Microsoft Intune Deployment for Unified Endpoint Management

A technology company specializing in IoT hardware, robotics, and industrial automation solutions depends on a reliable, scalable approach to managing the devices and identities of a distributed workforce.

Over time, the business' endpoint management environment had grown to include several tools serving overlapping purposes. Windows devices were managed through a combination of System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), while macOS devices were managed through Jamf. While each tool served its function, the multi-platform approach created an opportunity to simplify operations and decrease overhead for the IT team. Managing devices across separate systems made it difficult to maintain a consistent view of the entire device estate, and policy delivery required line-of-sight connectivity to domain controllers, limiting the team's ability to support remote and distributed employees without a VPN.

The organization already held enterprise licensing that included Microsoft Intune, and the team saw an opportunity to consolidate endpoint management into a single platform that could eliminate tool sprawl, reduce costs, and extend management capabilities to devices regardless of location. Consolidating onto Intune also aligned with the organization's broader strategy of standardizing on the Microsoft ecosystem. The company engaged Emergent Software to design and execute a full Intune deployment for both Windows and macOS devices, replacing legacy tooling with a modern, cloud-native management foundation.

Emergent Software approached the engagement by reimagining the organization's endpoint management environment from the ground up rather than migrating existing configurations forward. This deliberate decision ensured that legacy policies, outdated settings, and configurations no longer relevant to the current environment would not be carried into the new platform. Starting from a clean foundation allowed the team to build an Intune environment designed around current best practices.

The Windows device build process was redesigned as part of the engagement, replacing the existing MDT-based deployment workflow with a modern approach centered on Microsoft Autopilot. Autopilot enables zero-touch device provisioning, allowing new devices to be shipped directly to employees anywhere in the world and configured automatically upon first login without requiring physical handling by IT staff. For an organization that regularly onboards employees through acquisitions and organic growth, this capability meaningfully reduces the logistical burden of equipping and configuring devices at scale.

macOS management was brought into Intune alongside Windows, giving the IT team a single console to manage, monitor, and secure the full device fleet. Policy delivery no longer requires VPN connectivity, meaning devices can receive updates and configuration changes over the internet regardless of where employees are located. Emergent also established a structured rollout process for deploying Microsoft security baselines, which receive updates from Microsoft on a regular cadence. The process stages updates through a development environment first, then a pilot group, and finally the broader organization over a controlled window, ensuring that new security configurations are validated before reaching production devices and that business operations are not disrupted in the process.

Throughout the engagement, Emergent conducted working sessions with the organization's internal IT team to build out the Intune environment collaboratively. This approach was intentional: by involving the internal team throughout design and implementation, Emergent ensured that the people responsible for managing the environment after the engagement concluded had the knowledge and confidence to support it independently. The engagement also accounted for two significant acquisitions that occurred during the project timeline. Emergent worked with the company to incorporate the onboarding of newly acquired employees into the project backlog, prioritizing those integrations at the appropriate time to keep the business moving without interrupting the broader deployment.

The client now manages its entire device fleet through a single platform, replacing a multi-tool environment with a unified Microsoft Intune deployment that covers both Windows and macOS devices. The IT team has consolidated visibility, policy management, device provisioning, security enforcement, and update delivery into one consistent experience, reducing the operational complexity that came with maintaining separate toolsets for different device types.

The shift to cloud-native device management has extended the team's reach across the organization. Policies and updates can now be delivered over the internet to any device, anywhere, without requiring a VPN connection. Combined with Microsoft Autopilot, The company can provision and configure new devices remotely, allowing the internal team to onboard employees quickly and efficiently regardless of where they are located. This capability is particularly valuable given the organization's ongoing acquisition activity, where the ability to integrate new employees and devices rapidly is a meaningful operational advantage.

The structured security baseline rollout process established during the engagement gives the client a repeatable, low-risk method for adopting Microsoft's recommended security configurations as they are released. By staging updates through development and pilot environments before broad deployment, the team can validate changes without exposing production devices to untested configurations. The result is an improved security posture grounded in Microsoft's own guidance, maintained through a disciplined process that minimizes business disruption.

The engagement also reduced the client's dependency on third-party tools that duplicated capabilities already available within their existing Microsoft licensing. By consolidating onto Intune, the organization is better positioned to manage costs and streamline the vendor relationships associated with endpoint management. The foundation built through this engagement is designed to support the business' continued growth, with an architecture that can scale to accommodate new devices, new employees, and new organizational entities as the company evolves.