Work Smarter Not Harder: A Guide to Endpoint Management and Protection

Long gone are the days of managing your company’s IT assets manually…right? If you still maintain spreadsheets of computer names, manually configure laptops, or work long hours to apply patches afterhours, you should know there’s an easier way. Most, if not all, companies today rely on some sort of Internet-connected device with an IP address (e.g., laptops, printers, firewalls, servers), or, as we in the IT world like to call them, endpoints.

What to Know About Endpoint Protection and Management

Endpoint protection and management allows companies to completely protect and manage their IT assets from a centralized location, typically though an endpoint management tool. This tool allows for technology to scale easily and with little human interaction, allowing you to focus on more strategic IT goals. 

To help you further understand endpoint technology, we have compiled six key points to understanding endpoint management:  

Inventory Tracking

A good endpoint management tool allows you to easily store and report on your IT asset inventory, providing you better insights into the current state of your endpoints. You can easily discover new devices added to your network, collect hardware and software statistics, and complete regular audits to detect changes in the environment. 

Patching

Applying patches regularly to all your endpoints and third-party applications is critical to maintaining endpoint protection and the security of your environment, as well as ensuring your devices can provide the latest functionality. An endpoint protection and management tool allows you to regularly schedule these patches and updates so you can rest easy knowing your devices are secure and up-to-date. Regular patching ensures the functionality and overall security of your data system business-wide.

Monitoring

You don’t want to find out that your critical server is fresh out of disk space when you need it the most. This kind of interruption can be disruptive to your team’s workflow and can threaten the security of the system. It is always a good idea to get ahead of knowing your server’s storage capacity by monitoring it closely. Endpoint protection and management allows you to monitor your infrastructure, so you can proactively address issues based on predetermined thresholds. 

Mobile Device Management

In an increasingly mobile world, managing only workstations and servers is no longer an option. Even if you don’t specifically provide mobile devices to your employees, chances are they have their own on which they can access company data. Mobile devices are a promising gateway for security threats, so it’s important that an endpoint management tool has the ability to secure these devices just as you would assets within the walls of your organization. 

Image Deployment

For most businesses, the ability to scale safely and securely is a top priority. To truly be able to scale your technology efficiently alongside your organization, it’s critical to deploy operating system images without too much human interaction. You can ensure a consistent and secure product by building a master image to deploy across your environment, and you can save time and money through automated deployment.  

Antivirus/Antimalware

In the past, there was less information and insight into the dangers of cybersecurity threats. In fact, many companies still don’t have antivirus or antimalware on their devices at all. Now, with more information, it is widely known that protecting system devices is necessary and the process needs to be systemic. Manually deploying anti-virus and anti-malware to devices creates the opportunity for gaps in your security posture. An endpoint management tool allows you to deploy and manage these critical security components automatically to ensure each device is protected. 

Is an endpoint management solution right for my organization?

Endpoint protection and management is a necessity to scale your IT assets effectively and efficiently. As businesses grow, having employees scattered around the globe becomes commonplace, and they often need to become more geographically independent to accommodate a mobile workforce. Having an endpoint management tool creates scalable consistency, and ensures that your staff 2,000 miles away from your headquarters has a device with the same security features and management capabilities as the employee sitting in the next cube.

If you’re considering making your endpoint management process more efficient, contact Dataprise today to learn how one of our Support365^® plans can help you.