a new challenge of endpoint security, having to make sure that thousands of endpoints stay secure, up to date, and visible 24/7.
This complexity is compounded by the fact that technology is rapidly advancing and the explosion of devices connecting to organizational networks. With employees working remotely and utilizing a range of devices, maintaining control over these endpoints has become a pivotal concern for IT departments.
The Core Goals of Modern Endpoint Management
Modern endpoint management platforms prioritize three core goals: visibility, automation, and risk reduction. Each of these objectives is a fundamental component to keeping a safe, productive IT ecosystem. This new level of visibility gives IT teams the ability to monitor every endpoint in real-time. This holistic perspective across the entire network allows them to rapidly pinpoint their most vulnerable areas.
Automation is key to making management more efficient and effective. By automating routine tasks such as software updates and security patches, organizations can significantly reduce the workload on IT staff. This improves efficiency and keeps endpoints up to date, helping to reduce the risk of exploitation.
Not surprisingly, risk reduction is arguably the most important objective of endpoint management. As cyber threats are constantly changing, every organization must have strong security in place to keep sensitive data safe. This includes ongoing monitoring, threat intelligence and predictive risk modeling to identify threats before they are able to affect operations.
Supporting a Diverse Range of Endpoints
As for organizations today, they have to protect thousands of endpoints like laptops, smartphones, tablets or wearables and IoT devices. With every device, a door opens to more potential cyber threats. That’s why it’s more important than ever for IT teams to implement tight security controls.
Now, employees either in-office or remote won’t have the same access. This diverse range of endpoints complicates the challenge of managing them to be attractive and safe for all. IT teams need to protect every device and ensure they’re all being used in line with organizational security policies no matter what location those devices are utilized from. This challenge requires a holistic approach, covering all endpoints and requiring that they be observed and policed no matter where they appear.
Beyond security risks, failing to maintain endpoints can lead to performance issues. Using obsolete software can introduce security gaps and compatibility problems that can interrupt day-to-day business activities. As a result, keeping to a strong update schedule is imperative in today’s rapid tech environment.
The Importance of Continuous Monitoring
Continuing visibility across thousands of endpoints – remote for the most part – is essential to govern them effectively. Ongoing monitoring helps IT teams stay on top of device status. This continuous oversight allows them to detect irregularities that can indicate security attacks or compliance violations.
Enhanced visibility helps not only in the identification of risks but enables informed decision-making around resource allocation and endpoint protection strategies. Modern endpoint management solutions give the organization the power to limit damage by quickly responding to those threats. These tools increase I.T. infrastructure management efficiencies.
