In the last blog, we discussed why Intune is the best tool to maintain and support Windows devices. This article focuses more on the business side—how to run device management successfully and profitably.

Varying personnel resources  

As service providers grow with new and existing customers, they often have limited personnel resources to handle all tasks for all customers. There are recurring tasks for each customer and situations requiring immediate attention.

The service provider is committed to ensuring that customers’ endpoints are up to date, and that recurring and new tasks are deployed in a timely manner. However, personnel unavailability due to sick leave, holidays, or personnel changes can disrupt customer work. Additionally, scaling to serve new customers becomes challenging if personnel resources are already stretched.

Scale and become more profitable 

The traditional method of scaling by hiring new personnel does not scale up or down efficiently.

A better approach is to reserve existing personnel for new customer onboarding and focus on more complex tasks for existing customers. Recurring weekly tasks, which are similar across customers, can be managed with advanced technology. Multi-customer, cross-tenant architectures allow the same updates to be applied across all customer endpoints, multiplying the efficiency by the number of customers and devices in each tenant. This approach minimizes manual work and creates value, enabling better-maintained endpoints at reasonable costs.

Intune for managed service providers 

Microsoft has introduced M365 Lighthouse to support managed service providers, although its development hasn’t yet met all MSP expectations.

Lighthouse serves as an advisory tool rather than directly creating policies within tenants. For application patching and configuration updates, MSPs have had to rely on third-party tools.

However, Microsoft has enabled development partners, independent software vendors (ISVs) like Plentics, to enhance its offerings with additional functionalities via Azure APIs.

Plentics solution 

The ISO 27001-certified Plentics solution includes pre-packaged common applications and their updates as new versions become available from software vendors. Packaging a single application can take hours or even days, depending on complexity. MSPs save considerable time by using pre-packaged applications and their updates.

This approach aligns with Microsoft’s introduction of the enterprise application catalog in February 2024, which targets enterprises. Plentics, however, is geared toward MSPs serving multiple customers and includes extensive MSP-oriented functionality. The tenant copy feature can save MSPs several days when onboarding a new Intune customer by replicating hundreds of configurations.

In addition to applications, the Plentics solution provides configuration packages (profiles), such as OneDrive for Business Single Sign-On and Known Folder Move. In a cloud-only Intune environment, these configuration packages replace traditional on-premises group policies.

Patching and weekly updates 

A significant advantage of the Plentics solution is its automatic background operation. Once a tenant is connected, updates are deployed across customer tenants via the Plentics multi-customer cross-tenant solution, freeing MSPs to focus on complex tasks.

Tailor made packages 

In addition to common applications, Plentics handles customized applications. Specific applications often require modifications to meet customer needs.

Plentics also offers both common and customized configuration packages, such as VPN, printer, and certificates. Windows Autopilot can be configured with Plentics packages, enabling direct delivery of new laptops to the user's home address. Autopilot can also reset, repurpose, and recover devices.

The complete list of packages and configurations is accessible via the Plentics console.

Android, iOS and macOS 

Intune supports Android, iOS, and macOS, and so does the Plentics solution. Application and configuration packages are available for macOS, including customized options. For mobile devices, MSPs can use Plentics configuration profiles and the tenant copy feature for easy onboarding.

Service desk personnel can also execute “Remote actions” like “Wipe” directly from the Plentics console, avoiding the need to switch between tenants.

Endpoint Analytics 

The Plentics solution includes a real-time analytics console that aggregates data from all customer devices into a single dashboard. From customizable graphics (bars and pies), technicians can drill down into details and respond as needed.

Endpoint Analytics enables proactive maintenance and provides alerts for endpoint and application issues.

MSP experiences  

Over years of collaboration with MSPs, Plentics has learned the unique challenges and requirements of serving multiple customers as an MSP. Feedback from Plentics MSP customers includes:

“Plentics enables transferring a limited amount of our IT professionals from routine work to more productive tasks.”

“When outsourcing endpoint management, the supplier’s reliability and solution usability are the greatest importance to us.”

“Although there were multiple customer environments, devices, and smart packages, Plentics’ automated service process guaranteed fast and effortless commissioning.”

“Our successful collaboration is based on mutual respect and trust.”

Sell Intune service to green field customers 

New technology opens new business opportunities. MSPs can now onboard, update, and maintain devices for customers who previously couldn’t afford on-premises infrastructure and dedicated administrators. Plentics with Intune is a pure cloud solution that enables MSPs to scale and secure their customers’ endpoints continuously.