The Hidden Cost of Poorly Managed Devices

20 May The Hidden Cost of Poorly Managed Devices

The modern business world revolves around devices. From laptops and computers to phones and printers, and even smartwatches, devices are everywhere within your business, whether you want them or not. Being aware of this is incredibly important, as failing to manage devices can be catastrophic.

Fortunately, there is a host of tools available to help you manage these within your company. With these, you’ll be able to make sure that you don’t face any nasty surprises due to someone being careless with their device, while also being able to strengthen your security posture all around.

That’s why in this article, we’re going to go over everything you need to know about management and the hidden cost of poorly managed devices. We’ll explain what failing to manage devices properly means for your business, as well as some possible solutions to help with the problem.

The Hidden Costs of Poorly Managed Devices

Cybersecurity Risks of Poorly Managed Devices

Simply put, poorly managed devices are a huge risk for your business. The security needs of a modern business are incredibly tight, and a singular unmanaged device creating a vulnerability can shatter your whole security posture, which isn’t uncommon at all.

A lack of a solid device management system means that you also won’t be able to link devices to individuals, meaning that investigating a breach will be far more difficult. Management will let you assign each device in your system to an identity, letting you keep track of anyone acting irresponsibly while also making any malicious actors stand out like a sore thumb.

The cost of an incident isn’t just time, though. Data breaches can cost millions for any organisation, and can cripple them for years after. So, instead of putting your business into the hands of fate, management is one of the ways you can take control and make sure your business is protected from every possible angle.

Impact on Employee Productivity

Unmanaged devices can simply be much more difficult for employees to use and integrate with their existing systems. Without being able to push updates and ensure that everyone is running as smoothly as possible, it’s possible that employees could use outdated applications and cause wider productivity and workflow issues.

Devices outside of your management systems will also often need more downtime for updates and repairs due to being maintained far more irregularly, meaning that they will often become unusable over time and need to be taken out of action to fix them.

Ultimately, this will lead to dissatisfaction and loss of motivation throughout your business, due to the sheer amount of downtime that comes with it.

Time Wasted on Manual Patching

Manual patching is time-consuming, especially when doing it for a lot of devices. Between having to make time for each device, finding the correct patch, manually implementing it, and having to do all of that around the schedule of the device user, it can be difficult and take up a lot of necessary time.

Management software will let you easily take care of patch management, letting you patch all of your devices when required without having to worry about the hassle of manual patching, saving time for everyone involved.

Compliance Issues and Regulatory Risks

Compliance is a massive factor for modern businesses. After all, with so many regulations, having a tight management system and regular auditing to ensure compliance is vital to make sure that you aren’t falling in breach of any regulations.

If you do breach compliance regulations, then the cost can be massive, and you could even face litigation. So, take compliance seriously in every aspect of your business that you can, including device management.

The Rise of Shadow IT

Shadow IT are IT devices that aren’t from within your organisation, that are used outside of admin permissio. Stamping it out can sometimes lean into issues with privacy, as personal devices do count as Shadow IT, but the threat is great enough that it is definitely warranted if done responsibly.

Some of the most powerful cyberattacks in history, such as Stuxnet, were brought into a system with unassuming, unmanaged Shadow IT devices, which shows just how real a threat this is. At the very least, an unmanaged device can have security flaws and be generally hazardous and outdated.

How Microsoft Intune Can Help with devices

Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution to the issue of device management, letting you simplify the whole process of device, user, and application management. Using Intune, you can track devices owned by both organisations and specific users, letting you stay aware of everything happening within your organisation.

Intune can also deploy applications and updates remotely, meaning that you don’t have to physically take devices in to update them or install new applications. You can also remotely implement policies and rules, letting you fully manage devices without having to be invasive or breach your employees’ privacy to make sure that your company can stay secure from Shadow IT threats.

Benefits of Partnering with us

Microsoft Intune is a great tool and is beneficial for bridging the gap to managing modern devices for companies that might not have been otherwise prepared to do so. However, having a helping hand along the way can also be beneficial.

Reaching out to a service provider, or MSP, will give you a trusted partner that can help you ensure that everything is implemented correctly and manage everything for your business, without the hassle of having to have the complexities of an in-house IT team.

Contact us now and see how we can help get started with Microsoft Intune today.