Intune Done Right: Why Fresh Beats Familiar
As businesses continue to shift to the cloud, Microsoft Intune has quickly become a key tool for managing devices, policies, and apps. Yet, when setting up Intune, organizations often face a big decision: replicate the tried-and-true on-premises configurations or start fresh with a new cloud-native approach? While recreating existing settings might seem the fastest way to get up and running, starting fresh with Intune is almost always the better choice. Here’s why building from the ground up, rather than relying on legacy setups, makes all the difference in getting the most out of your Intune investment.
1. Avoid Legacy Baggage: Leave Old Issues Behind
On-prem configurations have a way of accumulating “tech debt” over the years—policies created to address specific issues, quick fixes layered on top of each other, and legacy security requirements that may no longer apply. By carrying these old configurations into Intune, you risk dragging along unnecessary complexity, inefficiencies, and even outdated security settings.
Starting fresh with Intune offers the chance to shed that baggage and build a streamlined, efficient configuration that aligns with today’s standards and requirements. By doing this, you’re setting up a cleaner, more manageable environment that’s built for the cloud rather than adapting an outdated setup to fit.
2. Take Full Advantage of Intune’s Cloud-Native Features
One of Intune’s biggest advantages is its cloud-native capabilities. Intune isn’t just a direct replacement for your on-prem tools—it’s designed to offer far more flexibility and agility. By starting fresh, you can make full use of cloud-focused features like:
- Conditional Access: Control access based on location, device health, and more, offering targeted security with far more granularity than typical on-prem setups.
- Windows Autopilot: Enable zero-touch device deployment, getting users up and running from anywhere without complex imaging processes.
- Windows Update for Business: Streamline patching and updates with a cloud-based approach that’s more responsive and less prone to bottlenecks than traditional methods.
These features are tailor-made for a modern, remote-friendly world. If you try to replicate on-prem setups, you’re likely missing out on this flexibility or bending these tools to fit a configuration they weren’t designed for. A fresh start lets you build with these benefits in mind from day one, giving users a seamless experience and admins more control.
3. Simplify Device Enrollment with Intune’s Modern Options
Traditional on-prem deployments often rely on imaging and manual device setups, which are time-consuming and complex. Intune, however, provides a far more streamlined solution through Autopilot. With Autopilot, devices can be shipped directly to users and enrolled automatically, allowing IT teams to configure them remotely.
Starting fresh with Intune lets you avoid trying to shoehorn old enrollment processes into a cloud environment. Instead, you can rethink deployment workflows entirely, reducing overhead and giving users an easy, consistent setup experience no matter where they’re located.
4. Azure AD Join vs. Hybrid Azure AD Join: Embrace Cloud Simplicity
A common question when migrating to Intune is whether to use Azure AD Join or stick with Hybrid Azure AD Join. While Hybrid Join may seem like a safer choice because it retains ties to your on-premises Active Directory, Azure AD Join offers clear advantages in a cloud-first setup.
- Reduced Dependency on On-Premises Infrastructure: Azure AD Join eliminates the need for direct connections to an on-premises domain controller, freeing devices to operate fully in the cloud. This not only reduces the dependency on VPNs but also allows users to work from any location without needing to connect back to the corporate network.
- Simpler, Faster Authentication: Azure AD Join leverages cloud-based authentication, which is often faster and more resilient than relying on an on-premises AD setup. This setup minimizes logon delays for remote users and makes it easier to implement features like passwordless authentication or multi-factor authentication (MFA), enhancing security and improving the overall user experience.
- Supports Conditional Access Policies More Effectively: Azure AD Join is natively designed for integration with Conditional Access policies, allowing for better control and a more granular approach to security. With Azure AD Join, IT teams can enforce policies based on device compliance, user location, or app sensitivity, creating a more flexible and powerful security model.
In short, while Hybrid Azure AD Join offers a bridge to the cloud, Azure AD Join is the optimal choice for businesses ready to move beyond on-prem infrastructure. By fully embracing Azure AD Join, organizations can reduce overhead, simplify management, and position themselves for a truly cloud-first future.
5. Streamline and Optimize Policies
On-prem configurations often become cluttered over time, with layers of policies and configurations built up over years. Trying to transfer these directly to Intune can lead to bloated, redundant, or even conflicting policies that add unnecessary complexity.
Designing your Intune policies from scratch allows you to focus on what’s truly needed today, without the weight of outdated or redundant policies. By reviewing and rethinking policies, you’ll build a leaner, more effective setup that’s easier to manage and quicker to troubleshoot.
6. Enhance Security with Modern, Cloud-Based Controls
Security is an evolving field, and on-prem solutions can sometimes struggle to keep up with the latest threats. With Intune, you can implement Conditional Access policies that adapt based on the security status of each device, giving you more precise control over who can access what data and when. This is difficult to achieve with traditional on-prem setups, which often rely on fixed parameters.
By starting with a clean slate, you can build your security policies around Intune’s dynamic, real-time security features. For example, if you have sensitive data that needs to be accessed only from secure locations or on compliant devices, you can configure policies specifically for that in Intune, enhancing your overall security posture without adding unnecessary restrictions for all users.
7. Improve User Experience and Productivity
One of the biggest advantages of Intune is its ability to support a seamless, mobile-friendly experience. Users today expect access from anywhere, and they don’t want to be bogged down by outdated policies that don’t fit the way they work. Starting fresh with Intune lets you design a user-centric approach, where policies are optimized for mobility, productivity, and flexibility, making work easier and more enjoyable for users while ensuring security.
8. Plan for Future Scalability
Finally, by starting fresh, you’re setting up a foundation that can scale with your organization. Legacy setups often come with limitations and may not be adaptable to new features or requirements as they come out. By creating a tailored, cloud-first Intune strategy, you can easily scale your device management as your organization grows, adding new policies or adjusting configurations without being held back by outdated frameworks.
9. Boost Resiliency with Cloud-First Architecture
A cloud-first approach to Intune, particularly with Azure AD Join, brings significant advantages in terms of resiliency. Unlike on-prem solutions that rely on local servers or VPNs, Intune’s cloud-based architecture minimizes single points of failure. Devices joined to Azure AD don’t need to be tethered to a physical network or a domain controller, meaning that if there’s an outage or connection issue on-site, users can still access critical apps and data from anywhere. Additionally, Microsoft’s global infrastructure ensures that Intune’s services are backed by robust failover and redundancy systems, maximizing uptime. For organizations prioritizing business continuity, this cloud-first resiliency is a game-changer that ensures smooth operations, even during unexpected disruptions.
10. Upgrade Your Network: Ditch the Force-Tunneled VPNs for Direct Access
If you’re modernizing with Intune, it’s time to rethink the network, too. Old-school networks that rely on force-tunneled VPNs (where all traffic is funneled through the corporate data center) can seriously drag down cloud-managed devices. They’re a major bottleneck, slowing everything down and keeping your users from getting the most out of cloud resources. Instead, look into cloud-native direct internet access or SASE (Secure Access Service Edge). These options let devices connect directly to the internet for cloud resources, skipping the clunky VPN route and speeding things up. Modern, managed devices running on a dated network won’t cut it—you need a network that’s ready for the cloud so users can experience the full benefits of Intune without the legacy network hold-ups.
Wrapping It Up: Start Fresh, Think Modern
Designing your Intune strategy from scratch might take a bit of extra time upfront, but it’s an investment that pays off. By avoiding the temptation to replicate old on-prem configurations, you’re embracing a management style built for today’s cloud-first, mobile-centric environment.
So, ditch the legacy baggage, embrace Azure AD Join, and let Intune do what it does best—providing modern, flexible, and efficient device management that meets the needs of your organization now and in the future.
