Do you need IT asset management software alongside Intune?

Another day at the office, another missing device. While Microsoft Intune is a powerful tool for unified endpoint management (UEM) and mobile device management (MDM), relying solely on Intune comes with its own set of drawbacks.

Continue reading if you want to know more about the benefits Intune can bring to IT asset management—and vice versa.

What is Microsoft Intune?
Microsoft Intune is a popular UEM/MDM service that allows organizations to manage computers, laptops, phones and tablets. With the service, IT teams can enforce security policies, deploy applications, and ensure that devices comply with company standards.

What is IT Asset Management Software?
ITAM software helps to track and manage different IT assets throughout their lifecycle. In the best case, from procurement to EOL. Read more about the benefits of ITAM software here.

What benefits can integrating Intune and IT asset management software bring?

As described earlier, Intune’s primary focus is endpoint management, not asset tracking or inventory management. Integrating a modern IT asset management tool with Intune fills this gap.

Here are the main benefits of using both of the systems together:

Reporting capabilities
A modern ITAM solution has far more advanced reporting capabilities whereas Intune is “only a list of actively managed assets”. With an ITAM solution, all the reports you need can also be automated and shared.

User access
Typically, access to Intune is given to only a handful of IT people within an organization. This means that data needs to be manually searched and shared. When your organization is using a separate ITAM solution, all relevant employees can be given user access to the data with the scope that they need. For example employees can see their own assets, managers can see their team’s assets, office managers can see their location’s assets etc.

Device lifecycle visibility
One of the most common problems with Intune is that only the enrolled assets are visible in Intune. In other words, once an asset is wiped and removed from Intune management, you will no longer have visibility into the asset. Keeping a separate manual Excel is not very productive.

This is when having a separate IT asset management software is extremely useful. With suppliers integrated into your ITAM software, assets are automatically created in your ITAM upon delivery and whenever an asset is enrolled in Intune, key data such as primary user, last sync, and compliance are automatically synced with ITAM. When an asset is wiped from Intune, asset data remains in your ITAM and can be appropriately disposed when the time is right. Even after disposal, all asset data is available for future audits.

Automations
Another key advantage of a dedicated ITAM solution is automation. Good IT asset management tool allows you to set up a wide range of automated processes, such as receiving alerts when a device is assigned to a new user, detecting devices that have been inactive for over 30 days, or notifying you when a leased device needs to be returned. Only the sky is the limit with various automated workflows.

Security
IT device security is another aspect to consider. With separate ITAM software, integrated workflows can flag non-compliant devices in Intune and trigger alerts in the ITAM system for example when the asset has been unused for a certain period. Also, as mentioned earlier, wiped assets can still be tracked in ITAM which improves security.

Offline assets
There is no way to track offline assets in Intune. This is a key drawback considering that an organization easily has multiple other IT assets per employee. For example office AV equipment, monitors, infrastructure assets, docks and headsets cannot be tracked in Intune. Therefore, having a separate ITAM solution is key to having a complete picture of an organization’s IT assets.

Simple integration with many benefits

Integrating Intune with modern ITAM software creates a more efficient and secure IT environment. IT teams gain better visibility into assets, streamline operations through automation, and improve overall control.

When Intune is part of your ITAM ecosystem, you will be able to reduce manual data entry and minimize human errors. This allows IT teams to focus on more important tasks, while accurate asset tracking helps organizations avoid unnecessary costs and security risks.