3 Takeaways from Gartner’s Market Guide for Unified Endpoint Management Tools
October 11th, 2023 | Blog
Gartner’s recently published “Market Guide for Unified Endpoint Management Tools” points to significant advances in the market. According to the report, “Unified Endpoint Management tools have reached mainstream adoption and have proven essential for I&O leaders to manage, secure and enable the hybrid workforce.” Of course, this is excellent news for UEM tool vendors. Their solutions can now handle large, complex, and heterogenous environments, while also providing value to I&O leaders, among others. This maturity level has helped encourage widespread adoption. On the other hand, it’s also a warning for UEM tool providers not to grow too comfortable with their laurels. The Gartner report identifies a few key developments that have allowed the UEM market to mature to this point:
1. No longer “single-operating-system-centric”
- UEM solutions previously focused almost exclusively on Windows operating systems (OS), but they have now grown to include macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Android, Linux, and others. The shift can be explained easily enough. Windows machines were once the cornerstone of large business environments. But as environments have expanded to include more mac devices, smartphones, and tablets, as well as a host of personal devices (BYOD), UEM tools have had to evolve to accommodate those devices and OSs.
2. Support for Digital Employee Experiences (DEX)
In the age of the cloud, employees have taken on a new and significant role: citizen technologist. They no longer need to wait on complicated procurement and onboarding processes to gain access to new tools and solutions. With a company credit card and departmental approval, they can add to the tech stack in just minutes. While organizations want to encourage workplace flexibilities, they also need to control and monitor their environments for vulnerabilities and manage portfolios to keep them cost-effective and compliant with licenses. UEM solutions allow organizations to balance flexibilities with organizational concerns and can provide employees with quick and easy access to a wide range of apps, help personalize devices, and provide technical support. On the organizational side, UEM solutions can track and monitor installations, execute rapid responses to vulnerabilities, and patch devices and applications. They have become vital tools in balancing business and employee needs.
3. Truly Unified Endpoint Management
- Another key finding from the Gartner report is that “Mature digital workplace organizations are more likely to consolidate tools. Organizations that have consolidated their Endpoint Management tools to a single UEM tool scored 70% higher on the Gartner Digital Workplace Maturity Assessment than those that have not.” Consolidating Endpoint Management tools allows organizations to create more automated, end-to-end processes. This saves time and resources and makes provisioning digital resources quicker and more effective. But it also gives users a consolidated overview of their environment. Increased visibility allows users to improve security, for instance, by being able to see quickly whether a vulnerability has been patched, locate, and mitigate problems in the patching process, and better understand any exceptions in the process.
These developments signal a robust, mature, and healthy market, one that can tackle significant business challenges. But they also point to a market in flux. Now that organizations have a tool set that can help them better manage their endpoints, they will begin to experiment with their approach, opening new challenges and opportunities for the tool providers.
Author:
Joshua Brazee
Senior Global Marketing &Growth Manager
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Can't protect what you can't see: Why IT Visibility is the cornerstone of cybersecurity
In this whitepaper, we’ll show you how blind spots can weaken and even threaten your infrastructure. But we’ll also show you how IT Visibility can:
- Improve your security strategy
- Reveal hidden gaps and blind spots in your existing security measures
- Maintain business flexibilities
- Ensure your competitive edge
How the Unified Endpoint Management market is changing
One of the challenges, as Gartner hints in Strategic Planning Assumptions, is that organizations will want to automate as much of the Endpoint Management activities as they can. Gartner writes, “By 2027, UEM and DEX tools will converge to drive AI- and ML-infused Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM), reducing human effort by at least 40%.” It’s not just a matter of saving time and reducing costs; automating processes and creating “Autonomous Endpoint Management” allows organizations to respond faster and more effectively to vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats and to get new and updated apps and software to the right people quickly and effectively.
Raynet’s Unified Endpoint Management solution is already doing both. In an ongoing project, Raynet is using its UEM solution and knowledge along with its Vulnerability Management capabilities to help a customer design and create next generation cybersecurity. The system can automatically patch affected endpoints as soon as a new vulnerability is registered, and a security patch becomes available. It patches any operating system and most third-party software, and it has been equipped with automation, making it easy to create autopatch and auto-deployment rules and workflows, while assuring quality and limiting unnecessary interruptions to business and work processes.
Modern organizations thrive when they have the right information. This is no less true when managing large IT estates. Because they are main intake and distribution points for software coming into your estate, Unified Endpoint Management solutions know a lot about what’s in your environment. That information can be leveraged to create, for instance, robust functional overviews for every application in your environment. Most applications have a range of primary and secondary functions, so their function in the business can change depending on who’s using it and why. A popular example are PDF readers. Standard PDF readers which once enabled the user only to read PDFs, now allow them to create and edit them. This potentially eliminates the need for additional PDF editors and writers and allows you to slim down your portfolio to save money on licenses and to reduce support efforts.
Raynet’s Software Packaging expertise combined with its market-leading Technology Catalog have helped organizations get this kind of granular insight and control of their software portfolios. One such customer was able to reduce their software portfolio by an astounding 70% just by identifying functional overlaps in their portfolio. With leading packaging and IT Visibility solutions and years of experience, Raynet is uniquely positioned to provide just this kind of insight and help our customers find significant savings.
Not only do employees want and need access to the latest software, but they also have a wide variety of device needs. For the sake of infrastructure security, organizations want to be able to rapidly enroll devices as well. Raynet’s Unified Endpoint Management solution lets you enroll any device quickly and easily. Simply download and install the agent. Authenticate the device with a quick digital handshake, and you can start managing it immediately.
Raynet Unified Endpoint Management is the right solution for organizations of any size and infrastructures of any complexity. It scales easily to fit your needs and has taken a future-oriented approach to customer needs. It’s easy to use, fully automated, and integrates seamlessly with all your IT management tools and solutions.
3 Takeaways from Gartner’s Market Guide for Unified Endpoint Management Tools
Reading time: 4 minutes
October 11th, 2023 | Joshua Brazee
Gartner’s recently published “Market Guide for Unified Endpoint Management Tools” points to significant advances in the market. According to the report, “Unified Endpoint Management tools have reached mainstream adoption and have proven essential for I&O leaders to manage, secure and enable the hybrid workforce.” Of course, this is excellent news for UEM tool vendors. Their solutions can now handle large, complex, and heterogenous environments, while also providing value to I&O leaders, among others. This maturity level has helped encourage widespread adoption. On the other hand, it’s also a warning for UEM tool providers not to grow too comfortable with their laurels. The Gartner report identifies a few key developments that have allowed the UEM market to mature to this point:
1. No longer “single-operating-system-centric”
UEM solutions previously focused almost exclusively on Windows operating systems (OS), but they have now grown to include macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Android, Linux, and others. The shift can be explained easily enough. Windows machines were once the cornerstone of large business environments. But as environments have expanded to include more mac devices, smartphones, and tablets, as well as a host of personal devices (BYOD), UEM tools have had to evolve to accommodate those devices and OSs.
2. Support for Digital Employee Experiences (DEX)
In the age of the cloud, employees have taken on a new and significant role: citizen technologist. They no longer need to wait on complicated procurement and onboarding processes to gain access to new tools and solutions. With a company credit card and departmental approval, they can add to the tech stack in just minutes. While organizations want to encourage workplace flexibilities, they also need to control and monitor their environments for vulnerabilities and manage portfolios to keep them cost-effective and compliant with licenses. UEM solutions allow organizations to balance flexibilities with organizational concerns and can provide employees with quick and easy access to a wide range of apps, help personalize devices, and provide technical support. On the organizational side, UEM solutions can track and monitor installations, execute rapid responses to vulnerabilities, and patch devices and applications. They have become vital tools in balancing business and employee needs.
3. Truly Unified Endpoint Management
Another key finding from the Gartner report is that “Mature digital workplace organizations are more likely to consolidate tools. Organizations that have consolidated their Endpoint Management tools to a single UEM tool scored 70% higher on the Gartner Digital Workplace Maturity Assessment than those that have not.” Consolidating Endpoint Management tools allows organizations to create more automated, end-to-end processes. This saves time and resources and makes provisioning digital resources quicker and more effective. But it also gives users a consolidated overview of their environment. Increased visibility allows users to improve security, for instance, by being able to see quickly whether a vulnerability has been patched, locate, and mitigate problems in the patching process, and better understand any exceptions in the process.
These developments signal a robust, mature, and healthy market, one that can tackle significant business challenges. But they also point to a market in flux. Now that organizations have a tool set that can help them better manage their endpoints, they will begin to experiment with their approach, opening new challenges and opportunities for the tool providers.
Can't protect what you can't see: Why IT Visibility is the cornerstone of cybersecurity
In this whitepaper, we’ll show you how blind spots can weaken and even threaten your infrastructure. But we’ll also show you how IT Visibility can:
- Improve your security strategy
- Reveal hidden gaps and blind spots in your existing security measures
- Maintain business flexibilities
- Ensure your competitive edge
How the Unified Endpoint Management market is changing
One of the challenges, as Gartner hints in Strategic Planning Assumptions, is that organizations will want to automate as much of the Endpoint Management activities as they can. Gartner writes, “By 2027, UEM and DEX tools will converge to drive AI- and ML-infused Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM), reducing human effort by at least 40%.” It’s not just a matter of saving time and reducing costs; automating processes and creating “Autonomous Endpoint Management” allows organizations to respond faster and more effectively to vulnerabilities and cybersecurity threats and to get new and updated apps and software to the right people quickly and effectively.
Raynet’s Unified Endpoint Management solution is already doing both. In an ongoing project, Raynet is using its UEM solution and knowledge along with its Vulnerability Management capabilities to help a customer design and create next generation cybersecurity. The system can automatically patch affected endpoints as soon as a new vulnerability is registered, and a security patch becomes available. It patches any operating system and most third-party software, and it has been equipped with automation, making it easy to create autopatch and auto-deployment rules and workflows, while assuring quality and limiting unnecessary interruptions to business and work processes.
Modern organizations thrive when they have the right information. This is no less true when managing large IT estates. Because they are main intake and distribution points for software coming into your estate, Unified Endpoint Management solutions know a lot about what’s in your environment. That information can be leveraged to create, for instance, robust functional overviews for every application in your environment. Most applications have a range of primary and secondary functions, so their function in the business can change depending on who’s using it and why. A popular example are PDF readers. Standard PDF readers which once enabled the user only to read PDFs, now allow them to create and edit them. This potentially eliminates the need for additional PDF editors and writers and allows you to slim down your portfolio to save money on licenses and to reduce support efforts.
Raynet’s Software Packaging expertise combined with its market-leading Technology Catalog have helped organizations get this kind of granular insight and control of their software portfolios. One such customer was able to reduce their software portfolio by an astounding 70% just by identifying functional overlaps in their portfolio. With leading packaging and IT Visibility solutions and years of experience, Raynet is uniquely positioned to provide just this kind of insight and help our customers find significant savings.
Not only do employees want and need access to the latest software, but they also have a wide variety of device needs. For the sake of infrastructure security, organizations want to be able to rapidly enroll devices as well. Raynet’s Unified Endpoint Management solution lets you enroll any device quickly and easily. Simply download and install the agent. Authenticate the device with a quick digital handshake, and you can start managing it immediately.
Raynet Unified Endpoint Management is the right solution for organizations of any size and infrastructures of any complexity. It scales easily to fit your needs and has taken a future-oriented approach to customer needs. It’s easy to use, fully automated, and integrates seamlessly with all your IT management tools and solutions.
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