What is endpoint management?

What is endpoint management? How it works and  best practices 

As businesses grow more reliant on digital tools and remote work becomes the norm, the number of devices connecting to corporate networks has skyrocketed. From employee laptops and smartphones to tablets, servers, and even smart IoT devices, each one represents a potential entry point for cyber threats and a management challenge for IT teams.

This is where endpoint management comes into play.

Endpoint management ensures that all these devices, known as endpoints, are secure, compliant, and functioning optimally, no matter where they are located. In this blog, we will explore everything you need to know about endpoint management: what it is, why it matters, how it works, and more.

What is endpoint management?

Endpoint management is the process of monitoring, controlling, and securing all the devices, or endpoints, that access a company’s network. These endpoints can include:

• Desktop and laptop computers

• Smartphones and tablets

• Servers

• Internet of Things (IoT) devices

• Virtual machines

• Wearables and other smart devices

The primary goal of endpoint management is to ensure that every device is properly configured, regularly updated, and protected against security threats, whether it is on-site, remote, or mobile. This centralized management approach allows IT teams to maintain control over a sprawling network of devices without needing to manage each one manually.

What are the types of devices covered by endpoint management?

Endpoint management is not limited to just computers or mobile phones; it spans a wide array of devices that connect to a corporate network. These devices, often diverse in function and operating systems, all require consistent oversight to maintain security and performance.

Here are the primary types of devices covered by endpoint management:

1. Desktops and laptops: These are the most common endpoints in any organization. Whether company-issued or part of a BYOD policy, they need consistent patching, software management, antivirus protection, and access control.

2. Mobile devices (smartphones and tablets): With mobile workforces and app-based workflows, managing Android and iOS devices is crucial. Endpoint management tools often include mobile device management (MDM) features to enforce policies like encryption, remote wiping, and app control.

3. Servers: Both on-premises and cloud-based servers are critical endpoints that require strict configuration, real-time monitoring, and regular security updates to ensure network stability and data integrity.
4. Internet of Things (IoT) devices: IoT devices, like smart thermostats, security cameras, sensors, and industrial equipment, often lack built-in security. Endpoint management can help monitor their activity, manage firmware updates, and detect anomalies.

5. Virtual Machines (VMs) and containers: In modern IT environments, VMs and containers function like physical devices. They must be managed to ensure they are securely configured, patched, and compliant with corporate policies.

6. Wearables and peripheral devices: Smartwatches, headsets, external drives, and even connected printers can be endpoints, especially if they interact with sensitive systems or data. Managing their access and usage is a growing part of endpoint strategy.

Why is endpoint management important?

Effective endpoint management is not just a technical necessity; it is a strategic imperative to safeguard your business, employees, and customers in an increasingly complex digital environment.

How to set up endpoint management systems?

Implementing an effective endpoint management system requires thoughtful planning and execution. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you get started:

1. Start by assessing your environment and needs. Take inventory of all devices, including their types, operating systems, and locations, and review your existing security policies to identify any gaps.

2. Choose the right endpoint management solution that fits your organization’s size and the diversity of devices you need to manage. Decide whether a traditional endpoint management tool or a more comprehensive Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) system is appropriate.

3. Define clear policies and security standards. Establish rules for device usage, password requirements, encryption, and application control, making sure these policies comply with relevant industry regulations.

4. Enroll devices into the management system, ideally through automated processes. For bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenarios, provide easy-to-follow onboarding instructions for users.

5. Configure security settings and controls on all devices, including firewalls, antivirus software, encryption protocols, and access controls. Set up automated patch management to ensure devices stay updated with the latest security fixes.

6. Set up real-time monitoring and alerting to track device health and detect suspicious activities. Configure alerts to notify your IT team about compliance violations, security threats, or system issues promptly.

7. Provide training for both employees and IT staff. Educate users on security best practices and train IT teams on how to manage the endpoint system effectively and respond to incidents.

8. Regularly review and update your endpoint management system by conducting periodic audits of devices and security policies. Keep your tools and policies up to date to address evolving threats and changing business needs.
   

Understanding endpoint management systems

IT endpoint management systems enable remote and automated device management across numerous locations and networks, automating patch management and monitoring. Typical endpoint management systems will include some critical capabilities:

How are endpoint security and endpoint management related?

Endpoint security and endpoint management are closely connected but serve slightly different purposes within an organization’s IT framework.

Endpoint management focuses on the overall administration and maintenance of all devices connected to a network. This includes tasks such as device enrollment, software deployment, patch management, configuration, and monitoring to ensure devices run smoothly and comply with corporate policies.

On the other hand, endpoint security is specifically concerned with protecting these devices from cyber threats like malware, ransomware, unauthorized access, and data breaches. It involves implementing security controls such as antivirus software, firewalls, encryption, intrusion detection, and incident response on endpoints.

In practice, endpoint security is often a key component of endpoint management systems. A robust endpoint management solution includes security features that help prevent, detect, and respond to threats. By combining these functions, organizations can both maintain device health and protect sensitive data, creating a comprehensive defense strategy.

Getting automated with endpoint management policies

Endpoint management policies enable automation. They house device and risk profiles that endpoint management systems can use to react to new security vulnerabilities, determine where patches should be deployed (and manage the testing and approval process), clear errors through runbooks, and ensure that devices are correctly configured.

Effective endpoint management requires the ability to configure these policies, ensuring consistency with endpoint management delivery. For example, if a security vulnerability is identified and a patch becomes available, policies can help govern the mitigation process. 

The endpoint management policy for vulnerability management would provide the class of machines affected by the vulnerability, the procedures for testing the patch, approvals needed for deployment, and how exceptions are handled. 

Automation can open all appropriate work orders and progress the patch management activities through the workflow, using automation to request approvals and perform automated deployment when needed. Endpoint management policies can also specify the class of machines considered low risk, bypassing testing and acceptance, and deploying the patch during a standard window for the affected devices. 

To configure endpoint management policies effectively, the organization must identify the policies to implement. This governance function will document and gain acceptance for how endpoint management activities will be performed. 

For example, the organization can set standards for prioritizing patches and software updates based on urgency and good lead times for their deployment. This will include testing and approval requirements and turnaround times based on risk and consequences for non-compliance. The prioritization and timescales can then be configured into each patch type’s policy within the endpoint management system.

This way, corporate policies are documented and then instrumented in the endpoint management tool, ensuring compliance with audits as the device configures consistently with the organization’s corporate policy.

The business benefits of endpoint management

Endpoint management assists organizations in five significant ways: 

Incident reduction: By getting in front of errors before they affect service and by maintaining systems and software correctly, computing equipment and software are well maintained and less likely to suffer a catastrophic failure that impacts performance.

Prevention of cybersecurity attacks: Systems and software are constantly under attack by malicious players. Timely patching of security vulnerabilities is a critical component of a security program, yet the volume of known issues to be addressed continues to rise. Automation and patch management workflows are the only way to shorten the lead time for deploying critical security patches, thus avoiding many cybersecurity attacks and suffering fewer incidents. Organizations using effective endpoint management solutions can cut their vulnerability patching lead time from weeks to hours (or almost immediately), increasing their likelihood of prevention.

Risk management: Timely patching of security vulnerabilities is one way to lower risk, but so is understanding and managing policy exceptions when patches conflict with software and ensuring the organization remains compliant with security and endpoint management policies. Reporting on endpoint maintenance and patching from a central endpoint management system also assists with audit compliance.

Cost-effective operations: Remote, proactive, and automated endpoint management reduces the cost of ownership by maintaining system operating systems and software and ensuring that technicians spend their time performing only those activities and repairs that cannot be automated.

Reduction in unplanned work: When systems are maintained in peak operating condition, commonly known errors are managed proactively. The bulk of a technician’s time is spent performing routine checks, testing, and proactive maintenance, so there are fewer fire drills requiring their time. Minor errors can be researched and eliminated before they become critical.

An effective endpoint management program that uses state-of-the-art endpoint management systems is a significant investment, protecting large organizations and assisting Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in managing their client environments. With the automation that lowers vulnerability patching lead times and enables technicians to work effectively, endpoint management systems enable organizations to expand infrastructure management to a robust program that manages and maintains all digital devices.

What are the challenges with endpoint management?

Managing endpoints across an organization can be complex and comes with several challenges. Understanding these hurdles and knowing how to address them is essential for a successful endpoint management strategy.

1. Companies use lots of devices with different systems like Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. Managing them all can be hard. Use a tool that manages all types of devices from one place. Automate updates and fixes to save time.

2. Devices can get viruses, malware, or hackers trying to steal information. This risk is higher when people work remotely or use their own devices. Set strong security rules, use multi-factor authentication, and install software that detects threats quickly.

3. It is hard to make sure every device has the latest software and security patches. Some users may delay updates. Automate updates so devices get the latest fixes automatically, preferably during off-hours.

4. Sometimes users do not follow security policies because they find them confusing or annoying. Teach employees why these rules matter and make policies simple and easy to follow.

5. Devices used outside the office are harder to control and secure. Use cloud-based tools to manage devices anywhere and set up remote lock or wipe features in case devices get lost.

6. Smart devices like cameras or sensors may not have good security and are harder to manage. Keep IoT devices on a separate network and watch their activity closely.

How does endpoint management support remote and hybrid workforces?

With more employees working from home or a mix of office and remote locations (hybrid work environment)

Managing devices outside the traditional office has become essential. Endpoint management helps in several ways:

• Secure access anywhere: It ensures that devices connecting from outside the office follow security rules, protecting company data no matter where employees work.

• Remote monitoring and support: IT teams can monitor device health, troubleshoot problems, and install updates remotely, reducing downtime and keeping employees productive.

• Consistent policy enforcement: Whether a device is in the office or at home, endpoint management applies the same security policies and controls to all devices.

• Quick response to lost or stolen devices: If a remote device is lost or stolen, IT can remotely lock or wipe it to protect sensitive information.

• Easy device enrollment: New devices can be enrolled into the system remotely, allowing employees to set up their work devices without needing to visit the office.

What are the best practices for endpoint management?

Effective management of endpoint devices is easy to achieve by following some standard endpoint management best practices. There’s no hiding that endpoint management starts with understanding the endpoints in the enterprise’s inventory and ensuring that they meet minimum standards. This is the foundation on which endpoint management begins. Endpoint management best practices rely on building a sound foundation to base support, ensuring all endpoints are configured as expected and errors are managed promptly. Automation of these activities is critical for effective practice as well. 

The endpoint management best practices that follow are also proactive. Organizations that manage the health and security of their endpoints will encounter fewer fire drills and increased performance.

Here are five tips to get you started with IT endpoint management:

Build your asset repository: Effective endpoint management begins with knowing every device within the enterprise. This requires an asset management database that is effectively managed. Including mobile devices and laptops means a combination of device discovery and good procurement and inventory practices will be needed to ensure the repository remains accurate. There are several basics to help achieve this:

• Using automated discovery tools to find all devices that reside on the enterprise network or connect to it with authorization and register these within a database. Where at all possible, configuration information should also be collected and cataloged along with the asset information.

• Ensuring a procurement process that documents new mobile devices and laptops and adds them to the asset database, as they may not always be seen promptly by discovery tools. Later, discovery software can recognize and update their attributes when they access network resources.

• Including hardware attributes, installed patches, and software release information in asset records. Patch management best practices require the ability to define the “gold standard” or patch and software versions that should be deployed on specific device types. This is configuration management at its most basic and critical for effective endpoint management. The ability to collect and store information about a device’s configuration and then compare it to the standard format for that type of device makes it possible to ensure all endpoints are correctly configured, reducing known errors. 

Implement a rigorous patch management program to ensure all devices remain compliant with the latest software and security patches. Particularly critical is ensuring that software vulnerabilities can be patched across all devices as quickly as possible. While security is the primary concern for the patch management program, keeping software updated ensures that end users can benefit from all new features and functionality made available in new releases. 

Automate wherever possible. Sound endpoint management systems enable automation in several ways. From the perspective of endpoint management best practices, several areas should be automated:

• New patches and software versions should be cataloged and managed through an automated workflow to ensure they are tested, approved, and automatically deployed to all affected devices.

• Endpoints should be scanned routinely, with remediation work orders automatically logged if issues are detected. Automation should be used to remediate known errors, missed patches, and other routine fixes.

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning should be used as much as possible to assign a health score to devices based on the results of scans. Work orders should be opened for endpoints that do not meet a minimum threshold, and remediation should occur promptly.

Manage all endpoints! All it takes to encounter a damaging cyber-attack is one device that didn’t receive a critical update. Ensure that the endpoint management system reaches and manages all endpoints, not just workstations.

Use dashboards and reports to ensure compliance: Good endpoint management dashboards can display devices not configured with the latest patches or software due to failures during deployment and other tasks requiring technician attention. Reporting can also help prove compliance with policies and help the organization mitigate issues before audits are conducted.

The most crucial best practice for endpoint management is recognizing its criticality and getting started, then ensuring the program is well-documented and supported with effective endpoint management solutions.

Endpoint management vs Mobile Device Management (MDM)

Endpoint management and Mobile Device Management (MDM) are related but serve different purposes. Endpoint management covers a broad range of devices, including desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, servers, IoT devices, and virtual machines. It handles not just security, but also software deployment, patching, configuration, and ongoing monitoring to keep all these devices secure and running smoothly. 

On the other hand, MDM focuses specifically on managing mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It specializes in tasks such as remote wiping, app management, encryption, and enforcing mobile-specific security policies. Essentially, MDM is a subset of endpoint management, targeting mobile devices, while endpoint management provides a more comprehensive approach to managing all types of endpoints within an organization.

Endpoint management with SuperOps

SuperOps offers a comprehensive endpoint management platform designed to simplify IT operations and strengthen security. By combining powerful tools into a single solution, it enables IT teams to efficiently manage, monitor, and protect all devices across their network. Let us take a closer look at some of its key features.