SCCM’s Long, Slow Death: Why Intune is Dancing on its Grave
System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) has served IT teams for years, but its slow death is undeniable as Microsoft pivots toward Intune and cloud-first solutions. The shift reflects the changing needs of modern IT environments, driven by mobility, remote work, and cloud-based services. Let’s dive deeper into why SCCM’s days are numbered and what you can expect as it fades into the background.
1. Legacy Infrastructure Doesn’t Cut It Anymore
SCCM was a powerhouse in its prime, built for a time when most IT operations were centralized and on-premises. Enterprises relied on SCCM’s complex infrastructure, including SQL databases, distribution points, and local servers to deploy updates and applications. Back then, it made perfect sense—but in today’s cloud-driven world, these requirements are cumbersome. IT teams now prefer lightweight solutions that don’t require large on-prem servers and heavy management infrastructure.
SCCM's reliance on physical infrastructure makes it difficult for IT teams to manage today’s distributed, hybrid workforce, where devices are scattered across multiple locations. Intune’s cloud-first model, on the other hand, allows IT admins to manage devices from anywhere, without the need for physical servers.
With remote work here to stay, relying on SCCM feels like dragging along an anchor in an era of lightweight speedboats. Microsoft’s focus is increasingly on Microsoft Endpoint Manager and Intune, leaving SCCM to manage its decline while businesses adopt cloud solutions.
2. SCCM’s Bloated Costs and Complexity
SCCM’s infrastructure is not only heavy but also costly. From maintaining on-premises servers to ensuring databases are up to date, SCCM requires significant financial and human resources to run effectively. IT admins need to constantly monitor infrastructure, manage backups, update software, and troubleshoot issues. In contrast, Intune’s cloud-native design allows organizations to offload infrastructure management to Microsoft, drastically reducing costs and administrative burden.
Intune’s approach is far simpler. Updates are managed automatically in the cloud, reducing manual maintenance tasks and freeing up time for IT teams to focus on more strategic projects. Companies no longer have to worry about distribution points, patch management, or managing complex environments, as all of this is taken care of through Intune’s cloud service.
The Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) study on Intune shows that organizations switching from SCCM to Intune report up to 60% reduction in infrastructure costs, making it clear that sticking with SCCM is not just outdated, but financially inefficient.
3. Sluggish Updates and Innovation
SCCM is still receiving updates, but it’s clear that these are mostly maintenance updates rather than innovations. Microsoft’s strategic investment is going into Intune and its integration with Azure, Microsoft 365, and Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) features. SCCM’s development is noticeably slower, and the latest features are almost exclusively appearing in Intune.
For example, SCCM’s Windows Update management requires manual configurations and often takes longer to execute, whereas Intune offers Windows Update for Business or Autopatch, a cloud-based update management tool that streamlines the entire process. Intune can push updates to remote devices without the need for cumbersome VPNs or relying on devices being connected to the corporate network.
Intune’s roadmap is full of new features aimed at streamlining remote work, improving security, and automating device provisioning—all areas where SCCM struggles to keep up.
4. Deprecation of Key SCCM Features
Microsoft’s gradual deprecation of SCCM features is perhaps the clearest indicator of SCCM’s future. Legacy Reporting, for instance, has been replaced by Intune’s cloud-based analytics which offer more powerful insights without the infrastructure burden. App deployment, once a strong point of SCCM, has also been overtaken by Intune’s intuitive and cross-platform management capabilities.
As Microsoft continues to retire these core SCCM features, organizations relying heavily on SCCM are finding themselves at a crossroads. The writing is on the wall—while SCCM may still function, it’s on life support. Intune’s app management, with its ability to handle Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices seamlessly, has made SCCM’s application deployment process look antiquated.
5. Co-Management: The Transition Bridge
For organizations not ready to cut ties with SCCM entirely, Microsoft offers a co-management model that allows businesses to use both SCCM and Intune during the transition period. With co-management, IT teams can move workloads such as compliance policies, device configuration, and security management to Intune while continuing to use SCCM for legacy tasks.
Co-management offers a softer landing for companies transitioning from SCCM to Intune, but make no mistake—it’s still a transition, not a long-term solution. As SCCM continues to lose features and Intune gains new capabilities, the balance will inevitably tip towards full migration.
6. The Future is Cloud-Based
Ultimately, SCCM’s demise is part of the broader trend of IT moving to the cloud. The advantages of cloud-based solutions like Intune are undeniable—reduced costs, simplified management, scalability, and the ability to handle the remote work environments that define the modern workplace. The long, slow death of SCCM is just another step in this ongoing shift.
Microsoft is clearly placing its bets on Intune and the Microsoft Endpoint Manager ecosystem, and businesses that are still clinging to SCCM are running out of time. Planning for the future means planning for a world where cloud-based management is the norm, and SCCM is nothing more than a chapter in IT history.
Windows Enrollment Just Got a Glow-Up: Here’s the Good, the Bad, and the Patchy
Starting October 2024, new Windows 11 devices (version 22H2+) will automatically download and install quality updates during the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) when enrolled via MDM like Intune. This ensures devices are secure before user login.
Advantages:
- Better Security: Immediate patching reduces risks from out-of-date software.
- Compliance: Ensures policies are met from day one.
Disadvantages:
- Longer Enrollment: Updates during OOBE might delay device handoff.
- Access Pass Adjustments: Temporary Access Passes may expire before setup is complete.
- Updates whether you want them or not: No more choice in the process.
Final Thoughts:
While the enhanced security is a significant benefit, the extended setup time could become a challenge for organizations with tight provisioning schedules. Admins managing large fleets may need to plan for the additional time required for these updates. The Temporary Access Pass issue also means careful coordination will be needed, particularly in environments relying on quick deployments or where devices are being "White Gloved" on behalf of Assistive Technology users.
For businesses prioritizing immediate security and compliance, this update is a step in the right direction. However, organizations focused on speed or with existing streamlined processes may face slight disruptions. Balancing security with efficiency will be key. One thing is for sure, Microsoft is keen for you to be on the latest updates!
Autopilot 2.0: Microsoft’s Slick New Rollout for Gov & Enterprise!
Microsoft has dropped a fresh upgrade for Windows Autopilot, and it's a game changer, especially for IT admins in government and large enterprises. The new features streamline the onboarding process, improve error handling, and provide support for government clouds like GCC High and DoD. If you're dealing with large-scale deployments, this update just made things smoother and less of a headache.
Key Features You’ll Love:
- Improved Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE): You can now see real-time progress as devices are onboarded. This not only gives you peace of mind but also lets you track issues before users get their hands on the device. The new UI is cleaner and provides more insight into the deployment process, which helps IT teams pinpoint problems quickly.
- Stronger Error Handling: The update includes enhanced error resiliency, meaning that even if something goes wrong during the setup, the system can handle it better, reducing the number of failed deployments. This saves time and frustration, especially in large environments where downtime can be costly.
- Government Cloud Support: For those managing sensitive environments, Autopilot now has extended support for government clouds, including GCC High and DoD. This means that government institutions with high security requirements can now enjoy the benefits of Autopilot without compromising on compliance or control.
Why It Matters:
The latest Autopilot updates are tailored for large-scale deployments, making it easier to manage thousands of devices while ensuring they stay secure and up-to-date. With better visibility into the onboarding process and a stronger focus on error resilience, IT departments can spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on strategic tasks.
For government bodies and enterprises that require strict security and compliance, these features are a blessing. The ability to deploy devices into secure environments like GCC High and DoD clouds without extra steps means faster, more efficient rollouts.
What’s the Catch?
While the updates bring a lot of improvements, it’s worth noting that device setup may still take some time, especially with larger batches. But overall, these enhancements mean fewer bumps along the way, less downtime, and a more intuitive deployment process.
Final Thoughts:
This Autopilot update is all about saving time, reducing errors, and providing greater control for IT admins working with large or highly secure environments. If you’re an IT admin in government or enterprise, these changes are worth exploring. Not only will they improve how you manage devices, but they’ll also give you more confidence in the deployment process from start to finish.
For more details, check out the full announcement here.
Welcome
Welcome everyone to the first blog of modern-managed.com! This site has been a long time in the making, having purchased the domain over a year ago, I finally decided that I needed to sit down and write some content for it.
This site will replicate some of the work I did on my own company Cloudable in the blog section, but I wanted to separate out the blog from my commercial consultancy.
Over the coming weeks, months and years, I plan to add lots of helpful content from some co-workers and I that you will hopefully find useful. I will also import all the old articles from the cloudable blog.
Is ADFS now dead?
For those of you keeping an eager eye on cybersecurity, NCSE published some new guidance for securing Office 365 earlier this year. This new guidance includes one significant change from Microsoft, which some may find a little controversial.
Microsoft now recommends that hybrid environments – i.e. those that use Active Directory Domain Services and Azure AD – should prefer native authentication against Azure AD rather than ADFS.
In Microsoft-speak this is ‘Seamless SSO with Password Hash Sync’, configured to use either per-user or Conditional Access MFA.
Password synchronisation with the cloud can feel like a scary thing to do, but in actuality, organisations using Azure AD as their primary authentication source will lower their risk compared with ADFS.
This is because:
- It’s the hashes of your password hashes that are sent to Azure AD, and not the reusable NTLM hashes commonly discussed in “pass the hash” attacks. This means that the credentials sent to Azure AD can’t be used to authenticate to any of your on-premise infrastructures that rely on Active Directory.
- We are already relying on Azure AD to make access control decisions regulating who can see which data, hosted in Office 365. So we already need to trust that it’s built and operated securely. Storing password hashes doesn’t change that security requirement.
- The availability of Office 365 will no longer be affected by any outages or downtime suffered by your on-premise ADFS or Active Directory infrastructure.
For those interested, the new Microsoft guidance can be found here: It’s a brave new world out there!